Utah
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Utah. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a State in the Western Division of the North American Union; bounded by Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and Idaho; admitted to the Union, Jan. 4, 1896; number of counties, 27; capital, Salt Lake City; area 84,990 square miles; pop. (1890) 210,779; (1900) 276,749; (1910) 373,351; (1920) 449,396. Topography. The surface of Utah is similar to a basin surrounded by high mountains. The interior has an elevation of 4,000 feet above sea-level, and is crossed in a N. E. and S. W. direction by the Wasatch Mountains with an altitude of 12,000 feet. E. of the Wasatch Mountains are the Uintah, near the Wyoming boundary, and W. are numerous detached hills, ridges, and isolated mountains. Lofty plateaus occupy the S. E. The principal rivers are the Green and Grand, uniting in the S. E. to form the Colorado. Nearly all the others empty into the Great Salt Lake, or similar salt lakes with no outlets, which occur throughout the W. of the State. The Great Salt Lake is about 80 miles in ength and has an average width of 40 miles; its waters are salty, and it has no communication with the ocean. It is connected with Utah Lake by the Jordan river. Sevier Lake, another large body, has no outlet, but receives the North Sevier river. Utah contains part of the great cañon of the Colorado, and the Great American Desert, an extensive sandy and waterless plain W. of the Great Salt Lake. Geology and Mineralogy. - The rocks are mostly primitive, of Archæan origin, and showing everywhere evidences of volcanic action. Limestone of carboniferous deposit is found in many ridges. Granite, gneiss, jasper, syenite, porphyry, quartz, serpentine, gypsum, marble, calcareous spar, and sandstones occur in large quantities throughout the State. Iron ores, coal, gold, and silver, copper, zinc, salt, asphaltum, and borax form the principal mineral resources. The production of gold in 1920 was 100,446 fine ounces, valued at $2,076,400. The silver production was 11,564,155 fine ounces, valued at $11,739,121. The production of copper in 1919 was 146,178,- 008 pounds, compared with a production in 1918 of 230,964,908. Utah ranked fourth among the States in 1919 in the production of copper. The coal production in 1919 was 4,570,000 tons, a decrease of 567,000 tons over the production of the year previous. Other important mineral products are manganese ores, gypsum, petroleum, sulphur, and zinc. Salt, obtained from the Great Salt Lake, is also an important mineral product. Agriculture. The soil is as a rule arid and sandy, and in many places so impregnated with salt as to be entirely useless. Much, however, has been reclaimed by irrigation and rendered profitably productive. In the highland portion of the State rainfall is sufficient for cultivation and the mountains and high valleys produce an abundance of fine grass, in consequence of which stock raising and dairy farming have been greatly developed. The acreage, value and production of the principal crops, in 1919, were as follows: corn, 24,000 acres, production 432,000 bushels, value $648,000; oats, 72,000 acres, production 2,448,000 bushels, value $2,390,000; barley, 20,000 acres, production 600,000 bushels, value $846,000; wheat, 304,000 acres, production 3,682,000 bushels, value $7,732,000; hay, 453,000 acres, production 938,000 tons, value $20,542,000; potatoes, 17,000 acres, acres, production 2,397,000 bushels, value $3,284,000. Manufactures. There were, in 1914, 1,109 manufacturing establishments in the State, employing 13,894 wage earners. The capital invested was $71,843,- 000; the wages paid amounted to $10,852,000; the value of the materials used was $62,233,000; and the value of the finished product was $87,112,000. The principal manufactures were beet sugar, railroad cars, flour and grist, packed meat, printing and publishing, woolen goods, bread and other bakery products, foundry and machine shop products, preserved and canned fruits, malt liquors and leather goods. Salt Lake City is the principal manufacturing center. Banking. On Oct. 31, 1919, there were reported 26 National banks in operation, having $3,455,000 in capital, $3,363,000 in outstanding circulation, and $15,109,000 in United States bonds. There were also 99 State and stock savings banks with $7,240,000 in capital, and $2,862,000 in surplus. The exchanges at the United States clearing house at Salt Lake City during the year ending Sept. 30, 1919, amounted to $778,- 679,000, an increase over those of the preceding year of $68,314,000. Education. The percentage of illiteracy in the State is extremely low. There were enrolled in the public schools, in 