The building that currently houses the Provo City Library was not always a library. The structure has taken on many roles in the community throughout the years, and it started as the home of the Brigham Young Academy, Brigham Young University’s predecessor. Architect Don Carlos Young designed the building, with help from the principal of the Academy, Karl G. Maeser. When completed in 1892, the impressive edifice was one of the largest school houses in the West. A contemporary newspaper article reporting on the dedication event described, “Visitors have been arriving since yesterday morning and today the street leading to the Union Pacific and Rio Grande Western depots was crowded with old and new students of the academy.” The Brigham Young Academy dedication was a momentous event in Provo’s history. This significant day in 1892 brought Utahns from all across the state together to celebrate the beginning of the building's rich history. Over the years, the name of the building changed to fit whatever need that it was currently filling. It was once the “High School Building” and later the “Education Building.” After many years of use, the building closed in 1968 and stood vacant for almost 20 years. During this time the building deteriorated and endured significant damage due to negligence. Eventually, fearing the historic structure might be demolished, the Brigham Young Academy Foundation led an effort to preserve the building, fronting an initiative in the late 1990s to preserve the building for a new purpose. Through their fundraising and lobbying, the city preserved the building, and in 2001, Provo dedicated the former academy building as its new Provo City Library. The building continues to host the Provo City Library, whose mission today is to “provide [the] community with an inviting center for information, instruction, learning, leisure, and cultural opportunities.” The vision of this historic library includes providing excellent services, staff, and collections, promoting digital literacy, and providing opportunities to participate in educational programs and projects. The library website offers tours of its resources and collections as well as a calendar of events appealing to various age groups such as “Teen Talk,” “Minecraft Club,” and “Author Links” with various authors. Similarly, the Provo library’s collection of literature spans from children’s books, to adult research materials, to rare historic books in the library’s Special Collections. In the twenty-first century, the Provo library has made significant efforts to digitize its collection, and it offers an extensive database of online books, movies, and music. Library card holders can manage their books, appointments, and other library needs online or through the Provo City Library’s App. The library also hosts an exhibit area on its top floor, known as “The Attic,” which displays art, science, and artifacts for the community to view during specific hours.  As the Library’s mission statement suggests, the library also offers rooms for events and recreation. Originally built for the academic use of Brigham Young Academy, the historic building that houses Provo City Library continues to uplift and educate all those who enter its doors. 

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For years after Latter-day Saint pioneers arrived in Utah, they struggled to grow food and obtain resources to sustain themselves in their new homes. Brigham Young, hoping to encourage self-sufficiency among the member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called Mormons), called many of them to settle in southern Utah to grow cotton. Because of the desolate desert conditions in the area, failed harvests, and other challenges, some of the Saints became disillusioned with the idea of continued life in the area. Despite the doubts of the settlers, Young hoped they would establish a thriving community in the village that would become known as St. George. To encourage this, he called for the Latter-day Saints in St. George to build a tabernacle where they could gather and worship. Although they faced many challenges, the St. Georgians followed Young’s counsel and began construction on the building in June 1863. Using sandstone from the surrounding area, they built up the tabernacle according to the design of Miles Romney, a local architect. Skilled carpenters and masons from the area contributed to constructing the tabernacle. Despite their efforts, the city’s people struggled to complete the edifice. Although they finished the basement, where they held meetings by 1869, the tower and other parts of the tabernacle were not completed until years later. The windows in particular were an obstacle to completing the building. One worker, David Cannon, labored tirelessly trying to raise the $800 needed for the windows. As the deadline to pay for the windows approached, he had only received $200 because of the locals’ destitute circumstances. Cannon had no perceivable way to raise the necessary funds. The night before the payment was due, a local Latter-day Saint named Peter Neilson Sr. felt a spiritually impressed to donate his life’s savings, $600, toward the construction of the tabernacle. Although he struggled with the idea, Neilson decided to make the sacrifice. The next morning, the day the funds were due, he visited Cannon and presented him with the exact amount of money he needed to purchase the windows.  Because of the sacrifices of Neilson and many others like him, the tabernacle was completed on May 7, 1876. Visitors to the St. George Tabernacle today cannot understand the true significance of the edifice without understanding the many sacrifices of those who built it. Although these settlers struggled to survive in the harsh desert environment, they still sacrificed labor, time, money, and many other resources for years to build the tabernacle. In the words of Reid Neilson, a descendant of Peter Neilson, the Saints built the tabernacle because “it was more than just an ordinary building—[it was] a monument to their faith and devotion.” The St. George Tabernacle is truly a monument to the faith and sacrifices of the early pioneers in southern Utah.

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During a land survey conducted in 1991, remnants of an ancient Native American village were found in the Draper, Utah area along the Jordan River.  Stone tools, weapons, corn, animal bones, and the remains of two ancient dwellings were discovered in the area, some of which dated back to Archaic Period between 800 and 480 BC. The artifacts suggest those living in the 3,000-year-old village were corn farmers. Archeologists believe this is one of the earliest known locations of corn farming in the Great Basin. In 2009, 252 acres were set aside to preserve and protect the wetland and wildlife in the area as well as conserve its cultural heritage. Jason Walker, chairman of the Northwestern Band of Shoshone, described said his ancestors roamed the area and described the land as sacred. The preserve was named Galena Soo’nkahni, which is Shoshone for “many dwellings.” It is protected by Utah Open Lands and managed by the Utah Department of Forestry, Fire and State Lands. To pay homage to the former inhabitants of the area, as well as all Native American tribes in Utah, the the state’s eight indigenous tribes and the Utah Division of Indian Affairs partnered to create a memorial was constructed in the preserve, which they dedicated in March 2015. Utah Transit Authority, who had planned to build a FrontRunner station on the preserve before it was protected in 2009, donated money for the monument to demonstrate their commitment to recognizing cultural landmarks. The memorial is a natural sundial, with 8 posts for each of the Utah tribes: Skull Valley Band of Goshute, Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation, Ute Indian Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe, Paiute Indian Tribe, and Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation. Each post has information on a tribe and sits in the direction that best matches the tribe’s location in Utah. The monument and preserve hold deep significance for many Native Americans today as it honors their ancestors and provides an opportunity for others to learn about Utah’s tribes. At the monument’s dedication, Shirley Silversmith, director of the Utah Division of Indian Affairs, said, “We don’t want them to be forgotten,” she said. “We have to have a way to remember that our ancestors lived here.”

