The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state. At its creation, the Territory of Utah included all of the present-day State of Utah, most of the current state of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

save for a portion of Southern Nevada (including the metro area of the city of

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

), much of modern western Colorado, and the extreme southwest corner of present-day

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

History

When the

Mormon pioneers The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter-day Saints, who Human migration, migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the ...

moving westward across the

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

began settling the

Salt Lake Valley Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City, Utah, Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably Murray, Utah, Murray, Sandy, Uta ...

around the Great Salt Lake in 1847 and for many years afterward, they relied on existing institutions within

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church) or the secular civil governments. The Utah Territory was organized by an Organic Act of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

, approved by the newly succeeded 13th President Millard Fillmore (1800–1874, served 1850–1853), only two months after the former

Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

acceded to the higher office upon the sudden death in July 1850 of his military general predecessor Zachary Taylor. The Utah Territory bill was approved by him in September 1850, on the same day that the

State of California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

was admitted to the Union as the 31st state (and the first time the American Union jumping across the

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

n continent to the opposite

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

west coast). Plus the original larger New Mexico Territory in the Great Southwest was added and erected from the southern portion of the huge

Mexican Cession The Mexican Cession () is the region in the modern-day Western United States that Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United S ...

in 1849 of former Centralist Republic of Mexico lands, (which amounted to the northwestern one-third of their country) following their defeat in the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

.of

1846 Events January–March * January 5 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Country with the United Kingdom. * January 13 – The Milan–Venice railway's bridge, over the Venetian Lagoon betwee ...

- 1848. The creation of the new Territory of Utah around the Great Basin and the Great Salt Lake was part of the elements of agreements in the political Compromise of 1850 made in the national capital of Washington, D.C. that sought to preserve the balance of power between Southern

slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

states and free states in the North. With the exception of a small area around the headwaters of the upper

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

in present-day

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, the United States had acquired all the northwestern lands of the territory and former provinces from southern neighbor

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

after the negotiations and ratification of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo of 1848, following several additional battles along the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

coast and central heartland, resulting in the occupation of the Mexican capital of

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

by Invading American military forces and their surrender with the end of the brief war. The peace treaty later passing in Congress in the upper chamber of the U.S. Senate, (which approves all foreign treaties according to the U.S. Constitution) and the lower chamber of the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

voted in the subsequent supplemental legislation in favor of organizing the federal Territory of Utah, 97–85. The creation of the Territory with no mention at all of the divisive issue of slavery in the documents, was partially the result of a petition sent by the Mormon pioneers under the leadership of

Brigham Young Brigham Young ( ; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until h ...

(1801–1877, served 1847–1877), the second church president. The petition had asked Congress to allow them to enter the Union as the

State of Deseret The State of Deseret (modern pronunciation , contemporaneously , as recorded in the Deseret alphabet spelling 𐐔𐐯𐑅𐐨𐑉𐐯𐐻) was a proposed U.S. state, state of the United States promoted by leaders of the Church of Jesus Chri ...

, (which they had already organized the year before) with its capital as

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

and with proposed borders that encompassed the entire Great Basin and the watershed of the

, including all or part of nine current U.S. states in the southwest. The Mormon settlers had drafted a state constitution in 1849 and Deseret had become the ''de facto'' government in the Great Basin by the time of the creation of the subsequent Federal Utah Territory. Following the organization of the Territory, second church president Young was inaugurated as its first territorial Governor of Utah. The first Territorial Capital City and Capitol building was located 1850 to 1856 in the small town of Fillmore, Utah, named for the new 13th President Millard Fillmore, who approved and signed the Congressional organic act and territorial erection bill of September 1850, and the small local government was set up here including the meetings of the Territorial Assembly, although first governor and second LDS Church president Brigham Young remained mostly in his Beehive House (current historic site) residence in Salt Lake City, but traveling to Fillmore 1850 to 1856, until his death in

1877 Events January * January 1 – Queen Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India by the Royal Titles Act 1876, introduced by Benjamin Disraeli, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . * January 8 – Great Sioux War of 1876: Batt ...

