Early Utah History: Difference between revisions

==The Earliest Years==

The acquisition of the territory ceded to the United States by Mexico in 1848 placed the Mormon pioneers in Great Salt Lake Valley, where they desired to be, namely, within the limits of the United States, and steps were taken to draft a constitution for a proposed state, to which the title of “Deseret” was chosen, the name, taken from the Book of Mormon, meaning a honey bee. In 1849 Almon W. Babbitt was sent as a delegate to Washington D. C. and with the splendid assistance of Dr. John M. Bernhisel presented before Congress of the United States a petition asking for admission of the state of Deseret into the Union. This action resulted, however, not in the organization of a sovereign state, as had been hoped, but in the passing, on Sept 9, 1850, of an act of Congress providing for the organization of the territory of Utah, that name being suggested because of the Indian tribes who for many years previously had roamed in the vicinity of the great Salt Lake. But the desire of these pioneers in regard to the name has been perpetuated in the section of a beehive as the state emblems and Utah is often referred to as the “Beehive state.”  

The increase in population in Utah from 1847 to 1868 is phenomenal, but the labors of missionaries of the Church in the United States and in foreign lands brought thousands of converts with their families to Utah. It is estimated that about 80,000 members of the Church crossed the plains and mountains from Missouri River to Salt Lake City, a distance of about 1,000 miles, with ox or mule trains, or on foot, pulling handcarts, previous to the advent of the railroad in 1869.  

As time goes on, the contribution of Utah to the United States in the “winning of the West” is becoming more and more apparent. To the founders of this commonwealth is due the redemption of arid America. They were the Anglo-Saxon pioneers of irrigation, and the parched land, responsive to their untiring efforts, blossomed as the rose and yielded not only the necessities of life but many of its luxuries, such as delicious fruits and lovely flowers. The steady streams of emigration from the Missouri River to Utah were a great inducement in regard to the construction of the transcontinental telegraph line in 1861 and of the transcontinental railroad in 1866-1869. Previously the fastest means of communication was the stage coach or pony express.  

For nearly fifty years repeated efforts were made by the citizen of the territory of Utah to be granted statehood, but it was not until Jan 4, 1896 that this ambition was realized. On that date Pres Grove Cleveland signed the proclamation which admitted Utah into he sisterhood of states. The first governor of the state was Heber M Wells.<ref>Jenson, Andrew. Encyclopedic History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Salt Lake City, Utah: Printed by Deseret News Publishing Company, 1941. {{WorldCat|615171272}}</ref>

Additional history of Utah and the early Latter-day Saint settlers there can be found in: Andrew Jenson. Encyclopedic History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.