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The Farmington Rock Chapel has long provided the community of Farmington with a place to worship and to gather. Before its construction, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints living in Farmington met for church services in one another’s homes, the schoolhouse, and courthouse, but none were large enough—or appropriate enough in the case of the courthouse—for all to meet in. When a windstorm caused a rockslide which provided enough rocks, sand, and gravel to build a chapel for themselves, Farmington’s Latter-day Saints considered it a miracle. They began construction on the chapel in 1861 and finished in 1863. The biggest event of general significance in the Rock Chapel was the formation of the Church’s Primary Association, a subunit of the Church dedicated to children’s education and spiritual development, on August 11, 1878 by Aurelia Spencer Rogers, a Farmington resident, and Eliza R. Snow, the general Relief Society President of the Church. They held the first Primary meeting on August 25, 1878 in the Farmington Rock Chapel, where 115 children attended. Rogers felt that forming a children’s organization in the Church was necessary because the children of Farmington had too much unsupervised time. She and Snow founded the Primary Association to teach children lessons on gospel principles, civic and cultural duties, and good manners. The Primary eventually spread to other congregations, and it was adopted churchwide in 1880. Since the organization of the Primary, the Rock Chapel has been the home of several congregations and the site of events of varying significance. Latter-day Saints continue to worship in the Rock Chapel to this day. The Church added three additional wings to the original in 1941 and 1980. Because of its significance to the residents of Farmington, the chapel was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in October 2011, and tourists can visit the Rock Chapel as part of a historic trail along Farmington’s Main Street.

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Eureka, Utah is a semi-ghost town located within the East Tintic Mountains in northern Juab County. Originally named Ruby Hollow, the town was renamed “Eureka” in 1870 after one of the “Big Four” mines in the area: Bullion Beck and Champion, Gemini, Centennial Eureka, and Eureka Hill. The largest town among a cluster of mining settlements, by 1910 Eureka was the ninth-largest city in Utah with a population of about 3,500 people. About a decade later, in 1922, Eureka’s Chief Consolidated Mining Company became the largest silver producer in the United States. Around the turn of the 20th century, a newspaper described it as “one of the most progressive and prosperous mining towns in this western country.” Despite its economic prosperity through World War I, the mines near Eureka became less productive during the Great Depression. Mining nearly came to an end by the 1950s. In 2019, the US Census Bureau reported that only about 107 people still lived in Eureka.

Eureka has connections with several illustrious figures in Utah’s history. Eureka was home to the second “Golden Rule” store built in 1909 by James Cash Penney. Expanding his business from this location, Penney developed the J.C. Penney chain of department stores. Jesse Knight, known for financially contributing to Brigham Young University where a campus building bears his name, also has ties to Eureka. Knight invested in the Humbug mine in 1886, and using the profits of his investment, Knight acquired several additional mines in the Tintic Mountains. He built a company town near Eureka called Knightsville, where he built a meetinghouse, school, and amusement building, though the settlement has since become a ghost town. Eureka is also the birthplace of Frank J. Zamboni, the inventor of the Zamboni, a vehicle used to clean and resurface the ice in ice rinks. A building which locals say was the original summer cabin of Porter Rockwell is also found along Eureka’s Main street. Eureka celebrates this history with a western diner named Porter’s Place.

Although people still live in Eureka, residents maintain its historic, mining town feel. In 1979, Eureka was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and several place markers provide insight into the town’s history. Main Street is full of historic, repurposed, or abandoned buildings. For example, the post office built in 1894 was purchased by the “Everybody’s” merchandising company in 1926. It currently serves as a shop today with products and souvenirs linked to Eureka’s rich history. Multiple historic churches are scattered along Eureka’s Main Street, most built in the Gothic Revival Style. The former Miner’s Union Hall has been repurposed as the Tintic Mining Museum. Some buildings, however, retain their original purposes, such as the Juab County Courthouse which still serves as the County Courthouse and City Jail.

Eureka is picturesque both in its architecture and in its surrounding landscape. It is a fitting home base for anyone looking to learn about Utah’s mining history, explore its nearby ghost towns such as Knightsville, Homansville, Dividend, or Silver City, or enjoy some of the outdoor scenic wonders that Juab County has to offer.

