UTAH

The southern Mountain region. constituent state of the United States of America, located in the western mountain region in the west-central United States. It is bounded on the north by Idaho and Wyoming, on the east by Colorado, on the south by Arizona, and on the west by Nevada. The capital is Salt Lake City. Prehistoric habitation of the Utah region occurred as early as 10,000 BC. About AD 400 the Pueblo (Anasazi) Indian culture, with its communal cliff dwellings, was located throughout Utah. This culture disappeared about 1250 and was followed by Shoshoni Indians, practicing a desert culture. Spain explored the area in the late 18th century. The region passed to Mexico in 1821 and became a part of the United States in 1848, at the conclusion of the Mexican War. U.S. exploration of Utah, however, had preceded its annexation: Jim Bridger reached the Great Salt Lake in 1824. Later explorers included Jedediah Smith and John C. Frmont. Utah entered its formative stage in U.S. history with the arrival of the Mormons in 1847. The Mormons, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, had fled persecution in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. Using the Great Salt Valley as their base, they colonized a huge portion of the surrounding area. They applied for statehood no less than six times between 1849 and 1887 and finally entered the Union in 1896 as the 45th state, only after they had renounced polygamy and their church's political People's Party. Utah straddles three physiographic regions. In the northeast is the Middle Rockies region, containing the Uinta Mountains, the only major eastwest mountain range in the United States. The western third of the state is part of the Basin and Range Province, a broad, flat, desertlike area with occasional mountain peaks. Both the Great Salt Lake and the Great Salt Lake Desert are in this region. The remainder of the state (slightly more than half) lies within the Colorado Plateau. This elevated region is cut by brilliantly coloured canyons. Utah is basically arid, though the southwestern corner is almost dry subtropical in climate. The state has four distinct seasons. The average July temperature is about 70 F (21 C). Except in the southwestern corner, the average winter temperature is slightly below freezing. Daily temperatures vary widely, relatively low humidity prevails, and average precipitation is 11 inches (280 mm) a year. The average annual snowfall is 4.5 feet (1.4 m). About 70 percent of the land of Utah is owned by either the federal or the state government. The majority of the state's population is concentrated in a short strip, not more than 100 miles (161 km) long, stretching from Ogden to Provo. Its four counties contain more than three-fourths of the state's population. The birth rate is high and the death rate low. With increasing rates of immigration, the state has grown rapidly. Between 1970 and 1980 its population increased by nearly 38 percent, more than three times the national average. Indians comprise about 1 percent of the population, and Hispanic people constitute 4 percent. Agricultural production is highly dependent on irrigation, and more than three-fourths of farm income is from livestock and livestock products. Hay is the most important crop, followed by wheat, barley, and corn (maize). Mineral wealth is particularly important. Copper once accounted for much of the value of the state's mineral production, but its production has been reduced considerably. Utah is the world's foremost producer of beryllium and is a major producer of gold, silver, lead, uranium, and molybdenum. There are large coal and petroleum reserves. The state remains below the national average in the proportion of personal income derived from manufacturing. Printing and publishing; food processing; the manufacture of transportation equipment, computer hardware and software, nonelectrical machinery, rocket engines, and fabricated metals; and petroleum refining, are the major manufacturing activities. With access to all national markets, Utah is developing into a major distribution centre for the West. Although overall railway mileage has declined, the road network has been expanding rapidly. More than two-thirds of the population is Mormon, and the church exerts a strong influence on the state's cultural life and traditions. Mormon culture emphasizes closely knit family life, widespread interest in family genealogy, abstention from the use of alcoholic beverages and tobacco, and participation in sports and personal-development programs. Performing arts are highlighted by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Utah Symphony Orchestra, the Salt Lake Oratorio Society, and Ballet West. More than one-half of Utah's governmental expenditure is for education. Utah has the highest proportion of high-school graduates and the highest median level of school years completed of any state in the nation. Area 84,899 square miles (219,889 square km). Pop. (1990) 1,722,850. constituent state of the United States of America. Mountains, high plateaus, and deserts form most of its landscape. The state's 84,899 square miles (219,889 square kilometres) lie in the heart of the West, with Idaho to the north, Wyoming to the northeast, Colorado to the east, Arizona to the south, and Nevada to the west. At Four Corners, in the southeast, Utah meets Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona at right angles, the only such meeting of states in the nation. The capital is Salt Lake City. The state became the 45th member of the Union on Jan. 4, 1896. Utah represents a unique episode in the settlement of the United States, a story of a religious group that trekked and was driven across three-quarters of the continent in search of a promised land. Salt Lake City is the world headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon church, and the spiritual home of adherents throughout the world. With Mormons making up nearly 70 percent of the state's population, the beliefs and traditions of the Mormon church continue to exert profound influences on many facets of the state's life and institutions. Before the arrival of the first Mormon pioneers, Utah was inhabited by several Indian tribes including the Ute, for whom the state is named. From the beginning of Mormon settlement in 1847, the pioneers set about wresting a green land from the deserts, gradually supplementing their crops with the products of industry and the earth. The economy of present-day Utah is based on manufacturing, tourism, and services, in addition to agriculture and mining. Additional reading Good references on the land and people include Federal Writers' Project, Utah: A Guide to the State (1941, reissued 1972), and a newer, revised and enlarged edition by Ward J. Roylance (1982); Wayne L. Wahlquist and Howard A. Christy (eds.), Atlas of Utah (1981); DeLorme Mapping Company, Utah Atlas & Gazetteer (1993); Helen Z. Papanikolas (ed.), The Peoples of Utah (1976); and Thomas K. Martin, Tim B. Heaton, and Stephen J. Bahr (eds.), Utah in Demographic Perspective: Regional and National Contrasts (1986). The geologic history is told in William Lee Stokes, Geology of Utah (1986). John W. Van Cott, Utah Place Names (1990), combines geography and local history. Political and economic developments are described in Nels Anderson, Desert Saints: The Mormon Frontier in Utah (1942, reissued 1966); Leonard J. Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 18301900 (1958, reissued 1966); and Gustive O. Larson, The Americanization of Utah for Statehood (1971). Prehistoric Native American cultures are described in Jesse D. Jennings, Prehistory of Utah and the Eastern Great Basin (1978); and David B. Madsen and James F. O'Connell (eds.), Man and Environment in the Great Basin (1982). Excellent histories include Charles S. Peterson, Utah (1977, reissued 1984); Dean L. May, Utah: A People's History (1987); Wayne K. Hinton, Utah: Unusual Beginning to Unique Present (1988); and Richard D. Poll (ed.), Utah's History (1978), a collection of essays by leading historians. Current research on Utah's history may be found in Utah Historical Quarterly. Leonard James Arrington