Territory of Utah | |||||||||
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Organized incorporated territory of the United States | |||||||||
1850–1896 | |||||||||
Territorial coat of arms (1876) | |||||||||
The Utah Territory upon its creation, with modern state boundaries shown for reference | |||||||||
Capital |
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Government | |||||||||
• Type | Organized incorporated territory | ||||||||
Governor | |||||||||
• 1851–58 | Brigham Young | ||||||||
• 1858–61 | Alfred Cumming | ||||||||
• 1875–80 | George W. Emery | ||||||||
• 1880–86 | Eli Houston Murray | ||||||||
• 1886–89, 1893–96 | Caleb Walton West | ||||||||
Legislature | Utah Territorial Assembly | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
1849 | |||||||||
• Utah Organic Act | 9 September 1850 | ||||||||
• Colorado Territory formed | February 28, 1861 | ||||||||
• Nevada Territory formed | March 2, 1861 | ||||||||
• Wyoming Territory formed | July 25, 1868 | ||||||||
4 January 1896 | |||||||||
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The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, [2] until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, [3] the 45th state. At its creation, the Territory of Utah included all of the present-day State of Utah, most of the present-day state of Nevada save for Southern Nevada (including Las Vegas), much of present-day western Colorado, and the extreme southwest corner of present-day Wyoming.
When the Mormon pioneers began settling the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 and for many years afterward, they relied on existing institutions within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for civil government. [4]
The Utah Territory was organized by an Organic Act of Congress in 1850, on the same day that the State of California was admitted to the Union and the New Mexico Territory was added for the southern portion of the former Mexican land. The creation of the territory was part of the Compromise of 1850 that sought to preserve the balance of power between slave and free states. With the exception of a small area around the headwaters of the Colorado River in present-day Colorado, the United States had acquired all the land of the territory from Mexico with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848. After passing the Senate, the House of Representatives voted in favor of organizing the Territory of Utah, 97–85. [5]
The creation of the Territory was partially the result of a petition sent by the pioneers under the leadership of Brigham Young. The petition had asked Congress to allow them to enter the Union as the State of Deseret, with its capital as Salt Lake City and with proposed borders that encompassed the entire Great Basin and the watershed of the Colorado River, including all or part of nine current U.S. states. The Mormon settlers had drafted a state constitution in 1849 and Deseret had become the de facto government in the Great Basin by the time of the creation of the Utah Territory. [6]
Following the organization of the territory, Young was inaugurated as its first governor on February 3, 1851. In the first session of the territorial legislature in September, the legislature adopted all the laws and ordinances previously enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret.
During Brigham Young's governorship, he exerted considerable power over the territory. An example being that in 1873, the territory legislature gave Young the exclusive right to manufacture whiskey. [7]
Mormon governance in the territory was regarded as controversial by much of the rest of the nation, partly fed by continuing lurid newspaper depictions of the polygamy practiced by the settlers, which itself had been part of the cause of their flight from the United States to the Great Salt Lake basin after being forcibly removed from their settlements farther east.
Although the Mormons were the majority in the Great Salt Lake basin, the western area of the territory began to attract many non-Mormon settlers, especially after the discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1858. In 1861, partly as a result of this, the Nevada Territory was created out of the western part of the territory. Non-Mormons also entered the easternmost part of the territory during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, resulting in the discovery of gold at Breckenridge in Utah Territory in 1859. In 1861 a large portion of the eastern area of the territory was reorganized as part of the newly created Colorado Territory. [6]
In 1869 the territory approved and ratified women's suffrage. [8]
46 years elapsed between the organization of the territory and its admission to the Union in 1896 as the State of Utah, long after the admission of territories created after it. In contrast, the Nevada Territory, although more sparsely populated, was admitted to the Union in 1864, only three years after its formation, and Colorado was admitted in 1876.[ citation needed ]
The Utah state coat of arms appears on the state seal and state flag. The beehive was chosen as the emblem for the provisional State of Deseret in 1848 and represents the state's industrious and hard-working inhabitants, and the virtues of thrift and perseverance. The sego lilies on either side symbolize peace. [9] [10]
Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
1850 | 11,380 | — |
1860 | 40,273 | +253.9% |
1870 | 86,336 | +114.4% |
1880 | 146,608 | +69.8% |
1890 | 210,779 | +43.8% |
Source: 1850–1890 [11] |
In 1850, nine churches with regular services in the Utah Territory were unclassified by historian Edwin Gaustad in his Historical Atlas of Religion in America (1962), but were probably LDS churches. [12] [13] In the 1890 United States census, 25 counties in the Utah Territory reported the following population counts (after seven reported the following counts in the 1850 United States census): [11]
1890 Rank | County | 1850 Population | 1890 Population |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Salt Lake | 6,157 | 58,457 |
2 | Utah | 2,026 | 23,768 |
3 | Weber | 1,186 | 22,723 |
4 | Cache | – | 15,509 |
5 | Sanpete | 365 | 13,146 |
6 | Summit | – | 7,733 |
7 | Box Elder | – | 7,642 |
8 | Davis | 1,134 | 6,751 |
9 | Sevier | – | 6,199 |
10 | Juab | – | 5,582 |
11 | Emery | – | 5,076 |
12 | Millard | – | 4,033 |
13 | Washington | – | 4,009 |
14 | Tooele | 152 | 3,700 |
15 | Wasatch | – | 3,595 |
16 | Beaver | – | 3,340 |
17 | Piute | – | 2,842 |
18 | Uintah | – | 2,762 |
19 | Iron | 360 | 2,683 |
20 | Garfield | – | 2,457 |
21 | Morgan | – | 1,780 |
22 | Kane | – | 1,685 |
23 | Rich | – | 1,527 |
24 | Grand | – | 541 |
25 | San Juan | – | 365 |
Indian reservations | 4,645 | – | |
Utah Territory | 11,380 | 210,779 | |
Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It borders Colorado to its east, Wyoming to its northeast, Idaho to its north, Arizona to its south, and Nevada to its west. Utah also touches a corner of New Mexico in the southeast. 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.