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The events that led to the creation of Ephraim Pioneer Cemetery reflect the tumult of early Euro-American settlement in Utah. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints established Fort Ephraim in 1854 near, the geographic center of Utah. These first settlers in Ephraim were far from their homelands; most were converts to the Church who had immigrated from Denmark. Consequently, the settlement became known as “Little Denmark.” When Chief Wakara met Brigham Young in 1849 he invited Latter-day Saints to settle in Central Utah, but amicable relations between Euro-American settlers and the indigenous peoples of the region did not last for long. The Walker War fought between Euro-American Latter-day Saints and Utes brought violence to the Ephraim region from 1853 to 1854, just as Fort Ephraim was being built. The first person from Fort Ephraim to die was a Mr. Manwaring, though the details surrounding his death are unknown. The fort was small and did not have a cemetery in the plans, so the settlers received permission to bury Manwaring in Spring City, ten miles to the north. When the funeral party was just two miles out of Ephraim there came word of an imminent attack. Stuck vulnerably between the two settlements, the settlers went no farther but quickly buried Mr. Manwaring’s body and returned to the safety of the fort. These unexpected circumstances determined where Ephraim residents would be buried until 1905, when residents began using the Park Cemetery in town. Ephraim Pioneer Cemetery hosts the graves of various inhabitants whose diverse occupations were useful to Fort Ephraim’s functions. They were masons, blacksmiths, stonecutters, millers, harness makers, shingle makers and more. Nearly all the names on the cemetery’s headstones end in the Scandinavian “son” or “sen.” Where a place of birth was added, it nearly always indicates Denmark and occasionally Sweden. The history of violence in the area is also etched on the cemetery’s headstones. For example, the marker for Christian Thorpe indicates he was a second lieutenant in the Blackhawk War, fought between the United States and Sauk leader Black Hawk. Additionally, a granite stone marks the burial site of seven individuals who were killed in 1865. Other cemetery residents were victims of drowning, and disease was also a prevalent threat, as evidenced by the many children’s graves. The cemetery acts as a reminder of the many risks early pioneers faced in Utah. Approaching Ephraim from the north, it is easy to miss the small clump of trees marking the cemetery off in the distance west of the highway. The cemetery is more than a mile out of town and is accessible only by a dirt road.  The cemetery has gone through periods of neglect and renewal through the decades. In 1990, a committee organized to transform the derelict cemetery to a more respectful resting place. In 1995, the Daughters of Utah Pioneers added plaques to inform visitors about the history of the site. In 2017, a local Boy Scout collected old farm equipment from the mid to late-1800s and placed them in the cemetery as part of an Eagle Scout project. Visitors today will see new, shiny replacement headstones for some alongside broken pieces marking the burial of others.

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On February 14, 1870, Seraph Young voted in Utah two days after Utah’s territorial legislature granted women the right to vote. She was, in the words of Better Days 2020, the "first woman to vote under a women’s equal suffrage law" in the United States. Six months later, women in Utah had the opportunity to vote in the general election that took place. The hope for equality for women in Utah and the United States was on the horizon. However, seventeen years later, the United States federal government revoked the voting rights of Utah women as part of the anti-polygamy Edmunds–Tucker Act of 1878, which disfranchised all women in Utah, including whether or not they Latter-day Saints. However, Utah’s women continued to campaign for their voting rights. In 1894, just four years after the practice of polygamy officially ended in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the United States passed the Enabling Act, which invited Utah to apply for statehood. Utah became a state in 1896, and the constitutional convention included Article Four in the state constitution, which granted women the right to vote and hold office. Twenty-four years later, in 1920, Congress finally granted women across the United States the right to vote with the ratification of the 19th Amendment. The fight for women’s rights in America did not end here. Other acts were passed through the years that protected and enforced voting rights for women of color. For example, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 secured African Americans’ right to. The memorial “A Path Forward” takes visitors through a timeline of these milestones of women’s suffrage in Utah and the United States. Tourists first follow footsteps engraved on the ground of the monument honoring Seraph Young as the first woman to vote in a United States election. Next to the footsteps is a sculpted table displaying the Enabling Act. Article 4 of the Utah Constitution is etched on the ground next to the table. A series of arches, each one progressively wider than the previous, represents the expansion of women’s suffrage rights. The first arch includes quotes from suffragists who played a significant role in the women’s suffrage movement including Sojourner Truth, Emmeline B. Wells, Martha Hughes Cannon, Susan B. Anthony, and many more. Emmeline B. Wells wrote in her journal, “I desire to do all in my power to help elevate the condition of my own people, especially women.” The “A Path Forward” monument honors courageous suffragists who, like Wells, fought for women’s right to vote. Today, we have the opportunity to honor them and their valiant efforts.

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In 1858, President James Buchanan sent United States Army General Albert Johnston and 2,500 troops to the Utah Territory to protect newly-appointed territorial leaders and put an end to a suspected rebellion. In response, the Brigham Young, territorial governor and president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called Mormons) declared martial law and mobilized for war. What became known as the “Utah War'” or “Utah Expedition” began.  Johnston’s army survived a harsh winter and a few raids from Latter-day Saints before they ultimately concluded that the Mormons were not in rebellion against the United States. The troops subsequently passed through the Salt Lake Valley and established a camp at Fairfield, a sparsely populated village that was far from major Latter-day Saint settlements. Johnston’s army called it “Camp Floyd'' after the then secretary of war, John B. Floyd. Camp Floyd became a lively town with a population of more than 7,000 people at its peak. Then, in 1861, the United States redeployed the soldiers to the eastern theater of the escalating Civil War, leaving Camp Floyd completely abandoned. Almost nothing of the soldiers’ homes or the dugouts where they lived remains today. At the site, the old commissary building now serves as a state park museum, along with the Stagecoach Inn which was used in the overland trade that continued after the soldiers abandoned Camp Floyd. The only other evidence that remains of this once bustling military settlement is the cemetery where the soldiers and officers who perished there were buried. Scholars believed that 84 people were buried in or close to the Camp Floyd Cemetery. Research has revealed that some of the people who buried there were not Camp Floyd soldiers. The actual location of all these 84 people’s remains is unknown. In 1913, those buried here were commemorated by one large headstone that was made from the stones of army barracks at Camp Floyd. After the land was turned over to the Utah State Park and Recreation Commission in 1959, the American Legion placed 84 headstones, evenly spaced throughout the cemetery. In 2009, researchers used ground penetrating radar technology, revealing the location of 33 bodies. In light of that discovery, in 2011, Camp Floyd State Park replaced the headstones to specifically mark the identified locations of the unidentified bodies. The park also added a sign at the entrance describing the people buried.

