Utah had a tough time becoming a state. They first applied as the state of Deseret. It would have been twice as big as Texas. It would have included all of modern-day Utah and Nevada, most of Arizona and California (including Los Angeles and San Diego), and parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon. Congress couldn’t agree to giving that much land and power to one state, so they whittled it down to the current size.
There were still problems, though. One difficulty was the large population of members of the Latter-day Saints. Of course, the United States stands for freedom of religion. However, at that time, the LDS allowed polygamy, which was against the law in the United States. Also, it was customary for members of the church to vote as they were directed by the church, which was again contrary to U.S. law. Utah’s LDS pioneers had to agree to accept U.S. laws in order to join the Union. It took 47 years for Utah to be admitted. They finally achieved statehood in 1896.
As you can see from this screenshot of Google Earth’s street view, Utah is not densely populated. In fact, the number of people per square mile in Utah is about one third of the national average. That doesn’t mean there are no cities or urban attractions in Utah.
We visited the Lagoon Amusement Park in Farmington, for example.
Salt Lake City
We also enjoyed the Red Iguana in Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City is the capital of the state. You can arrange a virtual tour of the capitol buildings via Zoom. The city was founded in 1847 by Brigham Young and LDS pioneers.
This is the “This Is The Place” Monument located at This Is The Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City. It was built in 1847, and honors the diverse people who built Salt Lake City.
Here’s another view of the monument, with bronze statues representing early trappers and fur traders.
Old Deseret Village is a living history village with more than 60 pioneer buildings showing the way of life of Utah’s early settlers. It is also in This Is the Place State Park.
The Salt Lake City metropolitan area has more than one million residents. It has museums of natural history, local history, and fine art. But it is still surrounded by natural beauty.
Natural beauty
Natural beauty is the best thing about Utah, we felt. The state has five gorgeous national parks, each with a different geographic character. There are also many state parks.
Utah is very mountainous, with nearly as much of the state consisting of mountains as Colorado. The tallest peak is 13,528 miles above sea level.
We found sunflowers here just as in the plains states.
But a lot of Utah’s impressive color comes from the minerals, as in Arches National Park near Moab.
Utah’s economy
It is not surprising that a lot of Utah’s economy is centered on tourism Outdoor adventures are a keystone of the economy. There are other industries that are important to the state:
- Agriculture focuses on hay and alfalfa. Utah’s Department of Agriculture has an impressive collection of lesson plans on agriculture in the Beehive State. Since it is the Beehive State, we were surprised that beekeeping is not actually a major industry in Utah — this state produce just 1-2% of all U.S. honey. The beehive, and the bees, are important symbols of industry and social organization in Utah.
- Information technology is a fast-growing field in Utah, with companies like Adobe (headquartered in California but using Utah as a hub) and Qualtrics leading the way.
- Manufacturing, especially in defense and aeronautics, is important. Biotechnology is an area of growth.
- Mining has been an important industry here for a long time. Utah produces copper, gold, coal, and industrial salt.
Check out the state symbols of Utah:
