Portal:Utah

The Utah Portal

Utah 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 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 approximately 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 peoples, 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 Congress 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 Utah's culture, politics, and daily life. However, since the 1990s, Utah has become both more religiously diverse and more secular. (Full article...)

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Satellite photo from August 2018 after years of drought, reaching near-record lows. Note the difference in colors between the northern and southern portions of the lake, the result of a railroad causeway.

The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particularly through lake-effect snow. It is a remnant of Lake Bonneville, a prehistoric body of water that covered much of western Utah.

The United States Geological Survey has estimated that the historical average size of the lake (1847-1986) covers about 1,700 square miles (4,400 km²). However, its area can fluctuate substantially due to its low average depth of 16 feet (4.9 m). In the 1980s, it reached a historic high of 3,300 square miles (8,500 km²), and the West Desert Pumping Project was established to mitigate flooding by pumping water from the lake into the Great Salt Lake Desert. In 2021, after years of sustained drought and increased water diversion upstream of the lake, it fell to its lowest recorded area at 950 square miles (2,500 km²), falling below the previous low set in 1963. (Full article...)

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The Virgin River Narrows in Zion National Park

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October 14, 1922 - The University of Utah beat Brigham Young University 49-0 to begin a college football rivalry known as the Holy War.

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Osmond in 2010

Donald Clark Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, actor, television host and former teen idol. He gained fame performing with four of his elder brothers as the Osmonds, earning several top ten hits and gold albums. In the early 1970s, Osmond began a solo career, earning several additional top ten songs.

He hosted the 1976–1979 variety series Donny & Marie, with his sister, Marie Osmond. The Donny & Marie duo also released a series of top ten hits and gold albums and hosted a syndicated and Daytime Emmy Award–nominated 1998–2000 talk show. Donny & Marie headlined a Las Vegas residency at the Flamingo Las Vegas from 2008 to 2019. (Full article...)

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The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as Ancestral Pueblo peoples or the Basketmaker-Pueblo culture, were an ancient Native American culture of Pueblo peoples spanning the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, and southwestern Colorado. They are believed to have developed, at least in part, from the Oshara tradition, which developed from the Picosa culture.

The Ancestral Puebloans lived in a range of structures that included small family pit houses, larger structures to house clans, grand pueblos, and cliff-sited dwellings for defense. They had a complex network linking hundreds of communities and population centers across the Colorado Plateau. They held a distinct knowledge of celestial sciences that found form in their architecture. The kiva, a congregational space that was used mostly for ceremonies, was an integral part of the community structure. (Full article...)

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...that until 1995 Upheaval Dome (pictured) in Canyonlands National Park was thought to be a salt dome?
...that Merlin Olsen (born in Logan, Utah) is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and also starred in his own television series, Father Murphy?
...that the chemistry building at the University of Utah is named for Henry Eyring, developer of the Eyring equation?

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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 1Children reading in Santa Clara, Utah, in 1940 (from Utah)
Image 2Zion National Park (from History of Utah)
Image 3The 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 4Map showing Utah in 1838 when it was part of Mexico. From Britannica 7th edition. (from History of Utah)
Image 5Hovenweep Castle, San Juan River basin (from History of Utah)
Image 6Little Cottonwood Canyon (from Utah)
Image 7The Scott Matheson Courthouse is the seat of the Utah Supreme Court. (from Utah)
Image 8The Rocky Mountain elk is the Utah state mammal. (from Utah)
Image 9First Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 10Western black widow spider (from Utah)
Image 11The Utah State Capitol, Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 12The LDS Salt Lake Temple, the primary attraction in the city's Temple Square (from Utah)
Image 13Sri Sri Radha Krishna (Hindu) Temple (from Utah)
Image 14Utah population density map (from Utah)
Image 15"Welcome to Utah" sign (from Utah)
Image 16Location 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 17A sketch of Salt Lake City in 1860 (from Utah)
Image 18Köppen climate types of Utah, using 1991–2020 climate normals. (from Utah)
Image 19Downtown Salt Lake City in the early 20th century. (from History of Utah)
Image 20The 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 21Pando, considered one of the heaviest and oldest organisms on Earth. (from Utah)
Image 22FrontRunner commuter rail runs between Ogden and Provo via Salt Lake City (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 24Pariette Wetlands (from Utah)
Image 25TRAX light rail serves Salt Lake County (from Utah)
Image 26Map showing Utah in 1838 when it was part of Mexico, Britannica 7th edition (from Utah)
Image 27Kolob Canyons at Zion National Park (from Utah)
Image 28Jake Garn (top-right), former Senator of Utah (1974–1993), and astronaut on Space Shuttle flight STS-51-D (from Utah)
Image 29Bryce Canyon National Park Amphitheater (winter view) (from Utah)
Image 30The Huntsman Cancer Institute on the campus of the University of Utah (U of U) in Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 31Fremont petroglyph, Dinosaur National Monument (from History of Utah)
Image 32Zion National Park in southern Utah is one of five national parks in the state. (from Utah)
Image 33Robbie Russell playing for Real Salt Lake (from Utah)
Image 34Utah county boundaries (from Utah)
Image 35One out of every 14 flash memory chips in the world is produced in Lehi, Utah. (from Utah)
Image 36Brigham Young led the first Mormon pioneers to the Great Salt Lake. (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)

Image 38Deer Creek Reservoir (from Utah)
Image 39Joshua trees, yuccas, and cholla cactus occupy the far southwest corner of the state in the Mojave Desert (from Utah)
Image 40Deseret Village recreates Utah pioneer life for tourists. (from Utah)
Image 41Utah State Route 12 through Red Canyon in Dixie National Forest (from Utah)
Image 42The California gull is the Utah state bird. (from Utah)
Image 43Snow in Rose Park, Salt Lake City (from Utah)
Image 44Navajo homeland in Monument Valley (from History of Utah)
Image 45The Golden Spike where the First transcontinental railroad was completed in the U.S. on May 10, 1869, in Promontory, Utah (from Utah)
Image 46The Utah Jazz playing against the Houston Rockets (from Utah)
Image 47American Fork Canyon (from Utah)
Image 48Salt Lake International Airport is the largest airport in Utah (from Utah)
Image 49The Eyring Science Center on the campus of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah (from Utah)
Image 50Bonneville Salt Flats (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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