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In the late 1800s, prospectors walked throughout Utah with their noses to the ground, searching for valuable minerals. Utah’s hills and mountains were rich with copper, gold, silver, lead, iron, and zinc just waiting to be discovered. In 1866, a prospector named John Kemple combed southern Utah in the hopes of finding something that he could mine. While prospecting near what is now Leeds, Utah, Kemple found flakes of silver embedded in sandstone. Such a combination of minerals was an extremely rare discovery; silver was almost never found in sandstone. To prove the veracity of his find, Kemple sent a sample to the Smithsonian Institution, but they called it an “interesting fake.” The silver remained in the ground for nearly a decade until later surveys of the land proved Kemple had told the truth. In 1875, William T. Barbee, a mining agent for two Salt Lake City bankers, staked several mining claims to the region and established a town called Bonanza City. Many miners and business owners moved to Bonanza City, and property values increased. Several other miners and business owners looking for cheap land set up a tent city north of Bonanza and called it Rockpile. When mines in nearby Pioche closed in 1875, many workers moved to Rockpile. The residents then changed the town’s name to Silver Reef to make it more appealing. By 1879, about 2,000 people lived in Silver Reef, and the town had a mile-long main street home to many businesses including a cosmopolitan restaurant and a Wells Fargo building. That same year, a fire destroyed many businesses in Silver Reef, including the restaurant and a hotel. Silver Reef’s residents were resilient, and they quickly bounced back and rebuilt. However, as the worldwide value of silver declined during the 1880s, the value of endeavors in Silver Reef declined as well. Most of Silver Reef’s mines closed by 1884, and local businesses followed suit. By 1901, most business owners had either dismantled or relocated their enterprises. After the gradual decline of Silver Reef, the mining operations there traded hands between many large corporations. Eventually, after multiple failed attempts to revive silver mining there, Silver Reef was incorporated into the nearby town of Leeds. Only a few buildings remain at the old Silver Reef site today. The old Wells Fargo building has been converted into a Silver Reef mining town museum. The cosmopolitan restaurant, dismantled in 1894, was rebuilt in 1987 as a tourist attraction serving European cuisine until it closed in 2010. The Silver Reef Jail remains standing, as well as several building foundations. Latter-day Saints living nearby dismantled other structures in Silver Reef for building materials to construct new buildings.

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Newspaper Rock is located along the Scenic Creek Corridor Scenic Byway in the Bears Ears National Monument, created on the cliffs that go through all of Indian Creek Canyon. Newspaper Rock is about 24 miles northwest of Monticello and 50 miles south of Moab. The actual petroglyph site is around 200 square feet across. It is located along the main road to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. There is no fee to access this site, and it is open all year long. Formerly a state park, Newspaper Rock currently carries the designation of a National Monument.

The petroglyphs that cover the group of rocks collectively known as Newspaper Rock were drawn across a wide span of time ranging from 1200 to 200 years ago. The petroglyphs are thought to be drawn by a variety of people including the Ancestral Pueblo, Fremont, Basket Maker, and Navajo peoples.

As a hunter-gather people living around 100 CE, Ancestral Puebloans’ diet relied upon hunting. Later, they transitioned to a sedentary lifestyle and relied more upon agriculture. They occupied the southwest area of the modern-day United States until droughts destroyed their agricultural economy and forced them to move away from Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico to other areas with more water. The Fremont also inhabited this area around the same time as the Ancestral Puebloans. Similarly, they developed agricultural practices, but hunting remained an important part of their culture until devastating droughts hit the region. By the fifteenth century, the Diné (Navajo) arrived and, like their predecessors, participated in hunting and gathering. When the Diné moved into the southwest, they adapted some of the Puebloans’ agricultural practices and cultivated corn, beans, and squash while supplementing their diet through hunting.

The Ancestral Puebloans, Fremont, and Navajos all added carvings to this rock over the course of centuries. As a result, there is no linear story that can be understood from the pictures. Most of the pictures remain unidentified and uninterpreted because there is no way to discover their meaning. It is unclear why this particular rock was such a popular place for petroglyphs, but its popularity in the ancient world has made it popular again in the modern world. European explorers added more names and dates, and curious visitors come to see the pictures etched by ancient peoples long past.

In the Navajo language, Newspaper Rock is called Tse’ Hane, which means, “rock that tells a story.” What do these ancient storytellers reveal about the Native American Indians who created These mysterious images? Though there is no exact translation known for many of these petroglyphs, it is possible to infer some things about the people from their rock art. These markings, engravings, and drawings tell us about stories, hunting patterns, crop cycles, beliefs, and mythologies of their existence. Some modern Native American Indians have interpreted the drawings on the rock to include family or clan symbols, spiritual meanings, and calendar events. Images include those of animals, people, tools, and other items. We know that the drawings were compiled over time by different groups who were in the area. Earlier drawings resemble snakes, wagon wheels, lizards, footprints, and broad shouldered, animal headed people. Some we can tell were made later, depicting men on horseback, potentially referring to the coming of the Spanish and other colonizers who threatened some groups and brought prosperity to others. These petroglyphs help us add to the tales we already know about these ancient people as we build on the foundation of what we know about them from other artifacts and oral histories.

