DATES TO REMEMBER IN UTAH'S HISTORY[xxi]

1847

First party of Mormon pioneers arrives in Great Salt Lake Valley; communal irrigation organized.

1848

Sea gulls stop invasion of crickets; Mexico cedes Utah to United States in Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo.

1849

Mormons organize State of Deseret; capital, Salt Lake City

1850

University of State of Deseret (later University of Utah) chartered at Salt Lake City; Territory of Utah created; capital, Salt Lake City (Fillmore, 1851-56; Parowan, 1858-59); governor, Brigham Young

1852

Mormons avow plural marriage as rule of church

1853

Mormon Temple at Salt Lake City begun; completed in 1893;  Walker War with Ute Indians begins over slavery among Indians; settled in 1854

1854

First of grasshopper plagues endangers crops

1856-60

Pioneers travel with handcarts to Utah

1857

President James Buchanan  removes Young from governorship; Mormons attack United States troop trains; peace made in 1858, before troops reach Utah

1862

Congress rejects new State of Deseret constitution

1863

Mining of silver and lead begins in Bingham Canyon Dry farming succeeds near Bear River City

1865-68

Ute Black Hawk War last major Indian conflict in Utah

1869

Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads complete transcontinental line at Promontory

1887

Edmunds Act (1882) continues attack on Mormons; church disincorporated

1890

Wilford Woodruff , Mormon church president, forbids polygamy; Public school system established

1896

Utah becomes 45th state, January 4; capital, Salt Lake City; governor, Heber Wells