Portal:Utah

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Utah (/ˈjuːtɑː/ YOO-tah, /ˈjuːtɔː/ ^ⓘ YOO-taw) is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to its northeast, Idaho to its north, and Nevada to its west. In comparison to all the U.S. states and territories, Utah, with a population of just over three million, is the 13th largest by area, the 30th most populous, and the 11th least densely populated. Urban development is mostly concentrated in two regions: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which includes the state capital, Salt Lake City, and is home to roughly two-thirds of the population; and Washington County in the southwest, which has somewhat more than 180,000 residents. Most of the western half of Utah lies in the Great Basin.

Utah has been inhabited for thousands of years by various indigenous groups, such as the ancient Puebloans, the Navajo, and the Ute. The first Europeans to arrive - in the mid-16th century - were the Spanish. Because of the region's challenging geography and harsh climate, it only became a peripheral part of New Spain (and later of Mexico). Even while it was Mexican territory, many of the Utah region’s earliest European settlers were from the United States; notable among these were Mormons who were fleeing marginalization and persecution in the United States and arrived via the so-called Mormon Trail. In 1848, after the Mexican–American War, the region was annexed by the U.S., becoming part of the Utah Territory, which included what later became Colorado and Nevada. Disputes between the dominant Mormon community and the federal government delayed Utah's admission as a state: in 1896, after it agreed to outlaw polygamy, it was admitted as the 45th state.

People from Utah are known as Utahns. Slightly over half of all Utahns are Mormons, the vast majority of whom are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which has its world headquarters in Salt Lake City; Utah is the only state where a majority of the population belongs to a single church. The LDS Church greatly influences Utahn culture, politics, and daily life, though since the 1990s the state has become more religiously diverse as well as secular. (Full article...)

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Remnants of the Thistle schoolhouse, September 2006

Thistle is a ghost town in Spanish Fork Canyon in southeastern Utah County, Utah, United States. During the era of steam locomotives, the town's primary industry was servicing trains for the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (often shortened to D&RG, D&RGW, or Rio Grande). The fortunes of the town were closely linked with those of the railroad until the changeover to diesel locomotives, when the town started to decline.

In April 1983, a massive landslide (specifically a complex earthflow) dammed the Spanish Fork River. The residents were evacuated as nearly 65,000 acre-feet (80,000,000 m³) of water backed up, flooding the town. Thistle was destroyed; only a few structures were left partially standing. Federal and state government agencies have said this was the most costly landslide in United States history, the economic consequences of which affected the entire region. The landslide resulted in the first presidentially declared disaster area in Utah. (Full article...)

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Credit: National Park Service

Delicate Arch in Arches National Park

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November 11, 1965 - United Airlines Flight 227 crashed while attempting to land at Salt Lake City Municipal Airport.
November 19, 1915 - Joe Hill, a radical songwriter, labor activist and member of the Industrial Workers of the World, is executed by firing squad for murder.

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Roberts in 1934

Brigham Henry Roberts (March 13, 1857 – September 27, 1933) was a historian, politician, and leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He edited the seven-volume History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and independently wrote the six-volume Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Roberts also wrote Studies of the Book of Mormon—published posthumously—which discussed the validity of the Book of Mormon as an ancient record. Roberts was denied a seat as a member of United States Congress because of his practice of polygamy. (Full article...)

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Same-sex marriage has been legal in Utah since October 6, 2014. On December 20, 2013, the state began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples as a result of the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah's ruling in the case of Kitchen v. Herbert, which found that barring same-sex couples from marrying violates the U.S. Constitution. The issuance of those licenses was halted during the period of January 6, 2014 until October 6, 2014, following the resolution of a lawsuit challenging the state's ban on same-sex marriage. On that day, following the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to hear an appeal in a case that found Utah's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the state to recognize same-sex marriage.

Same-sex marriage became temporarily legal in Utah on December 20, 2013, as a result of a ruling from the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. The U.S. Supreme Court stayed the ruling on January 6, 2014, while the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver considered the case. On June 25, 2014, the Tenth Circuit upheld the lower court ruling, a decision that set a precedent for every state within the circuit. However, the Tenth Circuit stayed its ruling. On October 6, the Supreme Court refused to hear the state's appeal, requiring Utah to license and recognize same-sex marriages. Same-sex marriages that were performed in December 2013 and January 2014 are recognized by the federal government, but a ruling requiring the state of Utah to recognize such marriages was stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court on July 18, 2014. The state later asked the Tenth Circuit to dismiss its appeal in this case. (Full article...)

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...that George Dern (pictured), the 6th Governor of Utah and 54th War Secretary, is the grandfather of actor Bruce Dern and the great-grandfather of actress Laura Dern?
...that the fifth-worst mining accident in American history, the Winter Quarters Mine disaster, occurred in Scofield, Utah on May 1, 1900 when at least 200 workers died as the result of a coal dust explosion?
...that the Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation operates the Bingham Canyon Mine, the largest open-pit copper mine in the world near Copperton, Utah?

