Editor’s Note: In an award-winning essay, Robert S. Mikkelsen paints a colorful portrait of life in his hometown, a key refueling railroad stop for locomotives traveling between Ogden, Utah, and Evanston, Wyoming. Born in 1925 and raised as an end-of-the-track townie in Echo, Utah, Mikkelsen highlights the intricate connection that he and his peers felt to the robust engines that …
Pioneer Map Leads Jefferson Scandal to West
http://www.sltrib.com Will Bagley, History Matters Published: 05/06/2001 Edition: Final Section: Utah Page: B1 At the time, it sounded like a good idea. In 1846, adventurer Lansford W. Hastings wanted to open a wagon road across the Great Basin to straighten out the kink in the California Trail that detoured north to Pocatello to avoid the …
Utah Counties
County Facts *2000 est. population For more information about each of Utah’s counties and a map of counties, visit History for Kids Beaver County Area: 2,586 sq. miles Population: 6,005 County Seat: Beaver Box Elder County Area: 5,614 sq. miles Population: 42,745 County Seat: Brigham City Cache County Area: 1,171 sq. miles Population: 91,391 County Seat: Logan Carbon County Area: …
Early Utahns Had Dreams of California
http://www.sltrib.com Will Bagley, History Matters Published: 04/29/2001 Edition: Section: Utah Page: B1 The rise and fall of the Mormon colony at San Bernardino, California, is one of the forgotten epics of Western history. It is an intriguing tale of utopian dreams, frontier conflict and defeated idealism. The story reflects one of the recurring themes …
Utah’s Early African American Farmers
Miriam B. Murphy History Blazer, May 1996 In the 19th century Utah’s small number of African Americans worked at whatever jobs they could find. Discrimination and a lack of educational opportunities generally meant low-income, often menial, work. Some remained slaves until Congress banned slavery in the territories on June 19, 1862. Still, according to historian Ronald G. Coleman, “a few …
Utah’s First Territorial Capitol, Fillmore, Was Too Remote for Legislators
Only one wing of the Territorial Statehouse was built. Today it is a state park. Yvette D. Ison History Blazer, July 1995 Until 1851 Mormon settlement in Utah was confined mostly to the western slopes of the Wasatch Mountains. When Utah became a territory through the Organic Act of 1850 settlement patterns began to change. Since the new boundaries of …