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| State nickname: Beehive State | |||||
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Other U.S. States | |||||
| Capital | Salt Lake City | ||||
| Largest City | Salt Lake City | ||||
| Area - Total - Land - Water - % water |
Ranked 13th 220,080 kmē 212,988 kmē 7,092 kmē 3.2% | ||||
| Population
- Total (2000) - Density |
Ranked 34th
2,233,169 10/kmē | ||||
| Admittance into Union
- Order - Date | 45th January 4, 1896 | ||||
| Time zone | Mountain: UTC-7/-6 | ||||
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Latitude Longitude |
37° to 42°N 109°W to 114°W | ||||
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Width Length Elevation -Highest -Mean -Lowest |
435 km 565 km 4,123 meters 1,920 meters 610 meters | ||||
| ISO 3166-2: | US-UT | ||||
Utah is a western state of the United States, in the Rocky Mountains region. The name Utah is from the language of the Native American Utes. The Paiute nation also inhabit a portion of the state.
USS Utah was named in honor of this state.
| Table of contents |
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2 Law and Government 3 Geography 4 Demographics 5 Important Cities and Towns 6 Education 7 Professional Sports Teams 8 External Links |
Mormon settlers first came to the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. At the time, Utah was still Mexican territory. The land became the territory of the United States upon the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848. (The Treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on March 10.)
Utah's bid for statehood was accepted January 4, 1896, over forty years after the initial request. The delay was largely due to disputes between the Mormon inhabitants--who had settled in the area in 1847 and were pushing for the establishment of the state of Deseret--and the US Government which was reluctant to admit a state the size of the proposed Deseret into the union, opposed the polygamous practices of the Mormons taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and observed that the region lacked the necessary 60,000 voters required for statehood. One of the conditions to granting Utah's statehood was that a ban on polygamy be written into the Utah Constitution. This was a condition required of other western states that were also admitted later into the Union.
Another notable fact about Utah is that the continental meeting of the railroads happened at Promontory Point, Utah.
Other items of historical interest: Utah native Philo Farnsworth invented the electronic television in 1927. The 2002 Winter Olympics were hosted by Salt Lake City.
The capital and largest city is Salt Lake City.
Governors of Utah
Utah is one of the Four Corners states bordered by Idaho and Wyoming in the north, by Colorado in the east, by Arizona in the south, and by Nevada in the west.
One of Utah's defining characteristics is the variety of its terrain. The Wasatch Mountains run a center spine of the state, and the Uinta Mountain range in the north-east (the only east-west running mountain range in North America) includes the highest point in the state, Kings Peak at 13,528 feet. The Great Salt Lake lies to the immediate west of the Wasatch Mountains, beyond which the Bonneville Salt Flats stretch to Nevada. All land west of the Wasatch Mountains is within the Great Basin, while everything to the East drains into the Colorado River system.
The desert plateaus of Southern Utah contains five National Parks:
History
Law and Government
Geography
In addition, Utah contains several notable national monuments and state parks:
Much of the scenic southern landscape is kayente sandstone and navajo sandstone cut and shaped by the Colorado River or its tributaries.
Western Utah is mostly arid desert with a basin and range geology. Northeastern Utah (from the Wasatch Mountains eastward and from the Uintah Plateau northward) is largely mountainous with many wooded and alpine regions.
Utah's major highways are Interstate 15, which runs the length of Utah; Interstate 70, which enters the state from Colorado and terminates at I-15 in central Utah; Interstate 80, which crosses from Wendover, Nevada on the west through Salt Lake City and eastward through Evanston, Wyoming; and Interstate 84, which runs southeast to northwest from I-80 to the Idaho border.
The population of Utah as of 2000 is 2,233,169. Much of the population lives in cities and towns along the Wasatch Front, a metropolitan region that runs north-south with the Wasatch Mountains rising on the eastern side. Most of the rest of the state is rural or wilderness.
Aside from the capital Salt Lake City, other major cities outside of the Salt Lake City area are Orem-Provo, Ogden, Logan and St. George.Important Cities and Towns
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