The State of Deseret was a
provisional state of the United States many years ago, it was proposed in 1849
by Latter-day Saints settlers led by Brigham Young in Salt Lake City. The
provisional state existed for a little more than two years but never recognized
by the U S government. The name derives from the word for “honeybee” found in
the Book of Mormon (see Ester 2:3). Most
of the area had been a large part of the Mexican territory of Alta California
until the Mexican Cession of 1848 which
is the historical name in the United States for that region of present day
southwestern United States that Mexico conceded to the U S in the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848; it included the present day states of California,
Nevada, Utah, about two thirds of Arizona, half of New Mexico, less than half
of Colorado, and a part of southwest Wyoming.
Technically the territory
was purchased by the United States just after the war, after months of
negotiations with Mexico for 15 million U S Dollars; payment however was made
by a fiscal credit against Mexico’s enormous debt to the U S at that time.
The state that would be Utah
became the 48th U S addition on January 4, 1896 but it took seven petitions to
Congress, and 48 years from the time from its 1848 arrival as a U S Territory;
there was also a huge reduction of more than 160,000 square miles from its
originally proposed size . . . You see, in 1849, Brigham Young, who would be
appointed Territorial Governor of the region
the next year and the sitting President of the Latter Day Saints (Mormon) Church
established a provisional state known as “The
State of Deseret”. It covered an enormous 265,000 square miles, stretching
from Colorado to California and from the US-Mexican Border to the northern edge
of modern day Utah.
Following this endeavor, Young
petitioned the US Congress to permit Deseret to join the Union as the 31st
state. The petition was denied because of the enormous size of the proposed state
coupled with the fact that it only had 12,000 eligible voters, a far cry from
the required minimum of 60,000.
When Utah was finally added
to the Union, it included 84,900 square miles of land and ranked as the11th
largest state; a circumstance that changed with the addition of Alaska; it’s
currently 12th.
According to legend, the
following is a brief account of the events that would finally lead Utah into
the union of U S government: During that winter of 1824 & 25 a dispute
arose concerning the Bear River’s course south of Cache Valley, Utah. James (Jim) Bridger (one of the greatest
frontiersmen of Utah and American history) was chosen to explore the river and
return with the facts. His excursion would lead him to the Great Salt Lake
located in the northern section of the modern day state; he was sure he had
stumbled-up-on an inlet to the Pacific Ocean due to its saltiness.
The Great Salt Lake, you
may know is about 75 miles long and 35 miles wide; it covers more than a
million acres or if you prefer about 2,100 square miles. The average depth is 13
feet and deepest point is 34 feet; so it’s little wonder that this error in
judgment was made by Bridger.
History tells us that in
1844 Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon Church, and his brother was
arrested in Nauvoo, Illinois, a community that had been established a few years
earlier by the church. While the two men were in jail, a mob broke in and
killed them.
The Mormons as a group now
felt that they could never be safe within the United States; after all, they’d
already been forced out of New York, Ohio and Missouri. They chose Brigham
Young as the new leader and in 1846 he led them into Iowa where they spent the
winter living in huts and caves. When spring came, Young and a small wagon
train started westward in search of their new home. Following a route just
north of the Oregon Trail, once they were beyond the Rockies, they turned south,
a route that would lead them to the valley of the Great Salt Lake in what is
now Utah. Although this was inside Mexican territory, Young and the church
leaders were convinced it would be safe there.
During late June of 1847 Jim
Bridger had his first encounter with the early Mormon pioneers near the mouth
of the Little Sandy River who were in route to their future home. Among other topics of local interest, it’s
thought that Bridger (in 1843 he had established a small trading post in the
area) and Young discussed the merits associated with the group settling in the
Salt Lake Valley. It’s said that
Bridger tried to discourage the plan and reportedly offered, with a good bit of
skepticism, a thousand U S Dollars for the first bushel of corn grown in the
Valley.
None the less, during this
meeting Bridger was persuaded to draw a map on the sandy banks of the river for
Young, depicting the region with great accuracy, all the while conveying to the
Mormon leader his doubts regarding the agricultural efficiency of the Salt Lake
area. Although this first meeting between the Mormons and Bridger was reportedly
pleasant enough, this relationship would deteriorate in the not too distant future,
especially for Bridger.
Initially the arrival of
the Mormons simply increased the number of immigrants to Bridger’s trading post.
However, conditions soon changed because
the Mormon settlements alienated a large portion of Bridger’s trade, including
that with the local Indians; this caused economic hardships for his small business.
In 1850 the territory of
Utah was created and to add insult to injury, Brigham Young was appointed
Territorial Governor; the newly created territory’s jurisdiction included that
of the Fort Bridger area, which further upset the “balance of power”, at least
in the view of Jim Bridger.
Naturally, in such a strained environment, hostility
between Bridger and the Mormons began to fester; by the summer of 1853 the
Mormon’s were convinced that Bridger was engaging in illegal trade with the
Indians, particularly with liquor, guns and ammunition and it didn’t help that they were also sure he was charging too much for
the supplies he offered for sale. When Bridger was accused of
agitating the Native Americans to plot against the Mormons, local leadership who
was also Mormon, successfully revoked Bridger’s license to trade and as if that
weren’t bad enough, since Brigham Young was in charge of local Indian affairs,
it wasn’t very difficult to have a warrant issued for Bridger’s arrest; perhaps
it was good for the sake of all parties, that before the posse arrived to arrest Bridger,
he had fled.
Most of us know the name “Utah” comes from the Native American
“Ute” tribe but few of us realize it means in the language of the Ute “people
of the mountains”.
Especially since the recent
(2012) election, when you mention Utah to folks in other states or countries, they
automatically think the state is “all Mormons and mountains”. In reality, Utah
and Salt Lake City consists of about 50% non-Mormon citizens and has desert-like
areas that have an abundance of oil and minerals. In fact, some say the richest
hole on earth, filled with copper and gold is located just south of Salt Lake
City. One of the largest oil deposits in the country, has also been discovered 3
miles south of tiny Sigurd, Utah (population 430) located very near the center
of the state in Sevier County. This huge oil base has placed Utah among the top
ten (#8) states in the U S with proven oil reserves.
Sources:
http://www.50states.com/facts/utah.htm#.UQHVYlK3unM http://voices.yahoo.com/salt-lake-city-utah-little-known-facts-tourist-3422112.html?cat=8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Cession http://www.helium.com/items/1578235-ten-little-known-fact-of-utah http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2012/04/03/most-oil-rich-states/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_of_Deseret http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/infopage/usabysiz.htm http://www.deseretnews.com/article/615152979/Sigurds-wells-prove-Utah-is-oil-country.html?pg=all http://www.mrvanduyne.com/west/earlysettlement.htm http://historytogo.utah.gov/people/jamesbridger.html http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/war/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deseret_%28Book_of_Mormon%29
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