Utah

u'ta, a state of the American Union. It was named for the Ute tribe of Indians. It lies between the 37th and the 42d parallels and between the 109th and 114th meridians. Except that a corner is lost to Wyoming on the northeast, the state is rectangular in form. The area is 84,928 square miles, very nearly that of Minnesota. The most distinct physical region is an inland basin occupied by Great Salt Lake. The Wasatch Mountain range crosses the state from north to south, dividing the basin just mentioned from the head waters of the Colorado. The state lies at a high altitude. The lowest point is in Salt Lake Valley, 4,210 feet above sea level. The average annual rainfall, as observed for a number of years, is about ten and one-half inches. Only about four inches may be expected during the growing season from April to October. The mountains are for the greater part without timber. The plains are dried and alkaline. The air is pure and dry. The climate is delightful. Vast areas are naturally fertile, lacking only water to produce abundant crops. The border of Great Salt Lake was settled in 1847 by a migration of Mormons from Illinois, led by Brigham Young. They chose this site because it was remote from American settlements, and was at the time a part of Mexican territory. Missionaries were maintained in various parts of the United States, as well as in England, Germany, and Scandinavia. A constant stream of Mormon immigration poured in. Many of the immigrants traveled on foot from the nearest point on the Missouri River to Salt Lake City, drawing their small belongings behind them in handcarts. The settlers instituted an extensive system of irrigation and soon converted a portion of the "Great American Desert" into a fertile garden. The colonists suffered much from droughts and from swarms of Rocky Mountain locusts, but they established friendly relations with the Indians and were not molested by them.

Brigham Young, the head of the church, forbade all speculation in land and water. He also prohibited the settlers from working the mines, acting on the principle that the discovery of precious metals would bring in a horde of rough characters not desired by the infant colony. Five hundred wagons were sent to the frontier annually to assist immigrants in reaching the valley.

In 1848 the region was ceded to the United States by Mexico. In the following year the Mormons organized a provisional government for the territory of Deseret and petitioned Congress for admission to the Union. In 1850 Congress organized the territory of Utah instead. In June of the same year the first newspaper, the Deseret Evening News, was established. In 1861 the overland telegraph line reached Salt Lake City. May 10, 1869, the Union Pacific and the Pacific railways, built from the Missouri and the Pacific respectively, met at Promontory on the northern shore of Salt Lake. The Mormons built a branch line at once from Salt Lake City to Ogden. Up to this time merchandise had been brought in by means of packhorses and wagons. The building of railroads brought in a wave of Gentiles, as all non-Mormons are called. Gold, silver, lead, and iron mines were opened up in every direction. Large mills and smelters were erected. To protect themselves against Gentile competition in merchandise, the Mormons organized Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution. It is still doing a business of between $4,000,000 and $5,000,000 a year. In 1882 an act known as the Edmunds Law was passed by Congress forbidding polygamy, a practice adhered to by a certain element in the Mormon church. In 1890 the church formally adopted a rule forbidding plural marriages.

Utah was admitted to the Union January 4, 1896, the forty-fifth state of the Union. Women have voted since 1896. A system of public schools has been established. An agricultural college is maintained at Logan. The state university is located at Salt Lake City. It has a faculty of fifty members and a body of about 1,000 students. The population in 1900 was returned at 276,749.

STATISTICS. The following statistics are the latest to be had from trustworthy sources:

See Great Salt Lake; Mormons; Salt Lake City; Immigration; Irrigation; Young