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Credit: Cacophony

Landscape Arch in Arches National Park

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The following are images from various Utah-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Map showing Utah in 1838 when it was part of Mexico. From Britannica 7th edition. (from History of Utah)
Image 2Salt Lake International Airport is the largest airport in Utah (from Utah)
Image 3Robbie Russell playing for Real Salt Lake (from Utah)
Image 4The Wasatch Front region has seen large growth and development despite the economic downturn. Shown is the City Creek Center project, a development in downtown Salt Lake City with a price tag of $1.5–2.5 billion. (from Utah)
Image 5TRAX light rail serves Salt Lake County (from Utah)
Image 6Deer Creek Reservoir (from Utah)
Image 7Arches National Park (from Utah)
Image 8Utah State Route 12 through Red Canyon in Dixie National Forest (from Utah)
Image 9The boundaries of the provisional State of Deseret—as proposed in 1849—are shown with a dotted line. The Utah Territory as organized in 1850, is shown in blue with black outline. (from History of Utah)

Map of counties in Utah by racial plurality, per the 2020 US Census

Legend

Non-Hispanic White

60–70%

70–80%

80–90%

90%+

Native American

50–60%

(from Utah)

Image 11Map showing Utah in 1838 when it was part of Mexico, Britannica 7th edition (from Utah)
Image 12The Olympic cauldron is lit by the 'Miracle on Ice' 1980 U.S. men's ice hockey team at the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 13The Scott Matheson Courthouse is the seat of the Utah Supreme Court. (from Utah)
Image 14The Utah State Capitol, Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 15Utah county boundaries (from Utah)
Image 16Deseret Village recreates Utah pioneer life for tourists. (from Utah)
Image 17The Eyring Science Center on the campus of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah (from Utah)
Image 18The Huntsman Cancer Institute on the campus of the University of Utah (U of U) in Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 19Pando, considered one of the heaviest and oldest organisms on Earth. (from Utah)
Image 20Pariette Wetlands (from Utah)
Image 21Western black widow spider (from Utah)
Image 22Farms and ranches (from Utah)
Image 23Mining has been a large industry in Utah since it was first settled. The Bingham Canyon Mine in Salt Lake County is one of the largest open pit mines in the world. (from Utah)
Image 24Bonneville Salt Flats (from History of Utah)
Image 25Jake Garn (top-right), former Senator of Utah (1974–1993), and astronaut on Space Shuttle flight STS-51-D (from Utah)
Image 26Little Cottonwood Canyon (from Utah)
Image 27FrontRunner commuter rail runs between Ogden and Provo via Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 28Fremont petroglyph, Dinosaur National Monument (from History of Utah)
Image 29The Utah Jazz playing against the Houston Rockets (from Utah)
Image 30Brigham Young led the first Mormon pioneers to the Great Salt Lake. (from Utah)
Image 31Sri Sri Radha Krishna (Hindu) Temple (from Utah)
Image 32The LDS Salt Lake Temple, the primary attraction in the city's Temple Square (from Utah)
Image 33Köppen climate types of Utah, using 1991–2020 climate normals. (from Utah)
Image 34Location where the Mormons entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, now the This is the Place Monument and Deseret Village (from History of Utah)
Image 35Hovenweep Castle, San Juan River basin (from History of Utah)
Image 36The California gull is the Utah state bird. (from Utah)
Image 37Snow in Rose Park, Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 38Zion National Park in southern Utah is one of five national parks in the state. (from Utah)
Image 39Downtown Salt Lake City in the early 20th century. (from History of Utah)
Image 40Utah population density map (from Utah)
Image 41American Fork Canyon (from Utah)
Image 42Children reading in Santa Clara, Utah, in 1940 (from Utah)
Image 43The Golden Spike where the First transcontinental railroad was completed in the U.S. on May 10, 1869, in Promontory, Utah (from Utah)
Image 44Bryce Canyon National Park Amphitheater (winter view) (from Utah)
Image 45"Welcome to Utah" sign (from Utah)
Image 46Kolob Canyons at Zion National Park (from Utah)
Image 47The Rocky Mountain elk is the Utah state mammal. (from Utah)
Image 48First Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 49Zion National Park (from History of Utah)
Image 50Joshua trees, yuccas, and cholla cactus occupy the far southwest corner of the state in the Mojave Desert (from Utah)
Image 51One out of every 14 flash memory chips in the world is produced in Lehi, Utah. (from Utah)
Image 52A sketch of Salt Lake City in 1860 (from Utah)
Image 53Navajo homeland in Monument Valley (from History of Utah)

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State facts

Nickname: The Beehive State
Capital and largest city: Salt Lake City
Total area: 219,887 km² (84,899 sq mi)
Population (2010 Census): 2,736,424
Date admitted to the Union: January 4, 1896

State symbols:

Animal: Rocky Mountain elk
Bird: California seagull
Fish: Bonneville cutthroat trout
Flower: Sego lily
Grass: Indian ricegrass
Insect: European honey bee
Tree: Quaking aspen
Fossil: Allosaurus
Gemstone: Topaz
Mineral: Copper
Motto: Industry
Rock: Coal
Snackfood: Green Jell-O
Song: "Utah, This Is the Place"

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