Utah History
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Brigham Young and Valley Tan: Inside Utah’s First Mormon Distillery
Brigham Young is remembered for leading the Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley, but fewer know he also oversaw Utah’s first recorded distillery in 1854. Valley Tan, a locally…
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Whiskey, Bullets & a Buried Town: Archaeologists Reveal Alta’s Wild Past
Before Alta was known for powder days and lift lines, it was a silver mining town clinging to the side of a narrow canyon. In the late 1800s, men lived…
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Highway 6 and the Midland Trail: Utah’s Transcontinental Highway History
From Price Canyon to Delta’s desert stretch, Utah played a central role in building the Midland Trail, one of America’s earliest transcontinental highways and the foundation of today’s Highway 6.
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The Only Full Bottle of Alcohol Ever Found in Utah Was Unearthed in Alta
When a backhoe rolled a corked bottle out of the dirt at Alta this summer, no one immediately grasped what they were holding. It wasn’t empty. It wasn’t shattered. It…
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Why Price, Utah, Needed a Rock and Fossil Shop
After years in Salt Lake City and an interlude in Oregon, Kathie Chadbourne settled on Price as the location for her new rock shop. The town appealed to her because…
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From Immigrant Miner to U.S. Senator: The Rise of Thomas Kearns in Park City
In June of 1883, 21-year-old Thomas Kearns arrived in Park City with little to his name and no guarantee of success. Like many young men drawn to the mining camps…
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Moab’s “Negro Bill”: The Impactful Legacy of William Grandstaff
William Grandstaff — known in Moab’s early history as “Negro Bill” — was a soldier, cowboy, and one of the first Black pioneers in the region. His life left a…
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Danites: Inside the Legend of Mormonism’s Secret Enforcers
Whispers of a secret Mormon militia still echo across the American West. Once active for only a moment in 1838, the Danites left behind a legend far larger than their…
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Utah’s First Capitol Wasn’t Salt Lake City
Utah’s early territorial years were full of unexpected decisions, shifting plans, and political experiments that shaped the state long before modern borders were drawn. One quiet community along I-15 played…
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The Real Story of Thanksgiving in Utah
Utah’s Thanksgiving traditions trace back to pioneer proclamations, early desert harvests, and a unique blend of faith, survival, and community. From Brigham Young’s 1851 declaration to the rise of Dixie…
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The Haunting History of Park City’s Glenwood Cemetery
In Park City’s Glenwood Cemetery lies the town’s first music teacher, who listened to his own funeral concert through a telephone. Around him rest miners crushed in avalanches, children lost…
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From Poverty to Power: The Woman Who Built Park City’s Brothel Empire
Long before Park City became a ski town, a young Irish-American mother stepped off a train with nothing but a child on her hip and a will to survive. What…
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Utah’s Ghost Towns and Abandoned Ruins: Inside the Thrill of Urban Exploration
Rusting towers, locked gates, and ghost towns frozen in time—Utah’s urban explorers venture where others won’t, uncovering secrets hidden in plain sight.
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Ogden Valley Votes to Become Utah’s Newest City Amid Nordic Village Resort Controversy
Facing a $121 million ski resort expansion, Ogden Valley residents voted to incorporate as a new city — a move driven by fears of overdevelopment and a desire to preserve…
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Moab Man Uncovers Link to Chief Skenandoa
When Ted Ecker took a DNA test, he had no idea it would trace his roots to Chief Skenandoa, a towering Oneida warrior who helped shape early America.
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Mountain Dell’s Legacy: How Utah’s Pioneers Shaped Our Water Future
Utah’s pioneers fought to survive in a barren desert, harnessing precious water from canyon streams to carve out a future. But today, that future hangs by a thread. The Great…