Utah

I

Introduction

Utah, state in the western United States, partly in the Rocky Mountains. Its great variety of landscapes includes high wooded mountains, lakes, valley oases, barren salt flats, deserts, and a wild plateau country with strange rock formations and rainbow-colored canyons.

Habitation by nomadic desert peoples of the area that was to become Utah began several thousand years ago. The Anasazi Culture, which established intricately built settlements, reached their peak at about ad 1300. Native American tribes, including the Gosiute, Paiute, and Ute, were present when Spanish explorers made their earliest visits to the region. This area, which was claimed by Mexico, was chosen in 1847 by the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, as a refuge from persecution. Here they founded a theocratic commonwealth aloof from the rest of the nation and planned on the basis of a group of small, self-sufficient agricultural communities. Their isolation was short-lived, however, because Utah became part of the United States in 1848 by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican War. In addition, the Mormon community was on the main route westward to the new gold-rush camps of California. The federal government tried to force the Mormons to give up some of their practices, especially polygyny (simultaneous marriage to more than one wife). The Mormons officially abandoned this practice in 1890, and Utah was admitted into the Union as the 45th state on January 4, 1896.

The name Utah is derived from a Native American word meaning those who dwell high up or mountaintop dwellers. Arriving Europeans mistakenly believed the name referred to the Ute people, later applying the word to the state. The state’s original name was Deseret, from a word in the Book of Mormon that means land of the honey bee. It in turn gave rise to Utah’s nickname, the Beehive State, connoting hard work and industry.

From the time of its early settlement until the mid-20th century, Utah was known primarily for its agricultural and mining industries. By the late 20th century, however, the state had developed a diversified economy, with a wide range of manufactured products. Tourism has also become a major element of the economy, and increasing numbers of visitors are attracted by the state’s many natural landmarks. Salt Lake City is Utah’s capital and largest city.

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II

Physical Geography

Utah ranks 13th in size among the states and has an area of 219,887 sq km (84,899 sq mi), including 7,086 sq km (2,736 sq mi) of inland water. The state has an overall distance from north to south of 555 km (345 mi) and a maximum extent from east to west of 446 km (277 mi). The approximate mean elevation is 1,900 m (6,100 ft).

A

Natural Regions

Utah includes portions of three major natural regions, or physiographic provinces, of the western United States: the Middle Rocky Mountains, the Basin and Range province, and the Colorado Plateau. All three form part of larger physiographic divisions. The Middle Rocky Mountains form part of the Rocky Mountain system, and the Basin and Range province and the Colorado Plateau form part of the Intermontane Plateaus.

The Middle Rocky Mountains, in northeastern Utah, include the Uinta and the Wasatch mountain ranges. The Wasatch Range is noted for its majestic granite peaks, deep canyons carved by valley glaciers, and hundreds of glacial lakes. The older Uinta Mountains, or Uintas, are one of the few major ranges in the Rocky Mountains that extend in an east-to-west direction. Several of the rounded peaks in the range reach elevations of more than 4,000 m (more than 13,000 ft) above sea level. The highest, Kings Peak, is 4,123 m (13,526 ft) above sea level and is the highest peak in Utah. The peaks of the Wasatch Range are lower. The two highest are Mount Timpanogos, 3,581 m (11,750 ft), and Mount Nebo, 3,620 m (11,877 ft). Several other peaks have similar elevations. The western side of the range is often called the Wasatch Front.

The Basin and Range Province, covering approximately the western third of the state, is a region of gray desert plains, shimmering white salt flats, and towering mountains. It constitutes the eastern portion of the so-called Great Basin. Rivers peter out in the Great Salt Lake Desert or drain into Great Salt Lake, a remnant of huge, prehistoric Lake Bonneville. The narrow level strip of land between Great Salt Lake and the Wasatch Front, known as the Salt Lake Valley, is the most fertile, productive, and densely populated part of Utah.

The Colorado Plateau is an area of fiery colors and unusual physical variety. The uplifted plateaus, rising in places to heights of more than 3,400 m (more than 11,000 ft), have been carved by rivers and eroded by wind and water over the centuries. The results are hundreds of canyons of great depth that are carved into red, pink, purple, and yellow sandstones and shales. Through these colorful canyons wind the Colorado River and some of its tributaries.

B

Rivers and Lakes

Most of eastern and southern Utah drains into the Colorado River system and eventually to the Gulf of California, an arm of the Pacific Ocean. The rest of the state, however, lies within a huge internal drainage system that has no outlet to the sea. The Colorado River flows across southeastern Utah, receiving a major tributary, the Green River, when it is nearly midway in its course across the state. Major streams that drain into the Great Basin are the Bear, Weber, Ogden, Jordan, Provo, Spanish Fork, and Sevier rivers. A very small portion of northwestern Utah drains into the Columbia River system by way of the Raft River.

The largest of Utah’s lakes is the famous Great Salt Lake. The largest inland body of salt water in North America, it is the largest remnant of the once extensive Lake Bonneville, which covered much of Utah and Nevada in prehistoric times. The Great Salt Lake is several times more saline than the oceans. It varies in volume and salinity according to the amount of water that it receives from streams flowing out of the Wasatch Range in the east. Other, smaller natural lakes include Utah Lake, which drains into Great Salt Lake by way of the Jordan River. Huge reservoirs rival the natural lakes in size. Among them is Lake Powell, which lies behind Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River and is partly in Arizona.

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