A walk down Ogden’s 25th Street is a sight for historic eyes. The preserved architecture is reminiscent of the bustling railroad town that once stood, many of the original building signs are intact, and many modern businesses continue to display art and memorabilia from original decor. Legend has it that even the ground beneath your feet holds mysteries of “Two Bit Street.” … [Read more...]
Gold Prospecting in Utah: How to Find Gold in Utah’s Mountains
There's gold in them thar hills, and the 150 members of the Utah Gold Prospecting Club (UGPC) are celebrating the club's 40th anniversary by looking for, and in some cases, finding it. Gold and the West are inseparable. Pioneers did not journey to California to look for silicon. No, the valleys they were seeking had nuggets of shiny paydirt, and Utah is part of this … [Read more...]
Utah was Land of Dinosaurs: Utah’s Natural History is Older Than Dirt
Say the word ‘dinosaur’, and most kids’ eyes light up with excitement! Imagine if you will, a Utah where vast savannah-like plains surrounded the waters of an ancient sea ― Lake Bonneville ― where gigantic four-limbed behemoths lived and died, sometimes violently. These creatures are still here, but today they’re encased in stone. Utah’s reputation as a … [Read more...]
University of Utah: Home to the State Arboretum
The University of Utah is home to many things: a world-class cancer research center and hospital, a winning football team, and some of the top researchers in the country. But did you know the U is also home to the state arboretum? Though people may recognize the state bird ― California gull, the state tree ― Quaking aspen, and even the state flower ― Sego Lily, many are … [Read more...]
Pioneer Day & Mormon Pioneer History (They Don’t Talk About)
Pioneer Day is upon us. For LDS members this means sparklers, banned fireworks, Jello salad, funeral potatoes; and three-legged races with enormous numbers of cousins. But few LDS members and nonmembers know the details of how and why approximately 25,000 early church members migrated to the hostile Mexican territory in the Great Basin area now known as Utah. Why did … [Read more...]
Preserving Theatrical History: Saving Pantages Theatre
SALT LAKE CITY ― In mid-March, the future of the Utah Pantages Theatre hung by a thread as supporters fought in court to stop developers from demolishing the once-glamorous century-old structure on Main Street. On March 8, Third District Court Judge Robert Faust denied Friends of the Utah Pantages Cinematic Theatre’s request for a temporary restraining order … [Read more...]
Utah Volcanoes & Massacres: A Tour of Southern Utah’s Violent Past
Will Bagley’s Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows sat on my shelf for about 20 years before I picked it up last fall. I was halfway through the book when Bagley passed away in October. It was a strange shock to know that this wise and curmudgeonly historian’s voice I had been hearing in my head would now reside only in those black … [Read more...]
Pete Marshall Recounts Plum Alley and The Chinese Tong and Mafia in Salt Lake
Downtown Salt Lake City’s Main Street is probably best known as the home of Temple Square, where millions of lights (usually, but not this year) shine around the reflecting pond that rests just outside of the 130-year-old Mormon temple. Downtown is the place where pious Latter-Day Saints worship and do billions of dollars of business, from banking, to insurance, to books, … [Read more...]
The Story of Snowbird Ski Resort
Ted Johnson and Dick Bass built a recreation legacy. Snowbird’s millionaire oil tycoon and financier Dick Bass was an outdoor icon. Bass jet-setted the world’s highest peaks, summiting seven of them in his fifties. Bass not only set world records, he also started a trend that other aging, adventurous multi-millionaires would follow. John Krakauer’s famous Everest expedition … [Read more...]
The Main Street Divide: Remembering Main Street Salt Lake City of Christmas Past
Downtown Salt Lake City’s Main Street has always had two very distinct halves: The North half is almost all LDS-Church-owned and now the billion-dollar City Creek Center has almost every fashionable Wall Street traded chain store one could hope for (Tiffany's, Louis Vuitton, Coach). With over five million annual visitors to Salt Lake City’s Temple each year, now we can host … [Read more...]