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Provo Canyon Snowslide Ends in Tragedy
Anyone who lives near Utah’s mountains knows how dangerous winter avalanches can be. Today, avalanches are closely monitored and relatively controlled. But it wasn’t always so. Learn about the 1897 avalanche in Provo Canyon that ended in…
Water is for Fighting: The Goshen - Mona Water Dispute
Mark Twain famously joked that “Whiskey is for drinking, but water is for fighting over.” Find out how the struggle for water between two Utah towns led to a lawsuit that resulted in nearly an entire LDS ward being disfellowshipped.
The small…
Summer Skiing on Mt. Timpanogos
Timp Glacier, on the east face of Mt Timpanogos, isn’t really a glacier. But the distinction hardly mattered to thousands of skiers who were anxious for the unique chance to hit the slopes in July.
Beginning in 1912, thousands of adventure-seekers…
Keeping Cool: Ice Harvesting in Utah
Ever wonder how people kept food cold before electricity? Learn how ice was harvested, stored, and used throughout Utah before freezers were common household appliances.
During the nineteenth-century, frozen water was a rare and valuable commodity.…
Frank Chester Robertson: Dreamweaver
Meet Frank Chester Robertson, the famous Utah author who made his living writing popular Westerns that belied his own life of desperation on the Mormon frontier.Frank Robertson wasn’t exactly the kind of writer groomed in literary circles. Born…
The “Reel” Story of Utah Silk
Have you ever noticed groves of mulberry trees in your neighborhood? These trees aren’t native to Utah, but were planted to support a pioneer silk industry led by Mormon women and girls.It’s hard to imagine silkworms thriving in Utah’s harsh…
Sweet Story of the Startup Candy Company
Confections are a multibillion-dollar industry in the United States and Utahns currently buy candy at the highest rate in the nation – almost double the US average. It’s been that way for at least a century.Utahns have long had a sweet tooth. In…
Toll of Unemployment: the Suicide of Mary Cook
The nationwide depression of the 1890s produced unprecedented levels of unemployment. One unfortunate casualty of the resulting stress and anxiety was Mary Cook, a young mother from Utah County. In 1894, a young mother from Pleasant Grove named…
In Praise of Leisure
Tourists and Utahns alike enjoy the Beehive State for its many opportunities for outdoor recreation. Learn how much of that recreation originated in the way people worked.The state of Utah is widely known for its outdoor recreation. Skiers…
From the Earth into Bellies: Timpanogos Utes
We no longer work as close to the land as Utah’s indigenous people once did. But that doesn’t mean we don’t work for the same reasons. Learn how Timpanogos Utes made a living and how we might relate.We sometimes forget how much work was – and…
Provo Woolen Mills: Industry Comes to Utah
Learn about the Provo Woolen Mills, the first large factory built in Utah.Prior to the coming of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, Utah's economy revolved mainly around agriculture, barter, and small-scale manufacturing. With the railroad,…
"Alfred Packer the Man-Eater": Choose Your Travel Companions Carefully
The tale of a doomed gold-seeking trek that started in Provo and ended in cannibalism. In 1873, a man by the name of Preston Nutter traveled to Utah with a friend after hearing rumors that miners in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains were striking it…
Early Education in Utah
In Utah, one-room schoolhouses evolved into the publicly supported education system we have today. Utahns struggled to find an adequate solution to the question of education, and was the last territory in the nation to provide a free public school…
Utah's First Masonic Lodge
Utah’s first Masonic Lodge was established by American soldiers with a lot of time on their hands.You may be familiar with the imposing Egyptian-style Masonic Temple in downtown Salt Lake City, but did you know that this wasn’t the first Masonic…
Father Escalante and Joaquin
A story of friendship between Spanish explorer Father Escalante and the Ute boy who was his guide through the Utah territory.In July 1776, a group of Spanish explorers set out from Santa Fe, New Mexico in search of a northern route to one of…
Massacre at Table Point
The violent 1850 massacre of Timpanogos Utes at Rock Canyon and Table Point in present-day Utah County.In the winter of 1850, following a pitched battle on the banks of the Provo River, the remnants of Utah Valley’s Ute population scattered, hoping…
Justice Sutherland
In 1922, English-born George Sutherland was nominated to serve on the US Supreme Court. To date, he is the only Utahn to ever hold the position.In 1862, George Sutherland, Utah’s only U. S. Supreme Court justice to date, was born in…
The Thistle Mudslide
A giant landslide in April 1983 obliterated the tiny town of Thistle in Utah County.In 1983, the most costly landslide in US history swept down on the tiny town of Thistle, damming up the Spanish Fork River, and severing the rail line that connects…
The Strawberry Valley Project
A federal project diverted water promised to the Ute Tribe into southern Utah County. This water grab harmed Ute claims to land in the Uintah Basin. In 1905 the federal government authorized the Strawberry Valley Project. Designed to divert water…
The Escalante-Dominguez Expedition
In 1776, the same year the Declaration of Independence was signed, a group of Spanish explorers entered present-day Utah Valley. Led by two Franciscan friars named Silvestre Velez de Escalante and Francisco Dominguez, the expedition was launched to…