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After the tragic assault by Colonel Patrick Conner and his California Volunteers on a peaceful encampment of Shoshone at Bear River on the morning of January 29, 1863, the drastically reduced band of Shoshone spent years roaming Northern Utah without a viable means of subsistence. Eventually, over a hundred members of this small band of Shoshone, led by Chief Sagwitch, converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After several years on their own, Sagwitch appealed to the Church, whose members offered assistance and allowed the band to settle and farm on Church-owned land near the modern Utah–Idaho border in 1880. In addition to the farmland provided by the Church, many members of the band also appealed to the federal government and received land close by under several homesteading acts of the late-nineteenth century. The Shoshone named this community Washakie after a respected leader in the greater Shoshone community who remained an integral part of their nation for almost a century. While at Washakie, the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone adapted to the farming lifestyle of the nearby settlers. While doing their best to preserve elements of their culture through regular cultural gatherings and celebrations, the Band also learned new skills and practices from their white neighbors, many of whom came to them from the Church. The Washakie residents learned skills such as carpentry, farming, sheepherding, and firing bricks. They built a church house in the community to use as a place of worship and gathering. The Shoshone at Washakie even used the building as a schoolhouse for a few decades, though the teachers at the Washakie school were White. During Washakie’s heyday, the community thrived as a small city. As time drew on, however, outside pressures pushed many of the Shoshone residents of Washakie out of the community. With the onset of the Second World War, Utah became a center for supporting the war effort. For some Shoshone, better-paying jobs drew them out of residence in Washakie and into areas where they could work Utah’s booming defense industry. This exodus of residents curtailed the Washakie community life possible with the remaining Shoshone population. Because the Church of Jesus Christ still considered itself the owner of Washakie’s land, they began reclaiming it in the summer of 1960 by burning seemingly abandoned homes to the ground so they could sell the plots to nearby farmers. However, many of the homes that appeared to be abandoned were only seasonally empty, as the Shoshone residents often visited their northern relatives on a Shoshone reservation in Idaho or were away for other reasons. The home burning marked the end of the Washakie community and marked the beginning of a tense relationship between the Northwestern Band of Shoshone and the Church. The Northwestern Band of Shoshone, who had been devastated by the violent events of the Bear River Massacre in 1863, once again became victims of whites pushing them off their land and out of their homes. Today, the Washakie community is gone. Only a few structures remain, including the church building and a cemetery.

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At the end of the 19th century, Utah was in an economic boom that would change the course of its history. With the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, thousands of immigrants flooded the state to work in mines that sprung up across Utah. Although initially very few of these immigrants were from Mexico, the start of the Mexican Revolution in 1910 resulted in Mexicans fleeing north to escape conflict. Although the Immigration Acts of 1917 and 1924 had placed quotas on the number of people that could immigrate from each country, the need for laborers allowed a large number of Mexicans to obtain a permit to temporarily enter the country. The number of Spanish-speaking immigrants in Utah continued to grow throughout the following decades as they sought work on railroads, on farms, and in mines. While the 1890 census only recorded 19 Mexican people living in Utah, by 1920 there were 1,083. These immigrants created a thriving hub of Hispanic culture in Salt Lake City’s west side.  After their arrival in Salt Lake City, many of these immigrants were converted and baptized as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. However, very few of them spoke English, the predominant language of the Church in Utah. Noticing a problem, Juan Ramon Martinez, Margarito Buatista, and Francisco Solano sought permission from church leadership to hold meetings in Spanish. In April of 1921, the first Spanish meeting was held in a rented restaurant. The meeting was attended by 19 Latter-Day Saints and 33 non-members being taught by missionaries. On May 15, 1923, the members of this congregation were made into an official branch called La Rama Mexicana.  Two years later the branch began meeting in available rooms in the 6th Stake meetinghouse. In 1950, La Rama Mexicana received their own meetinghouse after three years of construction. Just a decade later, the brach became the Lucero Ward. The population of Spanish-speakers continued to grow and, as of 2019, there were 58 Spanish-speaking wards and branches in Utah.

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Utah. Its mild climate and lush meadows drew settlers from the surrounding desert and created a prosperous, yet close-knit community.

In the summer of 1855, Gunlock Bill Hamblin and Isaac Riddle were herding cattle in the mountains of Southern Utah. One day, as Riddle followed a stray cow, he stumbled upon a beautiful valley seemingly untouched by man. The valley

was filled with lush green meadows, pine trees and fauna. It was named Pine Valley. 

Not long after the discovery of Pine Valley, Jehu Blackborn and Company built a sawmill and set to work. In 1860, Brigham Young called 300 members of the church to move to St. George and grow cotton as part of the Dixie Mission. Many of those who migrated grew tired of the heat and other challenging living conditions in the area and moved to Pine Valley. Pine Valley, 35 miles north of St. George, had a higher elevation and a milder summer which attracted many St. George families to seek refuge there. As a result, Pine Valley grew in size and popularity.

Robert Gardner Jr. and Erastus Snow were two of the settlers sent to the Dixie Mission. In 1862, on a trip from Cedar City to Saint George, they took a path through Pine Valley. They saw the operating sawmill and recognized room for growth. After telling Brigham Young of the potential for the area,  Young assigned them to build an additional sawmill in the valley. This project, known as the Pine Valley Mission, produced lumber for the Dixie Mission settlements and beyond. In Salt Lake, the timber was used to fashion the organ pipes for the Salt Lake Tabernacle. 

The secluded nature of Pine Valley fostered a tight-knit community. At the center of town stands the Pine Valley chapel, built in 1867. The chapel housed religious services, school, dances, and other events. Laura Gardner Snow said of her childhood in the valley, “Pine Valley was a child’s paradise. Summers were the most delightful.” Winters were full of sledding, sleigh rides and a magical Christmas Eve party in the chapel. 

After the sawmills shut down in the 1920s, many families remained to farm the valley and raise cattle. Although Pine Valley has remained a small town, it continues to be a favorite summer destination for descendants of Pine Valley pioneers, as well as other residents from nearby communities.

