History. Though the first settlement of note was made in 1847 at Salt Lake City by Mormons under Brigham Young, who were driven out of Nauvoo, Ill., the region (organized as a territory in 1850 and admitted to statehood in 1896) has an early history. This includes the visit of Spanish explorers in or about 1540 and the exploration of Colorado River. Seeking a route from Santa Fé to Los Angeles and the Pacific, two Franciscan friars in 1776 visited Utah and Sevier Lakes, where trading and hunting parties were afterwards organized. In 1824 Great Salt Lake was discovered by Capt. Jas. Bridger, a trapper, who was seeking to trace the course of Bear River. Posts were established later, which were welcome to immigrants passing through the territory to Oregon and California, as also to the bands of traders and hunters who now began to operate in the region. Among these posts was Fort Ashley, built in 1825 and for a time occupied by an expedition under William Ashley. Later expeditions were those under Capt. Bonneville and John C. Frémont, the report of the latter, it is related, being instrumental in inducing the Mormons to come, though the Mexican War was in progress. Following the band of 150 Mormons that arrived in 1847 with Brigham Young, there came others to the colony at Salt Lake City, the region meanwhile having passed (1848) from Mexico to the United States. Under the Mormon Church the state of Deseret, as it was called, was organized in 1849, while appeals were made to Congress for admission into the Union. This was refused, though the federal executive in 1850-1 created the territory of Utah and appointed Brigham Young as governor. For six years Young held office, the Mormon colony being considerably added to by proselytes and new arrivals while he was governor, though the region began to be populated by non-Mormons. Between the two sets of colonists there arose opposition, while trouble also came from the territorial officers sent by the federal government, who were opposed and interfered with the rule of the Mormon Church, tenacious of its power and hold upon the region. In 1857 such were the difficulties that arose from the rival control of affairs, which more than once manifested itself in violence and attempts at mob-rule, that the federal authorities determined to supersede Young in the governorship, and for that purpose and to subdue disaffection sent troops to Salt Lake City, deposed Young and appointed a new governor. The outbreak of the Civil War for a time diverted federal vigilance over matters in the territory, but soon antipolygamy legislation arose and ere long dealt drastically with Mormonism. Immigration of an anti-Mormon character helped to neutralize the rule of the church, while the Edmunds bill of 1882, following other expedients of a legislative character, disfranchised all polygamists and abolished many of the officers in the territory and with them the corporation of the Mormon Church, while the property of Mormons was escheated. So threatening and adverse to the church and its organizations was the aspect of affairs, that in 1890 President Woodruff, the head of the church, was necessitated to issue an ordinance discountenancing polygamy,—a timely action which met the approval of a general conference of the Mormon Church. Polygamy, nevertheless, continued for a time further to be practiced, and the taint of it so affected at least one senator from the state that he was not allowed to take his seat. In the case of another senator the national senate took action to inquire into the prevalence or existence of polygamy since 1890; but whatever there was, as time passed, was neutralized, kept in abeyance and finally stamped out by local prejudice against it among the anti-Mormon element in the state, while the rise and influence of political parties on national lines were effective in expunging the obnoxious practice and clearing the state of the immoral taint. The constitution given the state in 1895, just a year before the admission of Utah to statehood, forbade polygamy. In 1905 settlement was extended by the opening of the Uinta Indians' reservation. The organization of the Mormon Church or Latter Day Saints, as they are called, continues to exist, though division has entered into their ranks and made two folds of them—one the Utah branch with 700 ministers, 796 churches and about 300,000 members, and the other, a Reorganized Branch, with headquarters at Lamoni, Iowa, which numbers about 50,000 with 860 active ministers. Consult Jones' Utah and Bancroft's The Pacific States. See Mormons.
Utahs or Utes, a tribe of Indians formerly roaming over Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, but now occupying reservations in Utah and Colorado. Their number is about 5,000.
U′tica, an ancient city of Africa, near the Bay of Carthage and a short distance from the site of the modern city of Tunis. The Tyrians are said to have founded it 287 years before Carthage was built. It was an ally of Carthage in her early wars with Rome. But in the third Punic War Utica early made separate submission to Rome, and, when Carthage fell, was rewarded with a part of her territory. The Roman governor made his residence there. In the accounts of the struggles between Sulla and Marius and between Cæsar and Pompey it is often referred to as an important city. It had an amphitheater, which would seat 20,000 people, and an artificial lake on
