Salt Lake City is the Capital of the State of Utah, and the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, (commonly known as the Mormons), comprising over 13 million members worldwide today.  It is home to over 2 million people, with a large international airport, light rail transportation, and many highways.   It is a large metropolitan area with a thriving economy and unprecedented growth. Many families and businesses are locating in Utah at this time because Utah is a great place to have a business. See Why Utah?, for more information.     Utah is a superb place to live and raise your family, and there are hundreds of things to do and things to see, as there are 45 state parks and 11 national parks in the state of Utah. Utah is home to the “Greatest Snow on Earth” and is world renowned for its great powder snow and the many ski slopes and resorts found in the high mountains. This is one of the major reasons Utah was chosen to host the 2002 Winter Olympics. When you consider the low cost of living, the superb educational facilities, high quality health care, short commute times, the Salt Lake/Provo area is consistently listed in major newspapers and magazines as one of the most livable areas in the United States.        

                       
  

     This city began with a small group of pioneers who entered the valley on July 24, 1847. This date is celebrated as a State Holiday today called Utah Pioneer Day, with fireworks, parades and special programs. They were led by their prophet, Brigham Young who said as he saw the valley from the mouth of Emigration Canyon, ”This is the place. Drive on.”  There is a monument honoring that day and that statement near the actual location in This Is The Place Heritage Park. The park has over 40 original homes and businesses typical of the 19^th Century, and is situated on a 450 Acre site. It is a wonderful place to visit for both kids and adults. There are many great programs and entertainment there for everyone.

     In the year 1847, 143 people entered the valley, along with 66 oxen, 93 horses, 52 mules, 19 cows, and some chickens. They had endured and survived the 1300 mile trek across the plains from Nauvoo, Illinois to escape religious persecution.  This is a famous historical trail and is known as The Mormon Pioneer Historic Trail. It was followed by nearly 70,000 pioneers during the years 1846 to 1869, who walked hundreds of miles, endured violent thunderstorms, mud up to their knees, suffocating dust, extreme temperatures, lack of food, river crossings, sickness and death.  These experiences were written in journals which are now a part of our national heritage. These pioneers worked together to make the desert truly ‘Blossom as the Rose’.

                                

                                                                                                                                                           Salt Lake International Airport from the air...shows Great Salt Lake also.

     The early Mormon pioneers survived as a religion and a community by faith and prayer and a lot of hard work. They developed irrigation systems, built homes, schools, churches, set up farms and businesses, and began work on the Salt Lake Temple and the Tabernacle. That first winter was very difficult as many arrived so late in the year. The next spring they plowed and planted

     

                              The Seagull Monument on Temple Square                                                                                           The Conference Center

crops only to see them attacked by a horde of crickets that suddenly infested the area. The people knew if their crops were destroyed by these insects, they would not survive the next year, so beating at them with shovels to kill them and praying desperately, suddenly swarms of seagulls appeared out of the blue and began eating huge quantities of the horrid crickets. They would then drink a little water and regurgitate the crickets, and go back for more, until the danger was past. The Mormons viewed this as a miracle, which saved the 4000 people living there by them. The California Gull is the state bird of Utah and there is the Seagull Monument erected on Temple Square in Salt Lake City in honor of this Miracle of the Gulls. 

     Brigham Young sent scouting parties out in every direction to search for water and mineral resources to create outlying settlement areas. The community of Bountiful, just north of Salt Lake, was the first additional settlement in 1848, with Ogden following soon after. Tooele and Provo were settled in 1849, with Manti and Fillmore following in 1851.  Exploration parties investigated and soon settled many other towns in the Utah Territory, as well as towns in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, and California over the next few years.

     Salt Lake City has become known as “The Crossroads of the West” today.  This is because in May 1869 a golden spike was driven into the railroad ties, to mark the completion of the trans-continental railroad from east to west connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  You can see  more about this at The Golden Spike Visitor Center in Promontory Utah, near Layton,  where a reenactment celebration occurs every year on May 10 at the Golden Spike National Historic Site.

The first Transcontinental Telegraph was completed in Salt Lake City in October 1861.  The final connection was made between Omaha Nebraska and Carson City Nevada. October 24. 1869, a message was sent to President Abraham Lincoln by Horace W. Carpentier, President of the Overland Telegraph Company which read: “I announce to you that the telegraph from California has this day been completed. May it be a bond of perpetuity between the states of the Atlantic and those of the Pacific.”