1918, 110,193 pupils. The entire school population was 134,887, and there were in the elementary high schools 289 male and 2,115 female teachers. In the junior high schools there were 75 male and 164 female teachers, and in the high schools, 211 male and 215 female teachers. The disbursements for educational purposes during the year amounted to $5,549,398. There are a State Normal School and a Church Teachers' Summer School, maintain maintained by the Mormons. The institutions for higher education include the University of Utah, State School of Mines, State Agricultural College, Brigham Young University, Brigham Young College, and the Latter Day Saints University. Churches. The strongest denominations in the State are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; Roman Catholic; Methodist Episcopal; Protestant Episcopal; Presbyterian, North; and Congregational. Railways. The railway mileage in the State in 1919 was approximately 2,447 miles. The roads having the longest mileage are the Denver and Rio Grande, and the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake railroads. Finances. The receipts for the fiscal year 1917-1918 were $8,838,332, and the disbursements $8,556,750. There was a The assessed valuation in 1919 was about $675,000,000. The bonded debt of the State amounts to about $3,500,000. Charities and Corrections. - The institutions under State control include a prison in Salt Lake City, Industrial School at Ogden, School for Deaf and Blind at Ogden, and the Mental Hospital at Provo. State Government. The governor is elected for a term of four years. Legislative sessions are held biennially and are limited in length to 60 days each. The Legislature has 18 members in the Senate, and 46 in the House. There are two Representatives in Congress. History. The region embracing Utah was acquired from Mexico in 1848, and the Territory was organized in 1850, comprising Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and Nevada. The Mormons led by Brigham Young settled in Salt Lake City valley in 1847, and rapidly occupied the fertile valleys of the Territory, few Gentiles settling there till the extension of railroads made it more easily accessible. At a later period the Gentile population rapidly increased, and vigorously opposed the supremacy of the Mormons, who controlled all government positions. A bill passed by Congress in 1882 disfranchised all polygamists and annulled the act of the Territorial Legislature extending the franchise to women. In 1887 a bill was passed, which confiscated the property of the Mormon Church and the perpetual Emigration Fund, with the exception of the church buildings and parsonages, and devoted it to the support of public schools in the Territory. The Mormons renounced polygamy in 1890. For a considerable time previously efforts had been made to have Utah admitted into the Union; but this was not acceptable to Congress till after the abolition of polygamy. A bill was passed in December, 1893, making Utah a State. It was not finally consummated, however, till Jan. 4, 1896, when it entered into Statehood as the 45th State of the Union.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
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: Land area, square miles 82,327 Water area 2,601 Population (1906) 346,873 Salt Lake City 61,202 Ogden 17,165 No. counties 27 Members of state senate 18 Representatives 46 Salary of governor $4,000 Assessed valuation of property $146,000,000 Bonded indebtedness $900,000 Acres of cultivated land (irrigated) 700,000 Agricultural Products-- Corn, bushels 323,000 Wheat, bushels 5,825,000 Oats, bushels 2,624,000 Potatoes, bushels 1,920,000 Barley, bushels 540,000 Alfalfa, tons 938,000 Wool, pounds 4,865,000 Beet sugar, pounds 88,000,000 Wool, pounds 14,700,000 Domestic Animals-- Horses 125,000 Mules 3,000 Milk cows 79,000 Other cattle 324,000 Sheep 2,967,000 Swine 61,000 Manufacturing establishments (1905) 979 Capital invested $26,000,000 Operatives 8,052 Raw material $25,000,000 Output of manufactures $39,000,000 Mineral Output-- Copper, pounds 66,418,000 Coal, tons 1,947,000 Smelter $50,000,000 Lead, pounds 123,400,000 Gold $5,121,000 Silver $7,528,000 Zinc $232,000 Salt, barrels 345,000 Miles of railway 2,276 Teachers in public schools 2,010 Pupils enrolled 73,042 Percentage of male teachers 28.1 Average monthly salary of teachers $61.91 Average annual expenditure per pupil $34.26 See Great Salt Lake ; Mormons ; Salt Lake City; Immigration ; Irrigation ; Young 2026 Editor's Note: Utah was fourteen years a state when this was written — admitted 1896 after the church renounced plural marriage, the condition this entry's era debated endlessly. See Utah statehood . (Ed: BR 2026-07-09)