History of Utah
This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
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.
Prehistory
The
- use of the bow and arrow while hunting,
- building pithouseshelters,
- growing maize and probably beans and squash,
- building above ground granaries of adobe or stone,
- creating and decorating low-fired pottery ware,
- producing art, including jewelry and rock art such as pictographs.
The
These two later cultures were roughly contemporaneous, and appear to have established trading relationships. They also shared enough cultural traits that archaeologists believe the cultures may have common roots in the early American Southwest. However, each remained culturally distinct throughout most of their existence. These two well established cultures appear to have been severely impacted by climatic change and perhaps by the incursion of new people in about 1200 CE. Over the next two centuries, the Fremont and ancient Pueblo people may have moved into the American southwest, finding new homes and farmlands in the river drainages of Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico.
In about 1200,
In the early 16th century, the
Athabaskans were a hunting people who initially followed the bison, and were identified in 16th-century Spanish accounts as "dog nomads". The Athabaskans expanded their range throughout the 17th century, occupying areas the Pueblo peoples had abandoned during prior centuries. The Spanish first specifically mention the "Apachu de Nabajo" (Navaho) in the 1620s, referring to the people in the Chama valley region east of the San Juan River, and north west of Santa Fe. By the 1640s, the term Navaho was applied to these same people. Although the Navajo newcomers established a generally peaceful trading and cultural exchange with the some modern Pueblo peoples to the south, they experienced intermittent warfare with the Shoshonean peoples, particularly the Utes in eastern Utah and western Colorado.
At the time of European expansion, beginning with Spanish explorers traveling from Mexico, five distinct native peoples occupied territory within the Utah area: the Northern
European exploration
The Spanish explorer Francisco Vázquez de Coronado may have crossed into what is now southern Utah in 1540, when he was seeking the legendary Cíbola.
A group led by two Spanish
Fur trappers (also known as mountain men) including Jim Bridger, explored some regions of Utah in the early 19th century. The city of Provo was named for one such man, Étienne Provost, who visited the area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah is named for a brigade leader of the Hudson's Bay Company, Peter Skene Ogden who trapped in the Weber Valley. In 1846, a year before the arrival of members from the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints, the ill-fated Donner Party crossed through the Salt Lake valley late in the season, deciding not to stay the winter there but to continue forward to California, and beyond.
Settlement by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormon pioneers, first came to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847.[1] At the time, the U.S. had already captured the Mexican territories of Alta California and New Mexico in the Mexican–American War and planned to keep them. Those territories, including the future state of Utah, officially became United States territory upon the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848. The treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on March 10, 1848.
Upon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormon pioneers found no permanent settlement of Indians.
Colonizing the desert
Upon arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the Mormons had to make a place to live. They created irrigation systems, laid out farms, built houses, churches, and schools. Access to water was crucially important. Almost immediately, Brigham Young set out to identify and claim additional community sites. While it was difficult to find large areas in the Great Basin where water sources were dependable and growing seasons long enough to raise vitally important subsistence crops, satellite communities began to be formed.[6]
Shortly after the first company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, the community of
The experiences of returning members of the
Displacement of Native Americans
Prior to establishment of the Oregon and California trails and Mormon settlement, Indians native to the Salt Lake Valley and adjacent areas lived by hunting
State of Deseret (proposed)
Statehood was petitioned for in 1849-50 using the name Deseret. The proposed State of Deseret would have been quite large, encompassing all of what is now Utah, and portions of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico and California. The name of Deseret was favored by the LDS leader Brigham Young as a symbol of industry and was derived from a reference in the Book of Mormon. The petition was rejected by Congress and Utah did not become a state until 1896, following the Utah Constitutional Convention of 1895.
Utah Territory
In 1850, the Utah Territory was created with the Compromise of 1850, and Fillmore (named after President Fillmore) was designated the capital. In 1856, Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital.
Slavery
The first group of pioneers brought African slaves with them, making Utah the only place in the western United States to have African slavery.[8] Three slaves, Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby, came west with this first group in 1847.[9] The settlers also began to purchase Indian slaves in the well-established Indian slave trade,[10] as well as enslaving Indian prisoners of war.[11][page needed][12] In 1850, 26 slaves were counted in Salt Lake County.[13] Slavery didn't become officially recognized until 1852, when the Act in Relation to Service and the Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners were passed. Slavery was repealed on June 19, 1862, when Congress prohibited slavery in all US territories.
