Portal:Utah

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Utah (/ˈjuːtɑː/ YOO-tah, /ˈjuːtɔː/ ^ⓘ YOO-taw) is a state in the western United States. It is one of the Mountain States, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northeast, Idaho to the north, and Nevada to the 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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Chamberlin circa 1905

Ralph Vary Chamberlin (January 3, 1879 – October 31, 1967) was an American biologist, ethnographer, and historian from Salt Lake City, Utah. He was a faculty member of the University of Utah for over 25 years, where he helped establish the School of Medicine and served as its first dean, and later became head of the zoology department. He also taught at Brigham Young University and the University of Pennsylvania, and worked for over a decade at the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, where he described species from around the world.

Chamberlin was a prolific taxonomist who named over 4,000 new animal species in over 400 scientific publications. He specialized in arachnids (spiders, scorpions, and relatives) and myriapods (centipedes, millipedes, and relatives), ranking among the most prolific arachnologists and myriapodologists in history. He described over 1,400 species of spiders, 1,000 species of millipedes, and the majority of North American centipedes, although the quantity of his output was not always matched with quality, leaving a mixed legacy to his successors. He also did pioneering ethnobiological studies with the Goshute and other indigenous people of the Great Basin, cataloging indigenous names and cultural uses of plants and animals. Chamberlin was celebrated by his colleagues at the University of Utah, however he was disliked among some arachnologists, including some of his former students. After retirement he continued to write, publishing on the history of education in his home state, especially that of the University of Utah. (Full article...)

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Credit: National Park Service

Delicate Arch in Arches National Park

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January 4, 1896 - Utah becomes the 45th state in the United States.

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Thomas Fitch (January 27, 1838 – November 12, 1923) was an American lawyer and politician. He defended President Brigham Young of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other church leaders when Young and his denomination were prosecuted for polygamy in 1871 and 1872. He also successfully defended Virgil, Morgan and Wyatt Earp along with Doc Holliday when they were accused of murdering Billy Clanton, Tom and Frank McLaury during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881.

Fitch wrote for and edited a number of newspapers during his life and served in multiple political offices. He was a stout Republican and campaigned for Abraham Lincoln across Nevada. He developed a reputation as a capable lawyer and a terrific speaker and was nicknamed the "silver-tongued orator of the Pacific." He was a member of the California State Assembly in 1862 and 1863. In 1864, he was living in Virginia City, Nevada, where he edited the Virginia Daily Union. He became friends with Mark Twain who credited him with improving his writing. Fitch was a delegate to the Nevada state constitutional convention and also served as a member of the Utah state constitutional convention. He was a member of the Arizona Territorial Legislature in 1879. (Full article...)

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East Entrance Sign

The historical buildings and structures of Zion National Park represent a variety of buildings, interpretive structures, signs and infrastructure associated with the National Park Service's operations in Zion National Park, Utah. Structures vary in size and scale from the Zion Lodge to road culverts and curbs, nearly all of which were designed using native materials and regional construction techniques in an adapted version of the National Park Service Rustic style. A number of the larger structures were designed by Gilbert Stanley Underwood, while many of the smaller structures were designed or coordinated with the National Park Service Branch of Plans and Designs. The bulk of the historic structures date to the 1920s and 1930s. Most of the structures of the 1930s were built using Civilian Conservation Corps labor.

The version of the National Park Service Rustic style that was adopted at Zion was less extreme in its rustic character than that employed at other parks. Compared with the Bryce Canyon Lodge, the Zion Park Lodge used smaller elements of timber and stonework, and employed milled lumber in place of rough log elements. This reflected the more settled character of the Zion area, which retained farms and irrigation systems at the time the first visitor facilities were built. (Full article...)

