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Alien Registration Act of 1940
The United States has a long history of limiting immigration and managing migrants once they are here, including a campaign to register non-citizen immigrants living in Utah. Imagine you're a non-citizen living in Utah. When you open up your…
Utah's Interurban Railroads
Utah’s interurban railroads were the predecessors of light rail in Utah. At the height of the railroad age, Utah was criss-crossed with rail lines. Many of these were established to haul freight, but most of them also provided passenger…
The Adventure of Bobby Donohue
Any parent who has ever lost a youngster in a crowd can imagine Park City resident Bridget Donohue’s panic when she couldn’t find her thirteen-year-old son, Bobby. Believing he had gone to nearby Heber in the fall of 1898, Bridget must have…
"One Vast Contiguity of Waste": Ute Relocation to the Uinta Basin
Learn about the forced relocation of Ute people from lush central Utah to the remote Uinta Basin. In the mid-19th Century federal Indian policy shifted from Indian Removal toward the reservation system. The result for many Native groups,…
Utah Journeys: Finding a Way Through
Migration and travel have shaped Utah. And Utah has shaped the way we migrate and travel. Literally. Over time, travel routes through Utah have tended to stay the same. Utah’s ruggedly beautiful landscape draws admiration and visitors, but has…
Porters & Waiters Club: Worth the Trip to Ogden
Americans love their entertainment. But how far would you travel for a bit of fun? Here’s why a music club on Ogden’s 25th Street became a place worth traveling to. The rousing nightlife of cafes and clubs of the mid-twentieth century conjures…
Modern Tourism: The Comforts of Home in Nature
Utah’s booming tourism industry grew by attracting travelers with creature comforts that rivaled the scenery. In the early twentieth century, Utah’s exceptional landscape drew Americans seeking to connect with nature and untamed wilderness. …
Salt Lake Valley Hot Springs
An area now occupied by an oil refinery, a gravel mine, and a freeway, was once Salt Lake’s premier tourist attraction.
Everyone smells it. A whiff of sulfur, as your car rounds the corner on I-15 between Salt Lake and Davis Counties.…
A Voice for Working Women
The Woman’s Exponent magazine served an unusual role in advocating for Utah’s working women during the late nineteenth century. One of the greatest advocates for Utah’s working women was the Woman’s Exponent magazine, started in Salt Lake…
Verla Gean Miller: Traveler, Teacher, Persian Princess
Verla Gean Miller FarmanFarmaian – beloved teacher to many Utah school children – made one decision to travel that set her on a fantastic journey that changed her life. In 1945, Verla Gean Miller made a decision to travel to the eastern…
Defying Expectations: Elizabeth Randall Cumming's Journey to Utah
Elizabeth Randall Cumming came to Salt Lake in 1858 as the wife of Utah’s first non-Mormon Territorial Governor. Her expectations of the journey were defied every step of the way. Believing the Mormons were in rebellion in the late 1850s, the…
Not the End of the Line: Salt Lake's Rio Grande Train Depot
Once a major transportation hub, Salt Lake City’s Rio Grande Train Depot has served its community well over the last century. The Rio Grande Train Depot in Salt Lake City was built in 1910. Once a major hub of transportation, the building…
Uranium Stories
Those who journeyed to Moab during the uranium mining boom that swept Utah in the 1950s and 1960s changed the tiny town forever. When the Atomic Energy Commission wanted uranium in the late 1940s, its guarantee to purchase whatever could be found…
Edwin Bryant's Mule Ride
Nine men riding mules journeyed across the Great Salt Lake Desert in a single scorching August day. On August 3, 1846, Edwin Bryant woke up at 1:30 a.m. The silence around him seemed ominous. Camped this night on the Cedar Mountains at the…
Martha Sharouk’s Journey to America
The journey of Martha Sharouk – a young wife who left Lebanon and travelled to Utah to begin a new life – did not quite go as planned… In the winter of 1913, a young Lebanese woman stepped off the train at the Denver and Rio Grande station in…
From Obstacle to Opportunity: Running the Mighty Green River
Historic obstacles to travel on Utah’s Green River are now considered opportunities for adventure. Fast waters, deadly rapids, high cliff walls, and an unknown course have long been obstacles that limited human activity on Utah’s Green…
Working on the Railroad: Utah's Chinese Pioneers
Chinese immigrant laborers built the railroad from California to Utah. On May 10, 1869 the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads joined at Utah’s Promontory Point, completing the first transcontinental railroad system in the United…
John Wesley Powell's First Run of the Colorado River
More than 140 years ago, on August 30, 1869, six men in two wooden boats emerged into open country from the high cliffs and rough waters of the Grand Canyon. They were “blackened, bearded, emaciated, in rags,” and down to their last stash of…
Utah's Record-Making Aviator Russell Maughan
You’ve heard of record-making aviators Charles Lindberg, Amelia Earhart, and even the Wright Brothers. But who was Russell Maughan? Born and raised in Logan, Utah, Russell Maughan was a fighter pilot in World War I, and later served as a test…
The Hole-in-the-Rock: Utah's Most Treacherous Stretch of Road
Utah’s most treacherous stretch of road was hacked from the rock with a few hand tools and a bit of blasting powder. Utah’s rugged terrain often translates into treacherous roads. And the most precarious stretch of road might be the…