Utah War
Disputes between the
After news of their polygamous practices spread, the members of the LDS Church were quickly viewed by some as un-American and rebellious. In 1857, after news of a possible rebellion spread, President James Buchanan sent troops on the Utah expedition to quell the growing unrest and to replace Brigham Young as territorial governor with Alfred Cumming. The expedition was also known as the Utah War.
As fear of invasion grew, Mormon settlers had convinced some
Express riders had brought the news 1,000 miles from the Missouri River settlements to Salt Lake City within about two weeks of the army's beginning to march west. Fearing the worst as 2,500 troops (roughly 1/3rd of the army then) led by General Albert Sidney Johnston started west, Brigham Young ordered all residents of Salt Lake City and neighboring communities to prepare their homes for burning and evacuate southward to Utah Valley and southern Utah. Young also sent out a few units of the Nauvoo Legion (numbering roughly 8,000–10,000), to delay the army's advance. The majority he sent into the mountains to prepare defenses or south to prepare for a scorched earth retreat. Although some army wagon supply trains were captured and burned and herds of army horses and cattle run off no serious fighting occurred. Starting late and short on supplies, the United States Army camped during the bitter winter of 1857–58 near a burned out Fort Bridger in Wyoming. Through the negotiations between emissary Thomas L. Kane, Young, Cumming and Johnston, control of Utah territory was peacefully transferred to Cumming, who entered an eerily vacant Salt Lake City in the spring of 1858. By agreement with Young, Johnston established the army at Fort Floyd 40 miles away from Salt Lake City, to the southwest.
Transcontinental telegraph
Salt Lake City was the last link of the
Civil War
Because of the American Civil War, federal troops were pulled out of Utah Territory (and their fort auctioned off), leaving the territorial government in federal hands without army backing until General Patrick E. Connor arrived with the 3rd Regiment of California Volunteers in 1862. While in Utah, Connor and his troops soon became discontent with this assignment wanting to head to Virginia where the "real" fighting and glory was occurring. Connor established Fort Douglas just three miles (5 km) east of Salt Lake City and encouraged his bored and often idle soldiers to go out and explore for mineral deposits to bring more non-Mormons into the state. Minerals were discovered in Tooele County, and some miners began to come to the territory. Conner also solved the Shoshone Indian problem in Cache Valley Utah by luring the Shoshone into a midwinter confrontation on January 29, 1863. The armed conflict quickly turned into a rout, discipline among the soldiers broke down, and the Battle of Bear River is today usually referred to by historians as the Bear River Massacre. Between 200 and 400 Shoshone men, women and children were killed, as were 27 soldiers, with over 50 more soldiers wounded or suffering from frostbite.
Beginning in 1865,
On May 10, 1869, the
Polygamy
During the 1870s and 1880s, federal laws were passed and federal marshals assigned to enforce the laws against polygamy. In the 1890 Manifesto, the LDS Church leadership dropped its approval of polygamy citing divine revelation. When Utah applied for statehood again in 1895, it was accepted. Statehood was officially granted on January 4, 1896.
Women's suffrage
The Mormon issue made the situation for women the topic of nationwide controversy. In 1870 the Utah Territory, controlled by Mormons, gave women the right to vote. However, in 1887, Congress disenfranchised Utah women with the Edmunds–Tucker Act. In 1867–96, eastern activists promoted women's suffrage in Utah as an experiment, and as a way to eliminate polygamy. They were Presbyterians and other Protestants convinced that Mormonism was a non-Christian cult that grossly mistreated women.[19] The Mormons promoted woman suffrage to counter the negative image of downtrodden Mormon women. With the 1890 Manifesto clearing the way for statehood, in 1895 Utah adopted a constitution restoring the right of women's suffrage. Congress admitted Utah as a state with that constitution in 1896.[20]
Vigilante violence
Though less numerous than other
- William Torrington in Carson City (then a part of Utah territory), 1859
- Salt Lake City, 1866[22]
- 3 unidentified men at Wahsatch, winter of 1868
- A Black man in Uintah, 1869
- Charles A. Benson in Logan, 1873
- Ah Sing (Chinese man) in Corinne, 1874
- Thomas Forrest in St. George, 1880
- Salt Lake City, 1883[23]
- John Murphy in Park City, 1883
- George Segal (Japanese man) in Ogden, 1884
- Joseph Fisher in Eureka, 1886
- Robert Marshall (Black man) in Castle Gate, 1925[21]
Other lynchings in Utah territory include multiple instances of
20th and 21st century
Beginning in the early 20th century, with the establishment of such national parks as
Beginning in 1939, with the establishment of
During the late 20th century, the state grew quickly. In the 1970s, growth was phenomenal in the suburbs.
