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Water Woes in Grafton
When Mormon pioneers tried to settle along the banks of the Virgin River, raging waters kept them from getting too comfortable. Learn about the ghost town of Grafton and its losing battle with the River.
Utah has little regular rainfall, so…
Feeding the Steam Beasts: Piping Water to the Transcontinental Railroad
Steam locomotive engines need water – a lot of it. But here in Utah – the second driest state in the Lower 48 – finding water to feed these steam beasts was a real problem for the railroad companies. Learn more about how they solved this…
Ingenuity & Engineering: Green River’s Hastings Ranch Waterwheel
You know those world-famous Green River melons? Well, they need lots of water to build that juicy goodness. Learn how one farm along the Green River solved the problem of getting water to its fields.
The town of Green River, Utah, is known for its…
Ancient Farmers & Prehistoric Waterways
People living in Utah have been managing water to support agriculture for over a thousand years. Using tools and techniques perfected by their ancestors, these ancient farmers manipulated water and adapted to their dry environment in order to…
Battling the Elements at Saltair Resort
The Great Saltair Resort is often remembered for its glory days as a dance hall and amusement park. But it was constantly at war with the harsh, saline environment that gave it its claim to fame.
In 1893, the LDS Church built the Great Saltair…
The Honerine Drain Tunnel's Poisonous Orchards
The evil queen gave Snow White a poisonous apple that sent her into a magical deep sleep, but in Tooele County, a mining company used run-off water polluted with heavy metals to grow their toxic orchards.
In 1933, a Tooele mining company called the…
John Wesley Powell's Hydraulic West
A map of the United States is a familiar sight in Utah’s classrooms. But if we had listened to one of America’s most visionary scientists more than one hundred years ago, Utah’s state borders would look totally different today. Maps shape how…
Utah's Canary in the Coal Mine
Great Salt Lake is the natural wonder that gave Utah’s capital city its name. Yet, it is cut in half, deprived of water, and shrinking before our very eyes. Learn about the water story of our beloved Great Salt Lake – and the warning it…
Conquering the Unconquerable River: Buzz Holstrom's Rise to Fame
Armed with a cameraman, a rubber boat named “Charlie,” and a pet racoon, Buzz Holmstrom took a legendary river trip that was featured in the 1938 film “Conquering the Colorado."
In 1937, a man named Buzz Holmstrom built a wooden boat and ran…
Keeping Cool: Ice Harvesting in Utah
Ever wonder how people kept food cold before electricity? Learn how ice was harvested, stored, and used throughout Utah before freezers were common household appliances.
During the nineteenth-century, frozen water was a rare and valuable commodity.…
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…
Streets Closed for Winter Fun
Water is a key part of Utah’s recreation scene, whether you’re skiing, snowboarding, sledding, or ice skating. Learn how Utah's residents used to love their winter thrills so much that they shut down entire city streets to make way for snowy fun.…
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…
Anti-Apartheid Activists Force Divestment at the University of Utah
In the mid-nineteen eighties, global pressure was mounting against the apartheid regime in South Africa. Learn how persistent student activists at the University of Utah forced their campus to confront its connections to an oppressive regime half a…
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…
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…
Susanna Bransford: The Silver Queen
Meet prominent socialite and millionaire Susanna Bransford, who built her fortune on the back of Utah’s mining boom.Susanna Bransford – Park City’s infamous “Silver Queen” – epitomizes Utah’s glamorous Gilded Age. But Bransford…
Frank Chester Robertson: Dreamweaver
Meet Frank Chester Robertson, the famous Utah author who made his living writing popular Westerns that belied his own life of desperation on the Mormon frontier.Frank Robertson wasn’t exactly the kind of writer groomed in literary circles. Born…
Maude Adams: A Working Woman in Breeches
This week, learn how the most famous American theater actress of the early 20th Century used gender-bending roles to push the early boundaries of a queer aesthetic.Salt Lake City native Maude Adams was the highest paid and most beloved American…
Erased History: Chinese Workers in Park City
Barred from lucrative work and hounded by local residents, it took years of discrimination against Chinese workers to erase their contributions to Park City.All that remains of Park City’s once-thriving Chinatown is a name on a parking garage:…