 

                                                       One of the docks at the Great Salt Lake

     Salt Lake City is named for the huge salty lake called The Great Salt Lake and is located directly west of the city. This is the largest salt lake in the Western Hemisphere and it covers an area over 1700 square miles and is over 1000 feet deep at its deepest point. It has no outlet except evaporation, accounting for its very high salinity, which provides salt for local businesses. Be-cause of the high salt density, most people can float in the water like a cork. It is called America's

Dead Sea, yet it provices a happy habitat for brine shrimp, waterfowl, various shore and wading birds, the seagull and algae. The Bonneville Salt Flats lie to the west where the annual Salt Flat Races at the Bonneville Speedway are held annually. The Bonneville Speedway is accessed from I-80 running west from salt lake toward Nevada. High speed race cars of every type race there and many new types of race cars, engines, and fuels are tested on this track.

     Antelope Island State Park is the largest of the lake's  10 islands, comprising 28,022 Acres . It can be reached by boat or the causeway. White sand beaches, hiking trails, a sailboat marina, areas for camping and biking are popular destinations. It is inhabited by prong antelope, deer, bobcats, coyotes, birds, waterfowl, a small herd or elk, and a herd of 600 American Bison.

     Carrington Island is one of the 10 islands in the Great Salt Lake.  During World War II it was used as a gunnery range and some of the relics and targets from that era are still there.  It is good to take photos, but please do not remove or disturb them...but do enjoy! When you leave the Great Salt Lake, you will need to flush your boat engines and rinse off your boat hull and trailer

 before you leave to avoid rusting from the salt. Facilites for this purpose are available at the GSL Yacht Club Marina and at Antelope Island.  

     Salt Lake County includes 16 cities and 16 townships in the Salt Lake Valley, running between the Wasatch Mountains on the east, the Oquirrh Mountains to the west,where the huge  Kennecot Copper Mine is located, and north to the city of North Salt Lake and south to Draper and the point of the mountain which traverses the valley (this mountain is called Traverse Mountain and is actually 2 communities one on the north side and one on the east side), dividing Salt Lake County from Utah County.

     Utah County consists of all the 16 cities on the west side of Traverse Mountain and runs from Lehi on the north, and is bordered on the east by the Wasatch Mountains and Mount Timpanogas, home of Timpanogas Cave, and on the west by Utah Lake and the Lake Mountains to the west side of the lake. The valley continues south to Santaquin. Utah Lake is a fresh water lake and has a surface of 96,900 surface acres. It is the largest natural freshwater lake in the western United States. It is a shallow lake with a maximum depth of about 14 feet.The common carp and the white bass are the most numerous fish and the walley bass, channel catfish and the wide mouth bass are common as well. Utah Lake State Park  is a popular destination for boating, sailing, water skiing, and fishing. Marinas for boat launching are in Provo at the Utah Lake State Park on the eastern shore and at Saratoga Springs, American Fork, Lindon and Lincoln Beach.

     The name of the state was originally called Deseret and was petitioned to Congress in 1849/50. Congress rejected the petition. Statehood was officially granted January 4, 1896 and the state was named Utah after the Ute Indians who made their home there.  The state bird is the seagull, the state tree is the blue spruce, the state flower is the sego lily, the state flag is shown, below, and the state seal is known as the Great Seal of the State of Utah.

     The Salt Lake Valley was originally occupied by various Native American tribes. Jim Bridger and John C. Fremont first explored and surveyed the area between 1824 and 1843. Their opinion was that the growing season was not long enough to raise an ear of corn, and the winter season was very long and harsh. The Donner Party, another group of 87 pioneers, led by George and Jacob Donner,  were heading to California from Illinois. After a difficult trip over the Wasatch Mountain range, they entered Utah Territory in  the fall of 1846. They began the perilous trek over the Great Salt Lake salt desert and were bombarded with searing heat, and wind that blew sand so thick it suffocated their oxen. Eighty miles and 5 days later, they stumbled out of the Salt Desert filled with dread and anxiety at the end of September.  When they reached the

Sierra Nevada range at the end of October, a massive snowstorm completely blocked the 7200 foot high pass through. This pass is known today as Donner Pass. About 2/3 of the group camped at a lake there and a few others camped about 6 miles away at Alder Creek. All of the animals froze and they ate them, when they were gone, they began boiling pieces of leather to make a gruel to keep them alive. A few perished due to the cold and illness.  The group resorted to, cannibalism to stay alive when their food supplies were exhausted. Only 48 of the 87 who began the journey survived and made it to Sacramento with the help of 4 relief parties that were sent out to find them. This is a sad part of the early history associated with the taming of the West.