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"Tieing" Utah Together
Utah’s mountain ranges were raided and its rivers put to work in order to build the national railroad system. When the transcontinental railroad came to Utah in 1868 and 1869 – and as branch lines later spread through the territory – railroad…
The Journey of Gobo Fango
Gobo Fango, an enslaved boy from southern Africa, journeyed to Utah in 1861. Born about 1855 near the Cape of Good Hope in what is now the Republic of South Africa, Gobo Fango was shaped by hardship. While still a small child, Gobo Fango’s…
Adventures of an Early Hot Rodder
In the early days of motoring, traveling by automobile was all about adventure. America’s love affair with the automobile began with young men like Alva Matheson. Born in Cedar City in 1903, Alva Matheson began hankering for a car at age…
The Gypsies are Coming!
Traveling gypsies brought excitement to small towns all over Utah in the early 1900s. To most residents of rural Utah in the early 1900s, summertime meant hauling hay, digging ditches, irrigating crops, and tending livestock. Other than the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
The Bear River Massacre
The Bear River Massacre was an event that changed the landscape of northern Utah and the fate of the Shoshone people.In the early morning cold of January 29, 1863, between 270 and 400 Shoshone men, women, and children were killed by the U.S. Army…
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…
The Crossing of the Fathers
One of the goals of the Dominguez-Escalante expedition was to find a northern route to the Spanish missions in Monterey, California from the Spanish colonial stronghold of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Led by two Franciscan friars named Silvestre Velez de…
Jewish Pioneers of Clarion
On September 10, 1911, twelve Jewish families arrived in Gunnison, Utah, to establish a Jewish agricultural community. The group was part of the “Back to Soil” movement, which believed Jews needed to leave the city and live on farms. The…
Intermountain Indian School
The “I” is fading fast on the mountainside above Brigham City, Utah. Winter snows threaten to erase it for good and with it, the memory of one of Utah’s more significant stories: The Intermountain Indian School, a federally-run Native American…
My Life on Three Continents: Jewish Refugees in Utah
Utah has become home to people of many backgrounds and cultures since the first Mormon Pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in July 1847. What brought these people to Utah? The convoluted journey of one family is told in Fred Linden’s…
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…
Monticello's Hispanic Pioneers
In 1899, Ramon Gonzalez, his wife Guadalupe, and his children Romana and Prudencio, left their home in Dixon, New Mexico, to settle in Monticello, Utah. A wagon carried all their household possessions, while a few head of livestock followed on the…
Solstice Sun Tunnels
Sun Tunnels, an art installation by Nancy Holt, has become a unique part of Utah’s heritage.On June 21, 1976, the day of the summer solstice, New York artist Nancy Holt gathered several friends under the massive skies of Utah’s west desert to…
Christmas Gift Giving in Pioneer Cedar City
Imagine you live in 19th century rural Utah. Christmas is coming and your children look forward to a celebration with Santa and gifts. There are no stores, no mail orders. How would you meet their expectations?“It [was] a two-room log house with a…
Harry’s Dream: Beaver Mountain Ski Resort
Like many Utahns, Harold Seeholzer loved snow and skiing. But how did his enthusiasm for outdoor recreation turn into one of Cache Valley’s most notable ski resorts?In the late 1930s, Harold and a few local ski fanatics engineered the first…
Massacre in Nephi: Archaeology of a Mass Grave
A mass grave was found in Nephi, Utah, proving how archaeology can provide a voice for the dead.In 2006, while digging the foundation for a new house in the central Utah town of Nephi, construction workers uncovered human bones. In fact, seven Native…