. The capital of the Utah Territory was relocated that year of 1856 to the major and largest town of

, which built a new territorial capitol building for the government and its assembly and governor's offices for the next four decades and which also continued as the new

state capital Below is an index of pages containing lists of capital city, capital cities. National capitals *List of national capitals *List of national capitals by latitude *List of national capitals by population *List of national capitals by area *List of ...

after statehood in 1896. A massive monumental Utah State Capitol building with landmark dome was later constructed there on the scenic ridge overlooking from the slopes of the surrounding

Wasatch Range The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Gr ...

mountains to the present. During Brigham Young's governorship, he exerted considerable power over the territory. An example being that in 1873, the territory legislature gave to Governor / President Young the exclusive right to manufacture and distil

whiskey Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from Fermentation in food processing, fermented grain mashing, mash. Various grains (which may be Malting, malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, Maize, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky ...

. Mormon governance in the territory was regarded as controversial by much of the rest of the nation, partly fed by continuing lurid newspaper depictions of the

polygamy Polygamy (from Late Greek , "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, it is called polygyny. When a woman is married to more tha ...

marriage practiced by the settlers, which itself had been part of the cause of their flight from their previous homes and center back East in

Nauvoo, Illinois Nauvoo ( ; from the ) is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States, on the Mississippi River near Fort Madison, Iowa. The population of Nauvoo was 950 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Nauvoo attracts visitors for its h ...

, in the United States, trekking westward across the continent to the Great Salt Lake basin after being persecuted and forcibly removed from their settlements in several Eastern states. Although the Mormons were now the majority in the Great Salt Lake basin, the western area of the new territory soon began to attract many non-Mormon settlers, especially after the discovery of

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

at the famous Comstock Lode ore deposits in the Virginia City area, east of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

mountain ranges and

Lake Tahoe Lake Tahoe (; Washo language, Washo: ''dáʔaw'') is a Fresh water, freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the Western United States, straddling the border between California and Nevada. Lying at above sea level, Lake Tahoe is the largest a ...

(of present-day western

) in 1858. Only three years later on the eve of the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

in 1861, and partly as a result of this, with its importance of the recovered silver bullion for Federal Treasury coffers plus huge growth in population with the influx of prospecting miners (and assorted supporting commercial business interests) and with the subsequent intensive deep shaft industrial mining and drilling, the new

Nevada Territory The Territory of Nevada (N.T.) was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until October 31, 1864, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Nevada. Prior to the creation of the Neva ...

was then created out of the western part of the previous Utah Territory of a decade before. Non-Mormons also entered the opposite side in the easternmost part of the territory during the Pikes Peak Gold Rush, resulting in the discovery of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

at Breckenridge in the Utah Territory in 1859 (ten years after the first mineral findings along the

American River The American River is a List of rivers of California, river in California that runs from the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountain range to its confluence with the Sacramento River in downtown Sacramento. Via the Sacramento River, it ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, resulting in the phenomenal

California gold rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

of 1849-1855 there). So also in that same year of 1861, additional legislative action was taken by the Congress and the new 16th President

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

(1809–1865, served 1861–1865), to take a large portion of the eastern area of the Utah Territory to be separated and added to as part of the newly created adjacent

Colorado Territory The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the 38th State of Colorado. The territory was organized ...

further east.

Women's suffrage

In 1869, the territory's legislature (the Territorial Assembly) approved and ratified

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

. On 12 February

1870 Events January * January 1 ** The first edition of ''The Northern Echo'' newspaper is published in Priestgate, Darlington, England. ** Plans for the Brooklyn Bridge are completed. * January 3 – Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge be ...

