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To Utah by Stagecoach
The stagecoach is a legendary symbol of the American West, part of a transportation network that spanned the continent. How did Utah fit into this network? Traveling to Utah was difficult – to say the least – in the mid-19th Century. Major…
The Woman’s Exponent
Mormon women wrote and published a newspaper for and about Mormon women. The paper had a small circulation and was replaced with the Relief Society Magazine shortly after the newspaper declined.In 1872, a unique publication for women emerged in Utah.…
The Valley Tan
As the Utah War settled to an occupation of the Utah Territory, Kirk Anderson, with financial backing from John Hartnett, started Utah’s second newspaper the Valley Tan, targeting Camp Floyd’s population of soldiers as well as the Gentiles…
The United Order of Orderville
The United Order of Orderville, a Utopian living experiment, thrived for a decade in southern Utah.When people hear the term “communal living,” what often comes to mind is a group of hippies, not a group of 19th Century Mormons. However, the…
The Termination and Restoration of Utah’s Paiute Indian Tribe
The federal termination and restoration of the lands of the Paiute Indian Tribe illustrate the complicated relationship between state, federal, and tribal claims to land.On September 1, 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower signed Public Law 83-762,…
The Story of the English Sparrow
A bird once considered to be helpful pest control, the invasive English Sparrow made it on a legislative “hit list” in the 1800s.Most Utahns have heard the tale of how in 1848 a flock of California gulls swooped down and gorged themselves on a…
The Spark That Ignited the Black Hawk War
Conflict and rising tensions between a group of Ute Indians and Mormons in Manti, Utah led to an incident that sparked Utah’s Black Hawk War. In 1865, on the same day Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee were negotiating an end to the American Civil…
The Shoshone Colony of Washakie
The founding and eventual demise of the Shoshoni settlement known as Washakie.In 1880, a handful of Shoshoni families and a few Mormon missionaries settled on a plot of land near the Utah-Idaho border and called the settlement Washakie in honor of an…
The Savage Poem Around Me: Alfred Lambourne and Great Salt Lake
Maybe you’ve seen his paintings in Utah’s museums, or read his famous book called Our Inland Sea. Learn about 19th century artist Alfred Lambourne, who was Great Salt Lake’s biggest fan.
Perhaps no one loved Utah’s Great Salt Lake as much as…
The Salt Lake Deserets
Baseball in the nineteenth century was more than just Salt Lake City’s “favorite pastime.” The game became an outlet for the tensions between Mormons and the growing number of residents who did not adhere to the dominant faith and…
The Rise/Fall/Rise of Fisher Brewing Company
An impressive mansion on Salt Lake City’s west side serves as a reminder of Utah's beer history and the prosperous titan who ran the largest brewery in the West.
Utah’s strict liquor laws are something of a hilarious nuisance for many visitors to…
The Rag Man
Rightly or wrongly, others often see our work as defining who we are, and prize some occupations over others. Meet George Goddard, who spent three years traveling Utah and collecting waste.Today, most Americans make recycling a regular part of their…
The Pony Express in Utah
The story of the Pony Express, a western mail route that traversed Utah, and its short but sensational history.One hundred fifty years ago, the Pony Express mail service operated between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. The Pony…
The Park City Dynamite Outrage
An explosion reverberated through the sleeping town of Park City in 1894. Residents woke up to the discovery that someone had planted dynamite under the front stairs of a local house.On the morning of May 3, 1894, a tremendous blast reverberated…
The Morrisites
Eight members of a Mormon fringe group were killed by militiamen in south Weber County.In 1858, Mormon immigrant Joseph Morris sent a letter to LDS Church president Brigham Young naming himself as the church’s true leader. A convert to Mormonism…
The Lynching of Charlie Benson
An episode of frontier justice in Logan resulted in the lynching of a man named Charlie Benson. The crime went unpunished, although the act was labeled “deplorable” by local newspapers.On Valentine’s Day in 1873, Logan residents were…
The Legendary “Big Bill” Haywood
“Big Bill” Haywood was a legendary Utah labor leader, whose ashes were buried in the Kremlin Wall.In February 1869, William D. Haywood was born in Salt Lake City into a working class family. He would grow up to become “Big Bill” Haywood,…
The Indian Scare That Never Was
An alliance between Mormons and Shoshone Indians put the non-Mormon residents of Corinne on edge. Concern over an alleged uprising by the alliance shook the town to its foundations.In 1875, fears of an armed uprising by Shoshone Indians swept through…
The House That Eggs Built
A Hyrum businessman, Soren Hanson, and his massive empire built of eggs.The economy of Cache Valley in northern Utah began to evolve in the late 19th century from its pioneer subsistence roots to specialized private enterprise. A leading figure in…
The Hole-in-the-Rock: Utah's Most Treacherous Stretch of Road
Utah’s most treacherous stretch of road was hacked from the rock with a few hand tools and a bit of blasting powder. Utah’s rugged terrain often translates into treacherous roads. And the most precarious stretch of road might be the…