Overview | Prehistory | American Indians | Explorers and Trappers | Mormon Settlement
Territorial Days | Crossroads of the West | Mines and Minorities | Transition| Statehood
Adjustment | War and Depression | Utah Today | Bibliography | Glossary

The old ways of life died hard. In the period between 1896 and 1917, Utah adjusted its economic, social, and political life to that of the rest of America. State government and the codification of Utah law began, and the state capitol was built. The federal government set aside lands for national parks, monuments, and forests.

The percentage of Mormons in the total population declined to 68 percent as the state grew. Mining and heavy industry drew many ethnic groups to Utah. The Greeks, Japanese, Hispanics, African Americans, Chinese, and others changed the social and cultural life of the state. This was especially true of Carbon, Salt Lake, and Weber counties.

Copper Mining, Bingham Canyon

Less than a third of the people worked on farms, although the total area farmed increased. Utah continued to pioneer in dry farming techniques, while irrigation allowed more land to be farmed. Sheep and cattle competed for range lands, and the railroad centers at Ogden and Salt Lake City helped the livestock processing industry.

A fortune of silver had been taken from Utah mines in the nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century the big story was the development of copper mining. Daniel C. Jackling made open-pit mining of low grade ore profitable. The expansion of the railroad made coal mining profitable. Mine owners built company towns in Carbon County for coal workers. Many of these workers were recent immigrants to America.

Coal mining

At times conflicts occurred between the workers and management in the mines. At Scofield in 1900, 200 men were killed by an explosion in the Winter Quarters Mine. This catastrophe signaled the end of an era. Never again would miners be as willing to endure dangerous working conditions for so little pay. The state passed important laws to benefit the workers and their families. Many workers joined unions to help them deal with management problems.

Modern cities emerged quickly as electricity, telephones, and automobiles became more common. The building of business blocks, power plants, highways, and housing for average citizens contributed to city development. Population continued to grow and to concentrate along the Wasatch Front in Weber, Davis, Salt Lake, and Utah counties.

In 1905 the opening of large portions of the Uintah Indian Reservation to white settlement led to the founding of more than a dozen towns in the Uinta Basin. Resentful Utes reacted to this betrayal by attempting an alliance with Sioux Indians. Their trek to South Dakota in 1906-1908 ended in failure and a deep sense of loss. In San Juan County, conflicts were centered on grazing rights to public lands. This led to the so-called Posey War of 1923.

San Juan County made concessions to Indian grazing rights, and after that the "Indian problem" lay quietly buried on the reservation until mid-century. Utah's American Indian peoples have successfully fought for greater control of tribal lands by political awareness and the ability to exercise their legal rights.