, Utah Territory extended the right to vote to free white women who were US citizens, aged 21 or older. Utah held municipal elections and a territorial election before Wyoming did. Hence, women in Utah cast ballots before women in Wyoming. Schoolteacher Seraph Young Ford was the first woman to vote under a women’s equal suffrage law in the USA, casting her ballot in the

municipal election on 14 February 1870. This allowed women to vote in all future territorial elections continuing to 1896 with statehood (although both male and female residents in American territories had no voice or vote in Federal elections back East).

Admission to the Union

A total of 46 years elapsed between the organization of the territory and its admission to the Union in 1896 as the 45th State of Utah, long after the admission of other federal territories created after it. In contrast, the Nevada Territory to the west, although more sparsely populated, was admitted to the Union in

1864 Events January * January 13 – American songwriter Stephen Foster ("Oh! Susanna", "Old Folks at Home") dies aged 37 in New York City, leaving a scrap of paper reading "Dear friends and gentle hearts". His parlor song "Beautiful Dream ...

in the midst of the ongoing

only three years after its territorial formation, and Colorado was admitted in

1876 Events January * January 1 ** The Reichsbank opens in Berlin. ** The Bass Brewery Red Triangle becomes the world's first registered trademark symbol. *January 27 – The Northampton Bank robbery occurs in Massachusetts. February * Febr ...

during the American Centennial celebration year, fifteen years after first becoming a territory.

Coat of arms

The Utah state coat of arms appears on the state seal and state flag. The

beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure which houses honey bees, subgenus '' Apis.'' Honey bees live in the beehive, raising their young and producing honey as part of their seasonal cycle. Though the word ''beehive'' is used to describe the nest of ...

was chosen as the emblem for the provisional

in 1848 and represents the state's industrious and hard-working inhabitants, and the virtues of thrift and perseverance. The sego lilies on either side symbolize peace.

Territory Flag

The first flag to represent the Territory flew in 1851 and consist of 13 red and white stripes, a blue canton with 13 stars and

eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

that was positioned above a large 5 pointed star. The flag was preserved in the Smithsonian Institution for a bit, but its location now is unknown. The second flag was raised in 1854 and it similarly contained "...stars, stripes, eagle, and beehive." The flag was raised up a flag pole on temple block to celebrated Pioneer day. The following year at the Governor's mansion on July 4th they "...unfurled the territorial flag." The third flag was depicted on a cigarette trading card in the 1880s. The flag was in a squared ratio with blue background and the Utah state coat of arms in the center. There is no evidence that the flag was ever made or flown. File:Utah Territory Flag.png, Territory flag from 1851 File:Territory of Utah flag 1854.png, Reconstruction of the Territory flag that flew on temple block in 1854 File:Flag of the Utah Territory.svg, Territory flag depicted on Allen & Ginter Cigarette trading cards in 1888 File:Flag of Utah Territory art.jpg, Flag of Utah Territory on Ginter Cigarette card

Population

In 1850, nine churches with regular services in the Utah Territory were unclassified by historian Edwin Gaustad in his ''Historical Atlas of Religion in America'' (1962), but were probably LDS churches. In the

1890 United States census The 1890 United States census was taken beginning June 2, 1890. The census determined the resident population of the United States to be 62,979,766, an increase of 25.5 percent over the 50,189,209 persons enumerated during the 1880 United States ...

, 25 counties in the Utah Territory reported the following population counts (after seven reported the following counts in the 1850 United States census):

References

External links

Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum

Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum
Utah State History
Utah Office of Tourism Official Website * Henry Sommer, Watercolors and Pencil Drawings Related to the Utah Expedition. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{coord, 39, 50, N, 113, 30, W, region:US-UT_type:adm1st, display=title Former organized territories of the United States History of the American West History of the Great Basin 19th century in Utah Pre-statehood history of Colorado Pre-statehood history of Nevada *Territory Pre-statehood history of Wyoming Utah War States and territories established in 1850 States and territories disestablished in 1896 1850 establishments in Utah Territory 1896 disestablishments in Utah