Iron County is a county in southwestern Utah, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 57,289. Its county seat is Parowan, and the largest city is Cedar City.
Tooele County is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 72,698. Its county seat and largest city is Tooele. The county was created in 1850 and organized the following year.
Deseret is a term derived from the Book of Mormon, a scripture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Latter Day Saint groups. According to the Book of Mormon, "deseret" meant "honeybee" in the language of the Jaredites, a group in the Book of Mormon that were led by God to the Americas after the construction of the Tower of Babel. Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley suggested an etymology by associating the word "Deseret" with the ancient Egyptian deshret, a term he translated as the "bee crown" of the Lower Kingdom, but which non-LDS scholarly sources translate as the "Red Crown".
The Territory of Nevada (N.T.) was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until October 31, 1864, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Nevada.
The State of Deseret was a proposed state of the United States, promoted by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who had founded settlements in what is today the state of Utah. A provisional state government operated for nearly two years in 1849–50, but was never recognized by the United States government. The name Deseret derives from the word for "honeybee" in the Book of Mormon.
The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Latter-day Saints, who migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the Midwest to the Salt Lake Valley in what is today the U.S. state of Utah. At the time of the planning of the exodus in 1846, the territory comprising present-day Utah was part of the Republic of Mexico, with which the U.S. soon went to war over a border dispute left unresolved after the annexation of Texas. The Salt Lake Valley became American territory as a result of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war.
John Williams Gunnison was an American military officer and explorer.
Since Utah became a U.S. state in 1896, it has sent congressional delegations to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives. Each state elects two senators to serve for six years. Before the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were elected by the Utah State Legislature. Members of the House of Representatives are elected to two-year terms, one from each of Utah's four congressional districts. Before becoming a state, the Territory of Utah elected a non-voting delegate at-large to Congress from 1850 to 1896.
The Deseret News is a multi-platform newspaper based in Salt Lake City, published by Deseret News Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Founded in 1850, it was the first newspaper to be published in Utah. The publication's name is from the geographic area of Deseret identified by Utah's pioneer settlers, and much of the publication's reporting is rooted in that region.
The Mormon corridor are the areas of western North America that were settled between 1850 and approximately 1890 by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who are commonly called "Mormons".
The International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers is a women's organization dedicated to preserving the history of the original settlers of the geographic area covered by the State of Deseret and Utah Territory, including Mormon pioneers. The organization is open to any woman who is: (1) A direct-line descendant or legally adopted direct-line descendant with a pioneer ancestor; (2) the pioneer ancestor is a person who traveled to or through the geographic area covered by the State of Deseret/Utah Territory between July 1847 and 10 May 1869 ; (3) over the age of eighteen, and of good character. Travel through the geographic area covered by the State of Deseret/Utah Territory can be either east to west, west to east, north to south, or south to north.
The History of Utah is an examination of the human history and social activity within the state of Utah located in the western United States.
John Rockey Park was a prominent educator in the Territory and State of Utah in the late 19th century, and in many ways was the intellectual father of the University of Utah.
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the U.S. state of Utah.
The Utah Territory during the American Civil War was far from the main operational theaters of war, but still played a role in the disposition of the United States Army, drawing manpower away from the volunteer forces and providing its share of administrative headaches for the Lincoln Administration. Although no battles were fought in the territory, the withdrawal of Union forces at the beginning of the war allowed the Native American tribes to start raiding the trails passing through Utah. As a result, units from California and Utah were assigned to protect against these raids. Mineral deposits found in Utah by California soldiers encouraged the immigration of non-Mormon settlers into Utah.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Utah:
In the history of the American frontier, pioneers built overland trails throughout the 19th century, especially between 1840 and 1847 as an alternative to sea and railroad transport. These immigrants began to settle much of North America west of the Great Plains as part of the mass overland migrations of the mid-19th century. Settlers emigrating from the eastern United States did so with various motives, among them religious persecution and economic incentives, to move from their homes to destinations further west via routes such as the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails. After the end of the Mexican–American War in 1849, vast new American conquests again encouraged mass immigration. Legislation like the Donation Land Claim Act and significant events like the California Gold Rush further encouraged settlers to travel overland to the west.
The Deseret Telegraph Company was a telegraphy company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The company was organized in 1867 to direct operation of the recently completed Deseret Telegraph Line; its largest stakeholder was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Deseret line ran north and south through the Utah Territory, connecting the numerous settlements with Salt Lake City and the First Transcontinental Telegraph. The company was dissolved in 1900 when its assets, including the Deseret line, were sold to the Western Union Telegraph Company.
Rio Virgen County is a former county in the U.S. state of Utah. It was established by the Territory of Utah in February 1869.