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Pools During Polio: Transmission or Treatment?
When Utah joined the nation’s crusade against polio in the 1950s, officials weren't sure what to do about public pools. Were they a place where children got relief from their symptoms or a nexus for mass infection?
After World War II, the United…
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…
Powerful Madams Presided Over Utah’s Brothels
It may come as a surprise to learn that in late 19th century Utah – an era with great constraints on women’s work – that prostitution offered at least some women a path to a powerful career.In the late 1800s, railroads and urban growth spurred…
Powering Utah: Lucien Nunn’s Hydroelectric Empire
The search for more affordable, alternative energy sources is nothing new. Learn how a businessman in the late 1800s electrified rural Utah using a state-of-the-art hydroelectric system.
We take it for granted now, but electricity was a hot commodity…
Prehistoric "Snowbirds": Fremont Indians' Life on the Move
Birds do it… So do humans. In fact, humans in Utah have been heading south for winter for more than 1500 years. Along the lower Bear River, where it stretches into the Great Salt Lake, are the remains of five prehistoric campsites. …
Prohibition in Utah
Utah’s history of anti-liquor laws began before Prohibition in the United States.Years before the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified in 1919, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transportation of "intoxicating liquors"…
Prohibition Inspires Business Innovation in Ogden
Learn how Ogden’s families and business-owners used the prohibition against alcohol to invent new styles of work… and how law enforcement worked to stop them.July 31, 1917 marked the last night before Prohibition in Utah, a new law that banned…
Protesting the Vietnam War in Salt Lake
The anti-war movement came to Salt Lake City in 1969, culminating in a rally that the Salt Lake Tribune called “the largest peace demonstration in Utah history.”In October 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War, more than 4,000 Utahns took to the…
Provo Canyon Snowslide Ends in Tragedy
Anyone who lives near Utah’s mountains knows how dangerous winter avalanches can be. Today, avalanches are closely monitored and relatively controlled. But it wasn’t always so. Learn about the 1897 avalanche in Provo Canyon that ended in…
Provo Woolen Mills: Industry Comes to Utah
Learn about the Provo Woolen Mills, the first large factory built in Utah.Prior to the coming of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, Utah's economy revolved mainly around agriculture, barter, and small-scale manufacturing. With the railroad,…
Putting a Face on Poverty: Dorthea Lange in Utah
Famous photographer Dorthea Lange captured the heartbreaking struggles and resiliency of rural Utah during the Great Depression. Find out more about Lange and her extraordinary photographs.During the Great Depression of the early 1930s, Utah…
Putting the Carbon in Carbon County: Divergent Identities Lead to Divorce
The creation of Carbon County in 1894 resulted from a rift between Mormon agriculturalists and non-Mormon miners, and illustrates the struggle over identity in rural Utah.
The discovery of industrial-grade coal in 1882 at Castle Gate in Price Canyon…
Rafael Lopez: Fugitive & Folk Hero
Rafael Lopez came to Utah to help break a strike up in Bingham Canyon in 1912. A year later, he was a fugitive – and a folk hero.When Greek miners went out on strike in 1912, the Utah Copper Company turned to Mexican labor to keep production…
Raising Hopes and Oysters in Great Salt Lake
Have you ever looked out over Great Salt Lake and thought, “I’d really like to grow oysters there?” You probably haven’t. Learn how Utahns have tried — and failed — to cultivate this unlikely product. The Mountain West is not known for…
Rebel Girl: Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
In 1914, the state of Utah put labor activist Joe Hill on trial for murder in a case that remains controversial to this day. Learn about Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, the woman who fought hard for Hill’s pardon.When the state of Utah sentenced labor…
Reclaiming Boa Ogoi
![Darren at Boa Ogoi by Levi Simm Oct 2020[11].jpg](https://stories.utahhumanities.org/stories/files/square_thumbnails/d82d6ef51a196ab41282cfdb5d6f3ce8.jpg "Darren at Boa Ogoi by Levi Simm Oct 2020[11].jpg")
The colonization of northern Utah’s Cache Valley escalated tensions that led to the horrific 1863 massacre of Shoshone people at their winter camp on Bear River. Learn how the Shoshone have returned to the river and are reclaiming it as a healing…
Red Reed Water: Clear Creek as Native Waterway
The valley floor and cliffs of Clear Creek Canyon were sculpted over millions of years and evidence hints that humans moved along its waters as early as 8,000 years ago. You may have driven through this canyon yourself, but do you know the importance…
Remembering Calvin Rampton
A reflection on the life and long political career of Calvin Rampton, Utah's longest serving governor. Rampton was born in Bountiful, attended Davis High School, and then graduated from the University of Utah with bachelors and law degrees. Soon he…
Resurrecting Salt Lake City’s Buried Water
You have probably walked over a buried creek many times and not realized it. Underneath the streets of Salt Lake Valley are seven creeks flowing from the Wasatch Mountains. What are the costs of hiding this water?
In 1852, land surveyor and explorer…
Retirement? Effie Ensign Merrill Never Left the Workforce
Many Utahns look forward to – or worry about – a comfortable retirement. But having the financial security to leave paid work after a long career is a concept that is relatively modern.When Effie Merrill’s husband died in 1915, there were few…