UTAH 



6010 



UTAH 



has been converted from a wilderness of rugged 

 mountains and barren valleys to an important 

 agricultural and industrial commonwealth. 



Size and Location. The state occupies a 

 rectangular area of 84.990 square miles, between 

 the main ranges of the Rocky Mountains and 

 the Sierra Nevadas. The northeast corner of 

 the rectangle is cut off by Wyoming ; the re- 

 mainder of the eastern boundary is formed by 

 Colorado, and the western boundary by Ne- 

 vada, with Idaho and Arizona lying to the 

 north and south. It ranks tenth in size among 

 the states, and is about four times the area of 

 Nova Scotia. 



The People. The story of the people of Utah 

 is largely a history of the Mormons who en- 

 tered the state in 1847 (see MORMONS). Al- 

 though the number of inhabitants has steadily 

 increased since the state's admission to the 

 Union, in January, 1896, it ranked in 1910 only 

 forty-first in population among the states. 

 The people numbered 373,351 in 1910, aver- 

 aging 4.5 per square mile. Of the total, 3,123 

 were Indians, 1,144 were negroes and 17.6 per 

 cent were of foreign birth, chiefly English, 

 Danish, Swedish, Greek, German, Italian, 

 Scotch and Norwegian. The population on 

 January 1, 1917,- was estimated by Federal 

 authorities as 438,974. 



About one-half of the total number of in- 

 habitants live in incorporated towns or cities 

 of over 2,500 people. The chief cities are Salt 

 Lake City, the capital, which has a population 

 of over 110,000; Ogden, with over 30,000; Provo 

 and Logan. Each is described in these volumes 

 under its title. Over three-fourths of the in- 

 habitants are members of the Mormon Church, 

 or Church of Latter-Day Saints. Other promi- 

 nent religious bodies are the Roman Catholics, 

 Methodists and Presbyterians. 



Education. Liberal provision is made for 

 free education; textbooks are furnished free 

 and vocational training has been introduced. 

 Almost four-fifths of the total school' popula- 

 tion is enrolled in schools, and the average 

 illiteracy in 1910 was but 2.5 per cent. 



The public school system was organized in 

 1890, and is administered by the state superin- 

 tendent of public instruction and the state- 

 board of education. The board also controls 

 the establishment and supervision of state li- 

 braries and gymnasiums. Four sections of pub- 

 lic land in each county have been reserved by 

 the government for school purposes, and the 

 educational system is also supported by local 

 taxation and appropriations by the legislature. 

 Besides the kindergartens and grade and high 

 schools, the state maintains a university at Salt 

 Lake City, which includes a preparatory school, 

 a normal school and college of mines; a branch 

 normal school at Cedar City, and an agricul- 

 tural college at Logan. 



The Latter-Day Saints have a private educa- 

 tional system, their leading institutions being 

 the Latter-Day Saints' University at Salt Lake 

 City; Brigham Young University at Provo; 

 Brigham Young College at Ogden, with a 

 branch at Beaver City. Other prominent de- 

 nominational institutions are Sheldon Jackson 

 or Westminster College (Presbyterian) and All 

 Hallows College (Roman Catholic), both at 

 Salt Lake City. 



Charity and Correction. Utah is one of the 

 states which has not established general state 

 control of public institutions; these are con- 

 trolled by separate boards appointed by the 

 governor. There is an industrial school at Og- 

 den, a hospital for the insane at Provo, a school 

 for the deaf and blind at Ogden, and a state 

 prison at Salt Lake City. 



The Land and Its Resources 



The Land. Utah is a great plateau covered 

 with sagebrush and broken into lofty mountain 

 ranges, with towering peaks, beetling cliffs and 

 deep canyons. The two chief ra'nges are the 

 ( Uinta Mountains, forming a great barrier along 

 the eastern half of the northern boundary, and 

 the Wasatch Mountains, crossing the center 

 of the state from north to south. Among the 

 domelike summits of the Uintas, Gilbert, Em- 

 mons and Wilson peaks rise more than 13,000 

 feet above the sea. 



East of the rugged Wasatch Range, which in 

 the south broadens out into the Wasatch and 



Aquarius plateaus, lies an elevated plain rough- 

 ened by detached mountain ranges. West of 

 this backbone of mountains lies the Great 

 Basin, a region of arid valleys separated by 

 steep, islandlike mountains. At the foot of the 

 snow-covered peaks the valleys are fertile, but 

 a region of about 4,000 square miles west of 

 Great Salt Lake is barren, and is known as the 

 Great American Desert. Thus Utah presents a 

 panorama of magnificent scenery great can- 

 yons with deep, narrow mouths, torrents and 

 cascades dashing over gorgeous colored rocks; 

 hill slopes covered with brilliant flowers, and 