In 2012, the State of Utah passed the
World War II
Utah families, like most Americans everywhere, did their utmost to assist in the war effort. Tires, meat, butter, sugar, fats, oils, coffee, shoes, boots, gasoline, canned fruits, vegetables, and soups were rationed on a national basis. The school day was shortened and bus routes were reduced to limit the number of resources used stateside and increase what could be sent to soldiers.[30]
Geneva Steel was built to increase the steel production for America during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had proposed opening a steel mill in Utah in 1936, but the idea was shelved after a couple of months. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war and the steel plant was put into progress. In April 1944, Geneva shipped its first order, which consisted of over 600 tons of steel plate. Geneva Steel also brought thousands of job opportunities to Utah. The positions were hard to fill as many of Utah's men were overseas fighting. Women began working, filling 25 percent of the jobs.
As a result of Utah's and Geneva Steels contribution during the war, several
One of the sectors of the beachhead of
It is estimated that 1,450 soldiers from Utah were killed in the war.[31]
See also
- History of African Americans in Utah
- History of the Colorado Plateau
- History of the Rocky Mountains
- History of the Western United States
- Territorial evolution of Utah
Notes
- ^ Millennial Star, 12:177
- ^ "Salt Lake City History". Utah.com. Retrieved 2011-03-25.
- ISBN 0-87480-494-9The citation of the quoted material from Heber C. Kimball is to Journal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, July 31, 1847
- ^ NORTHWESTERN BANDS OF SHOSHONE INDIANS v. UNITED STATES. United States Supreme Court, April 9, 1945 89 L.Ed. 985; 65 S.Ct. 690; 324 U.S. 335
- ISBN 978-0-292-79109-1
- OCLC 30473917
- ^ Pages 6 to 24,
'The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre, Brigham D. Madsen, foreword by Charles S. Peterson, University of Utah Press (1985, paperback 1995), trade paperback, 286 pages, ISBN 0-87480-494-9
- ^ Negro Slaves in Utah by Jack Beller, Utah Historical Quarterly, vol. 2, no. 4, 1929, pp. 124-126
- ^ "Slavery in Utah Involved Blacks, Whites, Indians, and Mexicans". The History Blazer. No. April 1995. Utah State Historical Society. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
- ^ Martha C. Knack. Boundaries Between: The Southern Paiutes, 1775-1995.
- ^ ISBN 9780674027671.
- ^ Andrés Reséndez. The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America.
- ^ Arave, Lynn (January 5, 2007). "Tidbits of history — Unusual highlights of Salt Lake County". Deseret News. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
- ^ Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley Jr, Glen M. Leonard. Massacre at Mountain Meadows (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008) p. 184-185.
- ^ Krakauer, Jon. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith. New York: Doubleday, 2003. Print.
- ^ "The Pacific Telegraph Act of 1860". cprr.org. Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum. 2003. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
- S2CID 154571496.
- ^ "Ceremony at "Wedding of the Rails," May 10, 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah". World Digital Library. 1869-05-10. Retrieved 2013-07-21.
- ^ Sarah Barringer Gordon, "The Liberty of Self-Degradation: Polygamy, Woman Suffrage, and Consent in Nineteenth-Century America," Journal of American History Vol. 83, No. 3 (Dec., 1996), pp. 815–847 in JSTOR
- ^ Beverly Beeton, "Woman Suffrage in Territorial Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly, March 1978, Vol. 46 Issue 2, pp 100–120
- ^ .
- ^ "The Life and Murder of Thomas Coleman". Salt Lake City: University of Utah. Retrieved 2023-05-07.
