Trace the remarkable journey of the Mormon pioneers who transformed the desolate Salt Lake Valley into a thriving community.
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A People Driven West to Zion
This series, Pioneers of the Great Basin, traces the Mormon journey — how a persecuted religious community crossed more than a thousand miles of wilderness to build a…
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1
Leaving Nauvoo Into the Unknown Wilderness
In February 1846, the first wagons crossed the frozen Mississippi River out of Nauvoo, Illinois — families leaving behind brick homes, farms, and a temple that had taken…
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2
This Is the Right Place
On July 24, 1847, Brigham Young, weakened by a bout of mountain fever, looked out from a canyon mouth and reportedly declared this is the right place.
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Irrigation Turned Desert Into Communities
Within hours of arriving in the valley, pioneers diverted City Creek into the sun-baked earth, creating what became one of the most extensive cooperative irrigation…
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4
Statehood Denied for Nearly Fifty Years
Utah applied for statehood six times before finally being admitted in 1896 — a struggle rooted almost entirely in the practice of plural marriage.
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The Long Path to Becoming State Forty-Five
Utah applied for statehood six times before finally succeeding.
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How the Church Shapes Everyday Utah
About sixty percent of Utah's population identifies as Latter-day Saint, making it the most religiously homogeneous state in the country.
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