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

Utah became part of the United States after the Mexican War, in February 1848. The Mormons formed a political government and proposed the State of Deseret (1849-1850). Congress did not admit Deseret to the Union but instead they created the Territory of Utah.

Utah Territory was a big area including most of present-day Nevada and part of Wyoming and Colorado. Utah's territorial period, 1850-1896, was marked by increased conflict with American Indians, by the immigration and settlement of non-Mormons, by economic growth, and by the development of communications and transportation.

Territorial masthead with beehive decoration

Problems between settlers and American Indians surfaced in the 1850s and threatened settlements. Mormon leader and territorial governor Brigham Young asked the settlers, on Ute land, to avoid conflicts with American Indians. This did not work, and the Walker War between the Mormons and the Utes started in July 1853.

In the conflict many Mormons and Utes were killed. In May 1854, Brigham Young and Chief Walkara, leader of the Utes, met and agreed to stop the fighting. Still feelings of anger and resentment did not end. American Indians and Mormons settlers would fight again.

Utahns had conflicts with the federal government in the late 1850s. The federal government and Mormons did not trust each other. Reports that Utahns were in rebellion led President James Buchanan to send troops under Albert Sidney Johnston to Utah in 1857. President Buchanan appointed Alfred Cumming as the new territorial governor. Many Salt Lake Valley residents temporarily moved to Utah Valley in 1858. The Mormons and the troops attained peace that spring. Johnston's troops established a military post at Camp Floyd, west of Provo. The troops remained in Utah for about three years. Governor Cumming tried to be fair to Mormons and non-Mormons. He wrote, "A community is seldom seen more marked by quiet and peaceable diligence, than that of the Mormons."

Activity: Pretend you are either Governor Cumming or his wife Elizabeth Cumming. Write down what your first day in the Utah terriority was like. Who did you meet, what did you see, what would you feel like?

The appointment of Cumming signaled the beginning of the struggle for control of political power in the territorial period. The issue of polygamy provided a sensational topic to the rest of the United States. Federal marshals arrested polygamists, church leaders went into hiding, and the federal government seized church property. Denial of statehood by Congress continued until after Mormon church president Wilford Woodruff announced the end of polygamy in 1890.