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In January 1950, Intermountain Indian Boarding School in Brigham City, Utah was established. In its first year, the school welcomed around 500 Navajo students. Twenty-four years later, in 1974, Intermountain opened its doors to students from nations outside of the Navajo and remained inter-tribal until it closed in 1984. In comparison with other Indian boarding schools in the United States and Canada, the Intermountain Indian Boarding School has a fairly tame reputation; however, many public controversies and struggles throughout the school’s history leave its legacy complex and unresolved.   Yearbooks from Intermountain paint student experiences in a positive, culturally enriching light. Pages are rife with statements such as “at Intermountain, students retain their proud heritage and also find delight in new events - blending both elements into a rich and an unforgettable year.” Interviews with students ring with similar sentiments such as: “I really enjoyed the situation because it brought me away from a home where we had to haul water and no running water and all that stuff and everything was furnished.”   Nevertheless, even though the student body projected love for their school, some instances in the school’s history indicate an alternative view. In early 1972, a student from Intermountain committed suicide while being held in Brigham City Jail. This was the second suicide of an Intermountain student, the first of which occurred four years previous in November 1968. Regarding the second suicide, Intermountain officials released a statement stating that they had “nothing to hide.” Additionally, between these two suicides, in April 1971, a group of students filed a lawsuit against the school and its administrators on the grounds of segregation, discrimination, and the use of tranquilizers, among other things. Ultimately the court ruled in favor of the school.  When discussions of the school's closing began, students made public demonstrations against imminent closure by running on foot for over 20 miles. Without success, Intermountain Indian Boarding school closed in 1984, to the devastation of some. The legacy of the school remains complicated as its history combines tragedy and opposition in the midst of tolerance and benevolence. 

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Before World War II, uranium was considered an unlucrative resource to mine. However, the United States' dropping of the atomic bombs changed the worth of the element. Nuclear weapons, such as the atomic bomb, are made from uranium: a heavy element which, when split, causes extreme heat and pressure, and thus, astonishing damage. Shortly after World War II, the United States engaged in a cold, non-combatant conflict with their former ally, the Soviet Union. These superpowers engaged in competition on all fronts, including in sports, space, and nuclear build up. Four years after the United States dropped the atomic bombs, the Soviet Union successfully tested atomic bombs of their own, thus igniting an arms race.

During this time of nuclear build up, the value of uranium surged. The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission began offering huge sums of money for miners. In 1952, Charles Steen, an unemployed and unsuccessful geologist, moved his family into a trailer in the middle of the desert as he began the search for uranium near Moab. He discovered an ore bed worth more than $60 million dollars. His discovery drew many miners to Moab in search of uranium. Soon Utah was dubbed “The Uranium Capitol of the World.” Between the years of 1946 and 1959, there were 309,380 claims of uranium found in Utah, and by 1955, there were about 800 operating mines. The uranium boom brought other businesses to Moab and the city began to grow exponentially. Other uranium rich mining towns in Utah enjoyed similar growth. However, the uranium boom was short lived, peaking in 1958 and declining in the 1960s.

Today, Moab and other uranium mining towns are tourist destinations where people can hike, mountain bike, and rock climb. Nevertheless, Uranium mining has had long lasting implications for its communities. Many of these communities are affected by poverty, natural resource dependence for economic growth, and great social inequalities and divisions. Longtime residents have experienced serious illnesses such as cancer due to their exposure to Uranium. Despite these impacts, residents of the uranium regions continue to support the industry because of their tie to its history, their patriotism, and their ongoing hope for a booming economy.

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Situated about 40 minutes from Moab, Utah, Canyonlands National Park is the largest and most remote of all the National Parks in the state. Covering 337,589 acres, the park is split into three major districts by the Colorado and Green rivers known as the Islands in the Sky, The Needles, and The Maze. The Park is also famous for being the location where the two rivers meet, and home to many ruins and artifacts from ancient peoples who lived there thousands of years ago. Despite the area of the park being famous for its natural wonders, the creation of the park was a long and arduous process that included many controversies and compromises.

Serious consideration for creating the area into a National Park grew in the early 1960s after the election of President John F. Kennedy and his appointment of Stewart Udall as Secretary of the Interior. Udall believed heavily in conservation and was enthralled by the beauty of the area when he visited in 1961. Recruiting Utah Senator Frank Moss as an ally for the project, the two set out to preserve the Canyonlands area as a National Park. Immediately, Udall and Moss ran into opposition from other local legislators including Utah Senator Wallace Bennett. While Bennett was not completely opposed to the idea of a National Park in the Canyonlands region, he wanted a much smaller protected area in order to keep most of the region open for commercial use. Bennett thought that much of the area was better suited for mining, drilling, and grazing.

Senators Moss and Bennett fought for a few years before a final proposal was sent to the United States Congress in 1964. This proposal included most of the area that Moss and Udall wanted to have protected, but removed a portion from the north side of the park for commercial developments at the wish of Bennett and other local people. Moss continued to fight to protect more of the land around Canyonlands for the rest of his tenure as senator in Utah and is a large reason that the park is enjoyed by thousands today.

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Early in his life, Maurice L. Glendenning (1891-1969) began hearing music in his head that soon gave way to songs, poetry, and eventually the spoken words of the prophet Elias. After sharing his revelations with other Latter-day Saints around Provo in the 1920s and 1930s, Glendenning established a church known as the Aaronic Order. Communal living and full consecration soon became fundamental to the faith of the Aaronites. In order to escape the worldly influence of the cities along the Wasatch Front and claim more space for agricultural ventures, the Aaronites left their original settlement in Springville for the West Desert of Utah.

