The Great Salt Lake was born Lake Bonneville ― the massive inland sea that covered the entire area that is now the Salt Lake Valley, Provo/Orem Valley, and well north of Ogden. The sea extended as far North as Idaho and South to Nevada. It was 150 miles from east to west and 250 miles from north to south. Its shores extended high on the east “benches” and its waves lapped … [Read more...]
Mark Hofmann’s Forgeries in the Rare Coin World Still in Circulation Today
Murder among the Mormons is the new Netflix film Directed by Jared Hess. The documentary film depicts the life of Mark Hofmann. The film does not spend much time on how Hofmann began producing successful forgeries of coins as young as fourteen. Hofmann's early forgery career was almost exclusively in coins and rare Mormon currency and he likely created hundreds of … [Read more...]
What Do Donald Trump and Joseph Smith Have in Common?
The short answer is they were both presidential candidates accused but never convicted of inciting riots. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints founder Joseph Smith had a similar anti-establishment attitude to Trump when it came to federal power and how it is wielded in Washington. And Smith certainly wanted to “drain the swamp” but in a manner that is very … [Read more...]
Have Utahns Forgotten Their Industrious Pioneer Ways?
Will we adopt California’s identity if we don’t define it ourselves? Does Utah and the West still have an identity? Are we standing up for who we are? And what we want? Or are we likely to become culturally, politically, and religiously like California? Politics flows downstream of culture, and for decades California has defined and created the culture of the west. … [Read more...]
Utah’s Identity Crisis: Will Crony Capitalism Define Utah’s Future?
Get the story behind the settlement and development of the Great Basin in this episode of the Utah Stories Show that dives deep into Mormon Pioneer history and the community building efforts of the early pioneers. Find out what they had right, that we have largely forgotten. Why is this relevant today? Utah has now more tech jobs per capita than any other state. Our … [Read more...]
Astonishing Discoveries about Utah Indians
Climate Change in Paleolithic America Resulted in Massive Lifestyle Changes Americans are always changing our lifestyle habits: especially in how we live and what to eat. Every year there is a new fad diet and more people make drastic changes such as living in vans or tiny homes to live the dream of a nomadic life, less attached to the “burdens of society or “working for the … [Read more...]
Thomas Kane Diverts U.S.-Utah Showdown
One hundred and sixty-two years ago, a small-statured and often sickly thirty-six-year-old Philadelphian lawyer rode through Echo Canyon eastward to find an army and negotiate a peace in a last-ditch, unofficial effort to avert a civil war. He’d already sailed from the east coast of the United States to Panama, where he’d ridden the railroad across the isthmus to the Pacific … [Read more...]
Buddhism in Utah – Cultural Traditions Combine with Modern Practices
On a day just before 9/11, Mary Ellen Sloan went for what she thought would be a typical walk around her Avenues neighborhood. She knew nothing of the goings-on inside the well-maintained Queen Anne house at the corner of 1300 East and South Temple. Its sign simply read ‘Zen Center.’ She felt compelled to climb the steps and returned the next evening for a class. “I went in … [Read more...]
Sugar House Can’t Be Beet
"That is the biggest radish I ever saw!" exclaimed a Sprague Branch Library patron recently. It is just one of many misconceptions about the homely sugar beet, the most recognizable symbol of Sugar House. The four bronze sculptures set in front of the library and at each end of Hidden Hollow look nothing like the red table beets most of us are familiar with. The knobby sugar … [Read more...]
“There isn’t any poop fairy”—Bekee Hotze
"There isn't any poop fairy." This observation comes from Bekee Hotze, of the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. She was referring to the necessity of dog owners to clean up after their pets AND bring the plastic bags back to trailhead trash sites. But it is also part of the larger interactions between humans and forests. Civilizations depend on forests and deforestation … [Read more...]