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...that Brent Scowcroft (pictured) (born in Ogden, Utah) was the United States National Security Advisor under Presidents Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush?
...that Pando, a clonal colony of a single male Quaking Aspen in Utah near Fish Lake and Bryce Canyon National Park, is the heaviest known organism in existence?
...that Natalie Williams, who attended Taylorsville High School and UCLA, is the first woman to earn collegiate All-America honors in both basketball and volleyball in the same year?

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Credit: Shannon Martin

Tower of Babel in Arches National Park

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

Image 1Köppen climate types of Utah, using 1991–2020 climate normals. (from Utah)
Image 2Salt Lake International Airport is the largest airport in Utah (from Utah)
Image 3The Huntsman Cancer Institute on the campus of the University of Utah (U of U) in Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 4Location 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 5Deseret Village recreates Utah pioneer life for tourists. (from Utah)
Image 6Downtown Salt Lake City in the early 20th century. (from History of Utah)
Image 7TRAX light rail serves Salt Lake County (from Utah)
Image 8Utah county boundaries (from Utah)
Image 9Children reading in Santa Clara, Utah, in 1940 (from Utah)
Image 10The Rocky Mountain elk is the Utah state mammal. (from Utah)
Image 11The 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)
Image 12Bonneville Salt Flats (from History of Utah)
Image 13The LDS Salt Lake Temple, the primary attraction in the city's Temple Square (from Utah)
Image 14The 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 15Navajo homeland in Monument Valley (from History of Utah)
Image 16The Utah State Capitol, Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 17One out of every 14 flash memory chips in the world is produced in Lehi, Utah. (from Utah)
Image 18The California gull is the Utah state bird. (from Utah)
Image 19Fremont petroglyph, Dinosaur National Monument (from History of Utah)
Image 20Brigham Young led the first Mormon pioneers to the Great Salt Lake. (from Utah)
Image 21The Golden Spike where the First transcontinental railroad was completed in the U.S. on May 10, 1869, in Promontory, Utah (from Utah)
Image 22The 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 23Utah State Route 12 through Red Canyon in Dixie National Forest (from Utah)
Image 24FrontRunner commuter rail runs between Ogden and Provo via Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 25The Utah Jazz playing against the Houston Rockets (from Utah)
Image 26Little Cottonwood Canyon (from Utah)
Image 27"Welcome to Utah" sign (from Utah)
Image 28Utah population density map (from Utah)
Image 29Sri Sri Radha Krishna (Hindu) Temple (from Utah)
Image 30Jake Garn (top-right), former Senator of Utah (1974–1993), and astronaut on Space Shuttle flight STS-51-D (from Utah)
Image 31Snow in Rose Park, Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 32The Scott Matheson Courthouse is the seat of the Utah Supreme Court. (from Utah)
Image 33Arches National Park (from Utah)
Image 34Zion National Park in southern Utah is one of five national parks in the state. (from Utah)
Image 35Farms and ranches (from Utah)
Image 36The Eyring Science Center on the campus of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah (from Utah)
Image 37Bryce Canyon National Park Amphitheater (winter view) (from Utah)
Image 38Joshua trees, yuccas, and cholla cactus occupy the far southwest corner of the state in the Mojave Desert (from Utah)
Image 39Pando, considered one of the heaviest and oldest organisms on Earth. (from Utah)
Image 40A sketch of Salt Lake City in 1860 (from Utah)
Image 41Map showing Utah in 1838 when it was part of Mexico. From Britannica 7th edition. (from History of Utah)
Image 42Kolob Canyons at Zion National Park (from Utah)
Image 43American Fork Canyon (from Utah)
Image 44Western black widow spider (from Utah)
Image 45Map showing Utah in 1838 when it was part of Mexico, Britannica 7th edition (from Utah)
Image 46Zion National Park (from History of Utah)
Image 47Deer Creek Reservoir (from Utah)
Image 48Robbie Russell playing for Real Salt Lake (from Utah)
Image 49First Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 50Pariette Wetlands (from Utah)
Image 51Hovenweep Castle, San Juan River basin (from History of Utah)
Image 52Mining 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)

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)

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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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