Utah State Facts, Symbols and History

Utah Fast Facts

Capital: Salt Lake City (popularity). 180.651 (2008 est.)

Utah population: 2,855,287 ( 2012 est.) (34th)

Utah Quarter: The fifth and final quarter commemorative coin, issued in 2007, honors Utah and is the 45th coin in the United States Mint’s 50 State Quarters® Program.Utah was admitted to the Union on January 4, 1896, becoming our 45th National State. The Utah Quarter features two train locomotives moving towards a gold spike that joined the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad, linking East to West and the words “Crossroads of the West”.The coin also bears the inscriptions “Utah” and “1896”.The “Joining the Rails Ceremony” where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railorads completed the transcontinental route took place on May 10, 1869 in Cape, Utah. This historic event made cross-country travel more convenient and economical. With the construction of the railroad and the mining boom, an ethnic and diverse population arrived in Utah.Because of its central location, Utah has become known as the “Crossroads of the West”.

Language: English, others

Largest Cities: (by population) Salt Lake City, West Valley City, Provo, Sandy, Orem, Ogden

Name: This developed from a term that once referred to the Utah Indians as “higher mountain people”.

Statehood: January 4, 1896 (45th state)

Symbols of Utah

• Animal: Rocky’s mountain moose
• Bird: California gull
• Flag of Utah
• Flower: Sego Lily
• Motto: “Industry”
• Nicknames: (most used) Hive State; Mormon state; Salt Lake State
• Reptile: Western rattlesnake
• Song: “Utah, This is the Place”
• State seal
• Wood: blue spruce

Utah – a state in the United States in the group of Mountain States, located in the Rocky Mountains. It borders Wyoming to the northeast, Colorado to the east, Arizona to the south, Nevada to the west, and Idaho to the north. The capital and largest city is Salt Lake City. Other major cities are Ogden and Provo. The population of the state is 2,817,222 people (data for 2011). See cities and towns in Utah.

The surface is predominantly mountainous. The central part of Utah is crossed by the Rocky Mountains. The high ridges of these mountains – Wasatch, Yuinta (the highest point of Kings Peak, 4123 m) – alternate with desert plateaus: the Colorado Plateau in the east and the Great Basin in the west.

The main river is the Colorado with its tributaries the Green and the San Juan. In the north of Utah is the largest lake in the western United States – the Great Salt Lake.

Approximately 30% of the state is covered by forests, with about half of the forest area being federal property (several national forest reserves); in most of the forests, logging is prohibited.

The state is characterized by a continental, arid climate, with record low rainfall for the United States.

• AbbreviationFinder: Demonstrates how the two-letter acronym of UT stands for Utah and a list of frequently used abbreviations related to the state of Utah.

The first people lived in the Great Basin region more than 10,000 years ago, mainly engaged in hunting and gathering. About 2,000 years ago, the Anasazi basket-carrying culture developed in the Colorado Plateau region. Then the Pueblo tribes settled here, numerous traces of whose activities, including rock caves, have been preserved in the southeast of the state. By the time the Europeans appeared, this region was inhabited by the Ute, Paiute, Navajo and Goshut tribes.

The first Europeans in the territory of the modern state were the soldiers of Francisco de Coronado (1540), who were looking for the Seven Cities of Cibola. In 1776, two Franciscan missionaries Silvestre de Escalante and Francisco Dominguez passed through here on an expedition to find a convenient route to build a road between Santa Fe and the Spanish legations in California. By 1825 such notable trappers and fur traders as William Ashley, Jim Bridger and Jedediah Smith had visited the area. In 1843-1844. John Fremont was the first to explore the Great Basin area. In the 1840s Utah served as a transit area for many expeditions and settlers to California, including the infamous Donner Expedition in 1846, which brought the first Mormons from Illinois to Utah a year later.. The members of this confession, hiding from persecution, fell to play a decisive role in the development of the region.

On July 24, 1847, Mormons led by Brigham Young entered the Great Salt Lake Valley. A year later, after the end of the Mexican-American War, the territory of modern Utah was ceded to the United States. In 1849, the Mormons created the “Honeybee State” that stretched from Oregon to Mexico and west as far as the Sierra Nevada, and applied to Congress for admission to the United States. Congress refused to recognize the state within such boundaries, but in 1850 passed a resolution to create the smaller Utah Territory, of which Brigham Young became governor. The history of the next few decades was marked by conflicts between settlers and Indians, especially the Ute tribe, which ended only in 1867 after the creation of Indian reservations here, as well as the struggle of the federal authorities with the Mormons, who were persecuted for polygamy. In 1857-1858. events led to the so-called “war in Utah”, when, by order of President James Buchanan federal troops were sent there to install a new non-Mormon governor of the territory. The completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869 contributed to an intensive influx of immigrants, including non-Mormons, the development of agriculture and industry. The constitution of the future state, adopted in 1895, had an unusual provision at that time for the right to vote for women. In 1896, after several refusals from Congress and 6 years after the official refusal of the Mormons from polygamy, Utah was admitted to the United States as a state.

At the end of XIX – beginning of XX centuries. Numerous deposits of silver, gold, zinc, copper and other minerals were discovered here. Thanks to the development of the irrigation system, the expansion of agricultural land began. Military orders during both world wars contributed to the development of the processing and mining industries. In the 1960s Intensive urbanization was going on in the state (now the majority of the state’s population is concentrated in large cities). In the period 1968-1990. The state’s population has grown by nearly 70%. For the 1980s the beginning of the diversification of the economy with a predominant increase in the role of the service sector and tourism.

More than 200 types of minerals of industrial importance are mined in Utah; the most important are oil, natural gas, coal, copper. Copper mining began in 1907, oil – in 1948; In terms of copper mining, Utah occupies one of the first places in the country. Nevertheless, the mining industry accounts for only about 3% of the gross domestic product, and no more than 5% of the population is employed in agriculture. More than 75% of the population is employed in the service sector. The main industries are mechanical engineering (production of construction and mining equipment), aerospace (aviation parts, components of rockets and spacecraft); production of electrical equipment; food, chemical and printing industry.

Utah has one of the nation’s highest birth rates and lowest death rates. About 70% of the population are Mormons. Residents of the state are quite conservative in political views; in presidential elections they usually vote for candidates from the Republican Party.

Utah is home to several higher education institutions. Among them are the University of Utah, the University of Utah, Brigham Young University, Westminster College, etc.