In 1955, Aaronic Order members settled Eskdale using Desert Entry Act land. Unlike with federal land acquired through the Homestead Act, Aaronites were able to pool together the original lots and build community buildings in close proximity to one another. The chapel, school, community kitchen and dining hall were the first buildings constructed on the site. Since the mid-twentieth century, community members have built additional homes, school buildings, and a dairy. Although the bread and butter of Eskdale is still bread and butter, employment has expanded from subsistence agriculture to now include metal manufacturing and remote professional work for the University of Utah, Boeing, and a law firm in Salt Lake City.

The social atmosphere of Eskdale has changed considerably over the past few decades. These social changes can be attributed to the change in leadership from Maurice Glendenning to Robert Conrad and then John Conrad, as none of the social expectations were canonized in Dr. Glendenning's Levitical Writings. Men, women, and children who belonged to the Aaronic Order used to wear homemade uniforms, but as of the late-twentieth century, these are no longer required. Church leaders had warned against "wreck-reation" like dancing, hunting, fishing, sports, and riding motorized vehicles. These activities are now commonplace and, in the case of dancing, actively encouraged within the community. Communal meals are now held only once per day in the community building instead of three times a day. School children used to live in a dormitory within the community instead of with their parents, though this has also changed. In recent decades and in all domains of life, Aaronites have bridged the gap between their community and the world.

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Beginning in the 1940’s, Negro Bill Canyon was an official place on the map, located just outside of Moab, Utah. The canyon was named after William Grandstaff. For the  past 20 years, questions have surrounded its controversial name and whether it should be changed out of respect for William Grandstaff or kept in order to maintain history. Ultimately, a federal board voted to change the canyon's name to Grandstaff Canyon in 2017.  William Grandstaff’s life was a bit of a mystery, although some basic facts are known. In the 1830s, William Grandstaff was born into slavery in Shenandoah County, Virginia. During the first 30-40 years of his life, Grandstaff made his way across the country. After a stop in Cincinnati, Ohio, where Grandstaff fought in the Black Brigade of Cincinnati during the Civil War, he made it to the Moab area in 1877. Grandstaff first resided in an abandoned LDS fort that had been constructed during a period of conflict between the settlers and local Utes. Grandstaff was a frontiersman and one of the first non-native settlers in the area. His presence in Moab helped to promote settlement in the area.   Grandstaff ranched, grew crops, and had a large herd of cattle. Due to the stream and trees that provided shade, the canyon was perfect for agriculture and ranching. Local Indigenous people visited the canyon to trade with Grandstaff. Today, this area is used as a beautiful recreational area for local hikers and visitors to explore. By changing the name  of the canyon, its visitors can now hold deeper respect, appreciation, and curiosity for William Grandstaff, one whose legacy is still remembered by the people of Moab.

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The David O. McKay Building, dedicated in 1954, was originally named the Church Teachers College. Since its construction, the building has gone through various renovations and name changes before achieving its current status. Today, it houses one of the largest Education Preparation Programs in the United States and offers 15 degrees, employs 87 faculty members, and has served over 50 thousand living alumni.  The David O. McKay Building honors the ninth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, David O. McKay, who was a lifelong educator. Throughout his life, McKay honored the School of Education's mission: provide a rigorous, gospel-centered education while learning after the Master Teacher, Jesus Christ. David O. McKay emphasized the importance of providing all young people with an equal opportunity to gain an education. His vision of schooling went beyond the common school movement of the twentieth century. He believed in creating experiences for children to learn and refine their character.  The David O. McKay Building commemorates his distinctive contribution to the Education profession and his quest to find and employ truth in teaching. One of BYU's core aims is to be a lifelong learner and the David O. McKay Building reflects it. 

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Strawberry Reservoir is located on the eastern edge of the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, nestled in Strawberry Valley east of Spanish Fork and southeast of Heber City. A tunnel four miles long runs through the Wasatch mountains and carries water from Strawberry Reservoir to the Spanish Fork River, a vital resource for agriculture in Utah Valley. The reservoir’s history for Utah settlers began at the very start of the twentieth century, when the availability of irrigation water was a major concern for farmers of Utah’s arid lands. While traveling through Strawberry Valley on a camping trip, John S. Lewis and Henry Gardner first thought of building the reservoir and a water transport system. Gardner, a Utah State Senator at the time, was aware of the dire water problem for Utah’s population centers along the Wasatch Front. The idea of the reservoir proved to be an effective solution. A few years later, in 1906, construction began on the Strawberry Valley Project. The resulting Strawberry Reservoir was completed less than a decade later. Although water diverted from the Strawberry Reservoir helped Utah Valley farmers irrigate their crops, the creation of the reservoir was devastating to the Ute Indians in the area. For years, the tribe had experienced varied encroachments of tribal land by white farmers who violated the law in doing so. Farmers grazed their cattle in Strawberry Valley and used water that belonged to reservation lands. Such actions not only posed a threat to Ute resources, but represented a disregard for Ute legitimacy. Earlier offenses were magnified by the Strawberry Reservoir project. The project neglected to consult the Ute tribe on its construction. Among the consequences of the project, the reservoir opened reservation lands to future developments like mining and white settlements, solidifying the loss for the Ute tribe.

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Zion’s Savings Bank and Trust Company was incorporated under the laws of the Utah Territory under the direction of Brigham Young. On July 10, 1873, it became Utah's first chartered savings bank and trust company. Zion’s Savings Bank and Trust Company grew over the decades, enduring the economic booms and busts including the Great Depression.

