Utah

  • Population- 2,233,169
  • Capital- Salt Lake City
  • Largest cities– Salt Lake City, Provo, West Valley City
  • Time zone- Mountain
  • Date of Admission to the Union- January 4, 1896
  • Slogan- “Life elevated”
  • State website URL- www.utah.gov

Utah (from the Ute for “people of the mountains”), located in western United States, is one of the most geographically endowed states in the nation. The Rocky Mountains, with their jagged, snowy peaks, run through the northeast corner of the state. The Basin and Ridge Region extends over western Utah, famous for the Bonneville Salt Flats. South and eastern Utah is distinguished by the Colorado Plateau, high country marked by striking canyons and deep valleys. Southeastern Utah is known as Four Corners, neatly touching the borders of Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.

The State of Utah is closely associated with the Mormon religion. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints led by Brigham Young chose Utah as refuge in 1847. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexico War one year later, and for US$15 million the United States took possession of 525,000 square miles from Mexico, an area that included present-day Utah.

Nearly 70,000 settlers migrated to the region in the two decades that followed. The Mormon practice of polygamy created conflict that kept Utah from statehood until January 4, 1896 after the practice of polygamy had been outlawed in the state and officially renounced by the Mormon Church in the 1890 Manifesto.

Mormons cultivated lands with irrigation when they first arrived in the mid-19 th century, but very little acreage in Utah is devoted to farming. Mineral exploitation spurred economic growth in the region, chief among them the mining of copper.

WWII brought industrial growth and military installations to the state, and more recently the manufacture of spacecraft, computer hardware, software and electronics have contributed to a dynamic economy. Coupled with a healthy tourism trade and petroleum production, Utah is living up to its state nickname of “Industry”.