This is a list of hillside letters (also known as mountain monograms) in the U.S. state of Utah. [1] [2] [3] Monograms in Utah include two of the oldest, at Brigham Young University (1906) and the University of Utah (1907). These symbols are so much a part of the culture that locals typically refer to the universities themselves as "The Y" and "The U", respectively. Across the state, there are at least 87 hillside letters, acronyms, and messages.
†Originally painted as "1914 D", as a class "gift." The original plan was to paint over each year, but the next year the decision was made to paint and maintain "DIXIE"
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its west by Nevada. Utah also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast. Of the fifty U.S. states, Utah is the 13th-largest by area; with a population over three million, it is the 30th-most-populous and 11th-least-densely populated. Urban development is mostly concentrated in two areas: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which is home to roughly two-thirds of the population and includes the capital city, Salt Lake City; and Washington County in the southwest, with more than 180,000 residents. Most of the western half of Utah lies in the Great Basin.
Washington County is a county in the southwestern corner of Utah, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 180,279, making it the fifth-most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is St. George. The county was created in 1852 and organized in 1856. It was named after the first President of the United States, George Washington. A portion of the Paiute Indian Reservation is in western Washington County. Washington County comprises the St. George, UT Metropolitan Statistical Area.
St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northeasternmost part of the Mojave Desert, immediately south of the Pine Valley Mountains, which mark the southern boundary of the Great Basin. St. George lies slightly northwest of the Colorado Plateau, which ends at the Hurricane Fault. The city is 118 miles (190 km) northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and 300 miles (480 km) south-southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, on Interstate 15.
Juanita Pulsipher Brooks was an American historian and author, specializing in the American West and Mormon history. Her most notable contribution was her book related to the Mountain Meadows Massacre, to which her grandfather Dudley Leavitt was sometimes linked, and which caused tension between her and the church authorities. She also made significant archival contributions in the form of collected pioneer diaries documenting early Mormon history in the Dixie, Utah area. Brooks remained a faithful believer throughout her life.
Dixie is a nickname for the populated, lower-elevation area of south-central Washington County, the southwest corner of the State of Utah. The area lies in the northeastern Mojave Desert, south of Black Ridge and west of the Hurricane Cliffs. Its winter climate is significantly more mild than the rest of Utah.
Utah Tech University (UT), formerly known as Dixie State University (DSU) and similar names, is an open, inclusive, comprehensive, polytechnic 4-year public university in St. George, Utah. The university offers doctoral degrees, master's degrees, bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and certifications. As of fall 2022, there are 12,556 students enrolled at UT.
KCSG is a television station licensed to Cedar City, Utah, United States, airing programming from the classic television network MeTV. Owned and operated by network parent Weigel Broadcasting, the station maintains studios on West 1600 South Street in St. George, and its transmitter is located on Cedar Mountain, southeast of Cedar City. KCSG has a network of 11 broadcast translators that extend its over-the-air coverage throughout the state. It is also available on DirecTV, Dish Network, Galaxy 19, and cable systems throughout the geographically large Salt Lake City media market.
Dixie National Forest is a United States National Forest in Utah with headquarters in Cedar City. It occupies almost two million acres (8,000 km²) and stretches for about 170 miles (270 km) across southern Utah. The largest national forest in Utah, it straddles the divide between the Great Basin and the Colorado River. In descending order of forestland area it is located in parts of Garfield, Washington, Iron, Kane, Wayne, and Piute counties. The majority of forest acreage lies in Garfield County.
Y Mountain is a mountain located directly east of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, United States. The Slide Canyon, or Y Mountain Trail, leads to a large block Y located 1.06 miles (1.71 km) from a parking area at the mountain's base with an elevation gain of 1,074 feet (327 m). This hillside letter was built over a hundred years ago as the insignia for BYU. For years the trail to the Y has been one of the most hiked trails in Utah Valley and provides a scenic view of Provo and Orem, the rest of the many cities in Utah Valley and Utah Lake. The trail is also regularly used by hikers, bikers, paragliders and hunters to access the backcountry in the Slide Canyon area.
Hillside letters or mountain monograms are a form of geoglyph common in the Western United States, consisting of large single letters, abbreviations, or messages emblazoned on hillsides, typically created and maintained by schools or towns. There are approximately 500 of these geoglyphs, ranging in size from a few feet to hundreds of feet tall. They form an important part of the western cultural landscape, where they function as symbols of school pride and civic identity.
The Block U is a large concrete hillside letter on Mount Van Cott in Salt Lake City, Utah. The stylized "U" is a logo of the University of Utah and is located just north of the university’s campus. It is one of the earliest hillside letters. It sits at 1,600 metres (5,200 ft) above sea level. Lights outlining the Block U flash when the Utah Utes athletic teams win and burn steady when they are defeated.
The Utah Tech Trailblazers football team, formerly known as the Dixie State Trailblazers, represent Utah Tech University in the sport of American football. The Trailblazers compete as a member of the United Athletic Conference (UAC) at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Originally a junior college program, the school joined the NCAA at the Division II level in 2006 and played in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference from 2008 through 2016 and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference for the 2017, 2018, and 2019 seasons. In July 2020, they began the transition to NCAA Division I status by moving to the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in all sports except football.
The Utah Tech Trailblazers men's basketball team represents Utah Tech University, in St. George, Utah as a member of NCAA Division I and the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Previously, the school's program participated in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), at the NCAA Division II level.