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Sacred Healing: Traveling Midwives in Early Rural Utah
Frontier life in late-nineteenth century Utah was rough. Today, many rural Utahns still struggle with access to medical care, but once upon a time midwives traveled throughout rural Utah, providing healthcare services to those in isolated areas.
In…
“The Most Noble Subject:” Utah’s Landscape Inspires Artists
Nineteenth-century painters used Utah’s impressive landscape to promote an awe-inspiring vision of the American West through their art.
For many people, thinking of the American West might conjure images of grandiose mountains, golden-orange…
Sorority of River Rats: Gender Norms on the River
If you’ve ever been on a river trip, you probably didn’t bring along your hair curlers or a nightgown. But for women rafters in the 1930s, keeping up gender norms was part of the river experience.
Between 1936 and 1949, Norm Nevills operated a…
Indoor Plumbing Eases the Domestic Burden
Most of us take for granted the luxury of having running water inside of our homes. But, indoor plumbing is a relatively new phenomenon that has made life significantly easier!
At the turn of the twentieth century, just 1% of homes in the United…
Water is Alive: Navajo Connections to the Colorado River
In Navajo belief systems, water is alive and a vital part of a healthy landscape. When Glen Canyon Dam blocked the flow of the Colorado River, a landscape that holds deep meaning in traditional Navajo spirituality was completely transformed.
For…
Town that Drowned: Hite
Underneath Lake Powell is a drowned ghost town that was once an important mining hub and crossroads for the Colorado River community.
If you’ve ever visited the north end of Lake Powell, you may have stopped by the Hite Marina for a public restroom…
“You Protect the Water:” Uranium Mining & Utah’s Native Peoples
The uranium mining and milling industry in Utah has had a devastating effect on water that disproportionately affected the health and safety of Native American tribes.
During the height of the atomic age after World War II, southern Utah was teeming…
Navajo Code Talker Samuel Holiday
Meet Samuel Holiday, whose traditional Navajo upbringing shaped his work as a code talker and changed the course of World War II.When Samuel Holiday was forced to attend a government boarding school for Native American children, he was forbidden to…
Love Your Work: River Rat Georgie White
Do you love your work? Georgie White did. Her free spirit and appetite for Western landscapes and ferocious rivers led to a long, passionate career.What’s YOUR passion? Veteran adventurer Georgie White turned her passion into a career by…
Utah Midwife Hannah Sorensen
Learn about Utah’s nineteenth century midwives, who were unusual in that they were actually paid for their work as medical providers. Much of the work that sustained Utah’s communities in the late nineteenth century was done by women, in the…
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…
The Ghost Town of Old La Sal
Ghost Towns of the old west are generally relics of the mining industry, but Old La Sal in San Juan County is a now-deserted cow town.Situated in the northeast corner of San Juan County at the foot of the La Sal Mountains, old La Sal was once a…
Manuelito
Manuelito was one of the last Navajo leaders to surrender to the US military in the late 1860s.Born near the Bear Ears in extreme southeastern Utah, the man known to whites as Manuelito and to the Navajo, or Dine, as Man of Dark Plants Emerging and…
The Ogdenites
Followers of Marie Ogden created a unique religious community just outside of Monticello.In 1933, the followers of Marie Ogden arrived in San Juan County's Dry Valley and began to create their version of God's kingdom. Ogden had dabbled in the occult…
The Posey War
Tensions between white and Native American populations in San Juan County escalated over limited resources and mutual misunderstanding. The eventual armed conflict between the two groups has been called “The Last Indian Uprising”.In 1923,…
Settling Bluff
Learn about the harrowing expedition that settled the tiny San Juan County community of Bluff!In 1888, a hardy group of Mormon settlers founded the town of Bluff, Utah. The party, which has since become known as the Hole-In-The-Rock Expedition, had…