- ^ "William 'Sam Joe' Harvey". University of Utah. Retrieved 2023-06-08.
- ISBN 1-57636-151-9.
- ^ Wimmer, Ryan (2010-12-13). The Walker War Reconsidered (Master of History thesis). Brigham Young University. p. 145.
- ^ Reeve, W. Paul (April 2016). "Circleville Massacre, A Tragic Incident in the Black Hawk War". Utah State Department of Cultural & Community Engagement.
- ^ James B. Allen, Still the Right Place: Utahs Second Half-Century of Statehood, 1945–1995 (2017).
- ^ "Utah to seize own land from government, challenge federal dominance of Western states : 'Transfer of Public Lands Act' demands Washington relinquish 31.2 million acres by Dec. 31". Washington Times. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
- ^
Kochan, Donald J. (2013). "Public Lands and the Federal Government's Compact-Based 'Duty to Dispose': A Case Study of Utah's H.B. 148 — The Transfer of Public Lands Act". Brigham Young University Law Review. 2013 (5): 61. SSRN 2430886.
- ^ "World War 2". Hutchings Museum. 24 November 2017. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
- ^ "Geneva Steel". Hutchings Museum. 5 July 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
References
- May, Dean L. Utah: A People's History. Bonneville Books, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1987. ISBN 0-87480-284-9.
Further reading
- Alford, Kenneth L. ed. Utah and the American Civil War: The Written Record (2017)
- Allen, James B. Still the Right Place: Utahs Second Half-Century of Statehood, 1945–1995 (Provo: Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, 2017). 661 pp.
- ISBN 0-252-01296-8, (1985; Paperback, 1986).
- Baldridge, Kenneth W. The Civilian Conservation Corps in Utah, 1933–1942: Remembering Nine Years of Achievement (2019) online review
- Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of Utah (1890) online.
- Campbell, David E., John C. Green, and J. Quin Monson. Seeking the promised land: Mormons and American politics (Cambridge UP, 2014).
- Ching, Jacqueline. Utah: Past and Present (Rosen, 2010).
- Esshom, Frank Ellwood (1913), Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, Salt Lake City: Utah Pioneers Book Publishing Company, OCLC 2286984
- Flores, Dan L. "Zion in Eden: Phases of the environmental history of Utah." Environmental Review: ER 7.4 (1983): 325–344. online
- Iber, Jorge. "El Diablo Nos Esta Llevando': Utah Hispanics and the Great Depression." Utah Historical Quarterly 66 (1998): 159–177.
- May, Dean L. Utah: A people's history (U of Utah Press, 1987).
- Peterson, Charles S. and Brian Q. Cannon. The Awkward State of Utah: Coming of Age in the Nation, 1896–1945. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2015. ISBN 978-1-60781-421-4, scholarly survey
- Peterson, Charles S. Utah: A history (WW Norton & Company, 1984), popular survey.
- Poll, Richard D., and William P. MacKinnon. "Causes of the Utah War Reconsidered." Journal of Mormon History 20.2 (1994): 16–44. online
- Powell, Allan Kent, ed. (1994), Utah History Encyclopedia, Salt Lake City, Utah: OCLC 30473917
- Rogers, Brent M. Unpopular Sovereignty: Mormons and the Federal Management of Early Utah Territory (U of Nebraska Press, 2017).
- Saunders, Richard L. "Placing Juanita Brooks among the Heroes (or Villains) of Mormon and Utah History." Utah Historical Quarterly 87.3 (2019): 218–237. online
- Scott, Patricia Lyn, and Linda Thatcher. Women in Utah history: Paradigm or paradox (University Press of Colorado, 2005). online
- Tetrault, Lisa. "When Women Won the Right to Vote: A History Unfinished" Utah Historical Quarterly 89.3 (2021): 180–197. online
- Turner, John G. Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet (Belknap, 2012).
- Woodbury, Angus M. "A history of southern Utah and its National Parks." Utah Historical Quarterly 12.3/4 (1944): 111–222. online
Historiography
- Topping, Gary. Utah historians and the reconstruction of Western history (U of Oklahoma Press, 2003).
- Topping, Gary. Leonard J. Arrington: A Historian's Life (Arthur H Clark, 2008) on Mormons.