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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…
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…
Settling Bluff
Learn about the harrowing expedition that settled the tiny San Juan County community of Bluff!In 1888, a hardy group of Mormon settlers founded the town of Bluff, Utah. The party, which has since become known as the Hole-In-The-Rock Expedition, had…
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…
Building Flaming Gorge
Controversy over public lands has a long history in Utah. The construction of Flaming Gorge Dam was met with resistance, and opinions over the finished product were mixed.In 1968, the Flaming Gorge Dam in Daggett County was dedicated by Ladybird…
The City of Corinne
A steamboat called City of Corinne has been called the “most imposing boat that has ever sailed the Great Salt Lake”.In 1871, the Steamboat City of Corinne was launched into the wide channel of the Bear River near the settlement that shared its…
The Lucin Cutoff
The hundred-mile-long Lucin Cutoff was engineered using earth and wood to allow trains to cross the Great Salt Lake.In 1904, trains began rumbling across the Lucin Cutoff, a unique specimen of railroad engineering that except for brief contact with…
Twenty Wells
A site near present-day Grantsville provided temporary relief to the Donner party before their dangerous push across the Great Salt Lake Desert.In 1846, a series of overland parties found relief at a site on the south end of the Great Salt Lake near…
The Electrification of Daggett County
Daggett County, home to the hydro-electric juggernaut Flaming Gorge Dam, did not receive electricity until well into the 20th century.Though it is now home to the hydro-electric juggernaut, the Flaming Gorge Dam, Daggett County, in the northeastern…
Clarence King Expedition
The US Geological Exploration of the 40th Parallel began its examination of the American West under the leadership of Clarence King. The survey team explored northern Utah, and provided an in-depth analysis of Utah’s geography and environment.In…
Artesian Park
Ogden Valley’s Artesian Park contained wells that provided fresh water to the growing population of the city.As the city of Ogden grew into a transportation and finance center in the early 1900s, new sources of fresh water were needed to sustain…
Logan Canyon Place Names
Place names can make an interesting study for anyone interested in local and regional history. Two locations in northern Utah’s Logan Canyon illustrate.One of the most popular summer recreation spots in Logan Canyon was and still is a meadow on the…
Dry Farming
Adequate water for crops proved to be a challenge for settlers throughout Utah. Those in Box Elder County established a strong dry-farming practice, due to inadequate water supply.When the Mormon settlers arrived in Utah, they immediately planted…
How Antelope Island Got Its Name
Antelope Island was named by the famous American explorer John Charles Fremont during his travels around the Great Salt Lake.In the fall of 1845, the famous American explorer John Charles Fremont crossed over the Rocky Mountains into eastern Utah…
T. H. Jefferson’s Map
A mysterious traveler, T.H. Jefferson published a map of the California Trail in 1849. The map contained valuable information about the waterless stretch of desert west of the Great Salt Lake.In 1849, a map of the California Trail was published by a…
The Serracino Expedition
Persistent tales about a lost Spanish colony piqued the interest of Jose Rafael Serracino. Like many explorers before him, he was inspired to put together a search party and leave Santa Fe to explore the West. In 1811, more than three decades after…
John Muir in Utah
Naturalist John Muir found himself in Salt Lake City in the late 1800s. Muir was attracted by the dazzling landscape of the Great Salt Lake and Oquirrh Mountains, and wrote effusively about Utah’s scenery.In 1877, naturalist and future Sierra Club…
The Ghost Town of Old La Sal
Ghost Towns of the old west are generally relics of the mining industry, but Old La Sal in San Juan County is a now-deserted cow town.Situated in the northeast corner of San Juan County at the foot of the La Sal Mountains, old La Sal was once a…
Flash Floods Devastate Willard
Utah has had some memorable floods over the last hundred years. A 1923 flash flood left the northern Utah town of Willard completely under water.Mud. Sandbags. Water down State Street. You may remember the Salt Lake City floods of 1983 and maybe even…
Erosion Control Efforts in Willard Canyon
Why would a bunch of young men from New York have spent the summer of 1933 digging ditches in Utah’s Willard Canyon?It’s the summer of 1933. You’re eighteen years old and recently signed on to the Civilian Conservation Corps, President…