Utah History

Early Utah History

• Native Americans in Utah
  • Indigenous peoples have lived in the area now known as the state of Utah for thousands of years. Today they are divided into five main groups: Utes, Goshutes, Paiutes, Shoshone, and Navajo. Each occupies a different region within the state, many of which regions extend across borders into other states.
• Spanish Expeditions
  • Spain originally claimed large parts of Utah before the United States expanded westward. In 1765, Juan Maria Antonia Rivera and his party may have been some of the first Euro-Americans to explore parts of Utah. 11 years later in 1776, Dominguez and Escalante traveled through Utah, in what would become a famous expedition.
• Mountain men and trappers
  • For around the next 85 years mainly fur trappers and traders would pass through the state. Jedediah Smith and Jim Bridger were among the first, later followed by Peter Skene Ogden, Miles Goodyear, and Etienne Provost.
  • James Bridger was one of the greatest frontiersmen of Utah and American history. During his lifetime he was a hunter, trapper, trader, Indian fighter, and guide, and one of only a few trappers to remain in the Rockies after the demise of the fur trade.
• Mormons
  • Joseph Smith formed a religion in New York in 1830
  • It became knows as the Mormon church with its members being referred to as "Mormons" because of the book Joseph Smith wrote/translated, known as the book of Mormon.
  • They moved to Kirkland, Ohio, then Independence, Missouri, then Nauvoo, Illinois.
  • They never got along with their neighbors for many reasons: they were a large group of people, so that made people on the frontier of America nervous because they had economic and political power. They were somewhat secretly practicing polygamy, which almost all Americans hated. And they generally thought they were better than others.
  • Joseph Smith, the Mormon leader was imprisoned for inciting violence and destroying a printing press in Nauvoo that printed a pamphlet against him and accusing him basically of polygamy.
  • Interesting tidbit you won’t often hear, but there wasn’t a clear succession in the Mormon church at the time. Joseph Smith had believed that his son would take over for him as leader eventually, but his son was too young. His brother had been killed as well, and several of the most prominent leaders had left or been excommunicated. So it wasn’t clear who was going to lead and the mormon church actually split into several groups. Brigham Young led one sect, the one that came out to Utah. And other groups followed other leaders forming churches we now know as the Community of Christ among others
  • So Brigham Young and others decided to leave Illinois and leave America to come west
  • They set out in groups with carts and moved West
  • Before reaching the Salt Lake valley, where we are now, Brigham Young met Jim Bridger. In June 1847 Bridger had his first encounter with the Mormon pioneers near the mouth of the Little Sandy River. At this gathering, Bridger and Brigham Young discussed the merits of settling in the Salt Lake Valley. Also during this meeting Bridger drew his map on the ground for Young depicting the region with great accuracy and conveyed to the Mormon leader his misgivings regarding the agricultural productivity of the Salt Lake area. This first meeting between the Mormons and Bridger appears to have been pleasant, yet this relationship was to become a bittersweet one for Bridger.
  • Brigham Young and his company pressed on and came through Emigration canyon, right here
  • Brigham Young apparently looked at the desolate valley and said “This is the right place”
  • July 24, 1847 is recognized as the day the Mormon Pioneers entered into the Salt Lake Valley. This day is now a holiday celebrated in Utah, known as Pioneer Day