On Dec. 31, 1957, Zion’s Savings Bank and Trust Company, Utah Savings and Trust Company, and First National Bank of Salt Lake City merged to form Zions First National Bank. This merger brought each of these institutions under the management of the LDS church and brought an end to the apostrophe in its name. In early 1960, authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints decided to relieve itself of its banking interests, and on April 22, 1960, the church sold majority control of Zions First National Bank

The Salt Lake City office on Main Street and the iconic clock just outside are both historically significant. They represent original architecture from early LDS settlements. The building is called the “Eagle Emporium Building” and is the oldest existing commercial building in downtown Salt Lake City. It is the city’s only remaining commercial structure built prior to the completion of the transcontinental railroad. The Eagle Emporium Building was constructed for William Jennings, Utah’s first millionaire, and was originally used to house his mercantile business. Originally powered by a water wheel, the clock was erected on the building in 1873. The clock is one of the few remaining pieces of 19th-century street furniture in downtown Salt Lake. At the request of Brigham Young, the building became the first home of Zion’s Savings Bank and Trust Company. 

Zions Bank continues to bring value to individuals, small-to middle-market businesses, nonprofits, corporations and institutions through a wide range of traditional banking and innovative technology services. It currently has a network of 122 full-service financial centers across Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming. 

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A few miles north of St. George, Utah stands a small town called Pine Valley. At first glance it does not look different from other small settlements in the area, but the area is home to the oldest Latter-Day Saint chapel still in continuous use. The Pine Valley chapel is unique from any other chapel in the state; its frame stands 54 feet high and has an attic that resembles an upside-down ship. Among Pine Valley’s settlers was a man by the name of Ebenezer Bryce, who worked as a ship builder in Scotland before joining the Church and emigrating to the US.  When he was commissioned to lead the construction of a chapel in the area, he is thought to have said that he didn’t know how to build a church, but he did know how to build a ship. 

Construction began in 1868 and was greatly aided by the operating lumber mill that existed in the valley. Almost 100 years later in 1960 the chapel was rewired for electricity and given minor updates under a Church-sponsored project. From 2000 to 2004, the LDS Church sponsored a massive restoration of the building that replaced the chapel’s windows, roof, and siding. It was rededicated by Elder Jeffery R. Holland, who has familial ties to Pine Valley, on May 15, 2005. 

The chapel’s original meeting room is still in use today and serves hundreds of LDS Church members each year. Its sacrament table, podium, pews, lighting chandeliers, and doors are original items from the chapel’s construction in 1868. The chapel’s walls are adorned with religious artwork, which is another unique aspect in comparison to other LDS meetinghouses. The attic has since been sealed off for safety purposes, but the chapel’s resemblance to a ship is still evident from within the chapel.

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On April 6, 1893, thousands gathered in awe outside the newly dedicated Salt Lake Temple. Embossed upon the eastern edifice of the temple gleamed the golden words, “Holiness to the Lord, the House of the Lord.” Yet the stonecutter who’d carved those words was not among the assembled that day. John Rowe Moyle had died four years prior on February 15, 1889.  Moyle had immigrated to Utah Territory in the 1850’s from England with the Ellsworth Handcart Company. He settled in Alpine with his wife and children. Miner and mason alike, he seemed a natural choice to help carve one of the temple’s most prominent features. Moyle had stalwartly taken up the task. Despite old age, he made the 22 mile hike over the mountains to Salt Lake City every week and then back to spend the weekend with his family. This trek was made all the more difficult when Moyle lost his leg during an accident milking his cow. But Moyle never shirked his duty. Crafting a leg, he re-learned to walk and once more set about carving the words which are now immortalized in one of Utah’s most iconic landmarks.  Moyle left his mark on more than just the temple, though, and he overcame more hardships than the arduous journey to Salt Lake City. Now renamed Moyle Park, his homestead still stands in Alpine. Around the farm are a stone tower and walls which serve to protect it. Moyle’s farm is the only one in the state of Utah to have received such fortifications. Other forts were reserved for the defense of entire towns. Moyle had worked on his family’s home with the same fervor he had worked on the temple. Moyle Park stands as a memorial to John Rowe Moyle’s unwavering determination and selfless duty to church and family.

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Since the Mormon pioneers arrived in Utah in 1847, Brigham Young, the prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the time, was determined to help them become a self-sufficient people and bring industry to Utah. Sugar production was one of the industries at the forefront of church leaders’ minds, because of the vast amount of sugar that had to be imported into the area otherwise. Growing sugar cane was not a viable option because of the arid climate. However, around this time, a method was developed in France allowing sugar to be isolated from beets. Leaders of the church, including John Taylor, were assigned to purchase and move beet sugar processing machinery to the West. Once the machinery arrived, church members tested it to see if it would indeed be able to isolate sugar from beets. The project was a massive failure and the church lost a fortune.  No further attempts were made to produce sugar locally until 1889, when sugar beet production was becoming widespread throughout the United States, and the method of producing sugar from beets was more widely understood. Wilford Woodruff, as current president of the church, received a revelation that the will of the Lord was to have a sugar beet factory built in Utah. In order to raise enough capital for the factory, the church used a large sum of tithing money and borrowed from multiple banks. The Lehi Sugar Factory was built, and Wilford Woodruff opened the ceremony that dedicated the factory to the Lord, a common practice in the Church.  The sugar factory played a large role in the community, contributing greatly to the financial wellbeing of those living in Lehi and others close by. It provided  many jobs working in the factory and an opportunity for farmers to grow crops. The factory continued to operate from 1891 until 1924, when sugar production was relocated to other factories around the state. The factory lot, formerly owned by the Utah and Idaho Sugar Company, was sold in 1979 to a trucking company where it remains in their possession. The smokestack for the factory has since been converted to a cell phone tower, a symbol of the change that has taken place in Utah’s economy over the years.

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