Utah Territory

Territory of the U.S. between 1850-1896

Territory of Utah

Organized incorporated territory of the United States
1850–1896

Flag[1]

Territorial coat of arms (1876)

The Utah Territory upon its creation, with modern state boundaries shown for reference
Capital|

* Fillmore (1851–1856)
* Salt Lake City

Government|
• Type| Organized incorporated territory
Governor|

• 1851–58

| Brigham Young

• 1858–61

| Alfred Cumming

• 1875–80

| George W. Emery

• 1880–86

| Eli Houston Murray

• 1886–89, 1893–96

| Caleb Walton West
Legislature| Utah Territorial Assembly
History|

• State of Deseret

| 1849

• Utah Organic Act

| September 9 1850

• Colorado Territory formed

| February 28, 1861

• Nevada Territory formed

| March 2, 1861

• Wyoming Territory formed

| July 25, 1868

• Statehood

| January 4 1896

Preceded by | Succeeded by

|

|  | State of Deseret

|

| Utah |

|

The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850,[2] until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah,[3] the 45th state. At its creation, the Territory of Utah included all of the present-day State of Utah, most of the present-day state of Nevada save for Southern Nevada (including Las Vegas), much of present-day western Colorado, and the extreme southwest corner of present-day Wyoming.

## History[edit]

The territory was organized by an Organic Act of Congress in 1850, on the same day that the State of California was admitted to the Union and the New Mexico Territory was added for the southern portion of the former Mexican land. The creation of the territory was part of the Compromise of 1850 that sought to preserve the balance of power between slave and free states. With the exception of a small area around the headwaters of the Colorado River in present-day Colorado, the United States had acquired all the land of the territory from Mexico with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848. After passing the Senate, the House of Representatives voted in favor of organizing the Territory of Utah, 97–85.[4]

The creation of the Utah Territory was partially the result of the petition sent by the Mormon pioneers who had settled in the valley of the Great Salt Lake starting in 1847. The Mormons, under the leadership of Brigham Young, had petitioned Congress for entry into the Union as the State of Deseret, with its capital as Salt Lake City and with proposed borders that encompassed the entire Great Basin and the watershed of the Colorado River, including all or part of nine current U.S. states. The Mormon settlers had drafted a state constitution in 1849 and Deseret had become the de facto government in the Great Basin by the time of the creation of the Utah Territory.[5]

Following the organization of the territory, Young was inaugurated as its first governor on February 3, 1851. In the first session of the territorial legislature in September, the legislature adopted all the laws and ordinances previously enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Deseret.

During Brigham Young's governorship, he exerted considerable power over the territory. An example being that in 1873, the territory legislature gave Young the exclusive right to manufacture whiskey.[6]

Mormon governance in the territory was regarded as controversial by much of the rest of the nation, partly fed by continuing lurid newspaper depictions of the polygamy practiced by the settlers, which itself had been part of the cause of their flight from the United States to the Great Salt Lake basin after being forcibly removed from their settlements farther east.

Although the Mormons were the majority in the Great Salt Lake basin, the western area of the territory began to attract many non-Mormon settlers, especially after the discovery of silver at the Comstock Lode in 1858. In 1861, partly as a result of this, the Nevada Territory was created out of the western part of the territory. Non-Mormons also entered the easternmost part of the territory during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, resulting in the discovery of gold at Breckenridge in Utah Territory in 1859. In 1861 a large portion of the eastern area of the territory was reorganized as part of the newly created Colorado Territory.[5]

In 1869 the territory approved and ratified women's suffrage.[7]

46 years elapsed between the organization of the territory and its admission to the Union in 1896 as the State of Utah, long after the admission of territories created after it. In contrast, the Nevada Territory, although more sparsely populated, was admitted to the Union in 1864, only three years after its formation, and Colorado was admitted in 1876.[citation needed]

The evolution of the Utah Territory from its creation by Congress in 1850 to 1896, when statehood was granted

## Coat of arms[edit]

The Utah state coat of arms appears on the state seal and state flag. The beehive was chosen as the emblem for the provisional State of Deseret in 1848 and represents the state's industrious and hard-working inhabitants, and the virtues of thrift and perseverance. The sego lilies on either side symbolize peace.[8][9]

## Population[edit]

Historical populationYear| Pop.| ±%

|
|

1850| 11,380| —
1860| 40,273| +253.9%
1870| 86,336| +114.4%
1880| 146,608| +69.8%
1890| 210,779| +43.8%
Source: 1850–1890[10]

In 1850, 9 churches with regular services in the Utah Territory were unclassified by historian Edwin Gaustad in his Historical Atlas of Religion in America (1962), but were probably LDS churches.[11][12] In the 1890 United States census, 25 counties in the Utah Territory reported the following population counts (after 7 reported the following counts in the 1850 United States census):[10]

1890
Rank  | County  | 1850
Population  | 1890
Population

|
|
|

1  | Salt Lake | 6,157  | 58,457
2  | Utah | 2,026  | 23,768
3  | Weber | 1,186  | 22,723
4  | Cache | –  | 15,509
5  | Sanpete | 365  | 13,146
6  | Summit | –  | 7,733
7  | Box Elder | –  | 7,642
8  | Davis | 1,134  | 6,751
9  | Sevier | –  | 6,199
10  | Juab | –  | 5,582
11  | Emery | –  | 5,076
12  | Millard | –  | 4,033
13  | Washington | –  | 4,009
14  | Tooele | 152  | 3,700
15  | Wasatch | –  | 3,595
16  | Beaver | –  | 3,340
17  | Piute | –  | 2,842
18  | Uintah | –  | 2,762
19  | Iron | 360  | 2,683
20  | Garfield | –  | 2,457
21  | Morgan | –  | 1,780
22  | Kane | –  | 1,685
23  | Rich | –  | 1,527
24  | Grand | –  | 541
25  | San Juan | –  | 365
| Indian reservations | 4,645  | –
| Utah Territory  | 11,380  | 210,779

## See also[edit]

* Utah portal
* Colorado portal
* United States portal
* History portal

* Historic regions of the United States
* History of Utah
* Territorial evolution of the United States

## References[edit]

1. ^ "FlagTerritorial.jpg". pioneer.utah.gov. Archived from the original on June 23, 2012. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
2. ^ 9 Stat. 453
3. ^ "Utah". World Statesmen. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
4. ^ "Friday, September 6, 1850". The National Era (Washington, D.C.). Newspapers.com. September 12, 1850. p. 3.
5. ^ a b Alford, Kenneth L. (2017). Utah and the American Civil War: The Written Record. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 801\. ISBN 978-0-8061-5916-4.
6. ^ Vance, Del (2008). Beer in the Beehive (2 ed.). Salt Lake City: Dream Garden Press. p. 32.
7. ^ Lemay, Kate Clarke; Goodier, Susan; Tetrault, Lisa; Jones, Martha (2019). Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence. Princeton University Press. p. 270\. ISBN 9780691191171.
8. ^ Utah State Coat of Arms State Symbols USA.
9. ^ Utah State Emblem: Beehive eReferenceDesk.
10. ^ a b Forstall, Richard L. (ed.). Population of the States and Counties of the United States: 1790–1990 (PDF) (Report). United States Census Bureau. pp. 162–163. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
11. ^ Selcer, Richard F. (2006). Balkin, Richard (ed.). Civil War America: 1850 to 1875. New York: Facts on File. p. 143\. ISBN 978-0816038671.
12. ^ Gaustad, Edwin (1962). Historical Atlas of Religion in America. New York: Harper & Row.

## Further reading[edit]

* (1994) "Coins and Currency" article in the Utah History Encyclopedia. The article was written by Leonard J. Arrington and the Encyclopedia was published by the University of Utah Press. ISBN 9780874804256. Archived from the original on March 21, 2024 and retrieved on April 12, 2024.
* (2017) Unpopular Sovereignty: Mormons and the Federal Management of Early Utah Territory by Brent M. Rogers, University of Nebraska Press.

## External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Utah Territory.

* Utah in 1851, with the text of the 1850 Act of Congress to Establish the Territory of Utah, Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
* Utah's Role in the Transcontinental Railroad, Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
* Utah State History Archived April 20, 2021, at the Wayback Machine Utah Office of Tourism Official Website
* Henry Sommer, Watercolors and Pencil Drawings Related to the Utah Expedition. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

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State of Utah

Salt Lake City (capital)

Topics|

* Outline
* Climate change
* Congressional districts
* Earthquakes
* Flag
* Geography
* Government
* Governors
* Healthcare
* People

Society|

* Abortion
* Culture
* Crime
* Demographics
* Economy
* Education
* Gun laws
* Homelessness
* LGBT rights
* Politics

Regions|

* Cache Valley
* Colorado Plateau
* Dixie
* Great Basin
* Great Salt Lake Desert
* Mojave Desert
* Monument Valley
* San Rafael Swell
* Uinta Basin
* Uinta Mountains
* Wasatch Back
* Wasatch Front
* Wasatch Range

Largest cities|

* American Fork
* Bountiful
* Cedar City
* Clearfield
* Cottonwood Heights
* Draper
* Holladay
* Kaysville
* Layton
* Lehi
* Logan
* Midvale
* Millcreek
* Murray
* Ogden
* Orem
* Pleasant Grove
* Provo
* Riverton
* Roy
* St. George
* Salt Lake City
* Sandy
* South Jordan
* South Salt Lake
* Spanish Fork
* Springville
* Taylorsville
* Tooele
* West Jordan
* West Valley City

Counties|

* Beaver
* Box Elder
* Cache
* Carbon
* Daggett
* Davis
* Duchesne
* Emery
* Garfield
* Grand
* Iron
* Juab
* Kane
* Millard
* Morgan
* Piute
* Rich
* Salt Lake
* San Juan
* Sanpete
* Sevier
* Summit
* Tooele
* Uintah
* Utah
* Wasatch
* Washington
* Wayne
* Weber

Important sites|

| National monuments|

* Bears Ears National Monument
* Cedar Breaks National Monument
* Dinosaur National Monument
* Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument
* Hovenweep National Monument
* Natural Bridges National Monument
* Rainbow Bridge National Monument
* Timpanogos Cave National Monument

|

National parks|

* Arches National Park
* Bryce Canyon National Park
* Canyonlands National Park
* Capitol Reef National Park
* Zion National Park

National recreation areas|

* Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area
* Glen Canyon National Recreation Area

Ski resorts|

* Alta Ski Area
* Beaver Mountain
* Brian Head Ski Resort
* Brighton Ski Resort
* Cherry Peak Resort
* Deer Valley
* Park City Mountain Resort
* Powder Mountain
* Snowbasin
* Snowbird Ski Resort
* Solitude Mountain Resort
* Sundance Resort
* Wolf Mountain

Other|

* Bonneville Salt Flats
* Golden Spike National Historical Park
* Great Salt Lake
* Lagoon (amusement park)
* Temple Square

History|

* African American
* Black Hawk War (1865–1872)
* Mormon Trail
* Mormon settlement techniques of the Salt Lake Valley
* Runaway Officials of 1851
* Salt Lake City
* Slavery
* State of Deseret
* Territorial evolution
* Tintic War
* Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
* Utah Territory
* Utah Territory in the American Civil War
* Utah War
* Wakara's War
* World War II
* Women's suffrage
* 2002 Winter Olympics

Flora and fauna|

* Fauna
* Arachnids
* Birds
* Butterflies and moths
* Mammals
* Mollusks
* Flora
* Colorado Plateau and Canyonlands region
* Wasatch and Uinta montane forests
* Rocky Mountain Floristic Region
* Pando
* Jardine Juniper

Culture|

* America's Freedom Festival at Provo
* Mormon foodways
* Pioneer Day
* Utah...This Is the Place
* Utah Shakespeare Festival
* State fair
* Symbols
* Moab Jeep Safari

Utah portal

39°50′N 113°30′W﻿ / ﻿39.833°N 113.500°W﻿ / 39.833; -113.500
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