Utah Timeline
Prehistory
 
 
Missionaries, Trappers, Traders & Explorers
 
 
Pioneers, Other Settlers & Statehood
 
 
World Conflict & Depression
 
 
Utah Today

Paleoindian
9,000 BC to about 5,500 BC

Clovis, Folsom, Great Basin Stemmed, Foothill-Mountain and various late Paleoindian styles.

Big and small game hunters, collectors, foragers.

Archaic
About 5,500 BC to about 1000 BC

Foragers and collectors, Increased use of plants; diversity of site and tool types; desert and marsh adaptations; use of pit houses; use of caves like Danger Cave, Cowboy Cave, Hogup Cave, grinding stones and seed processing.

Split-twig figurines.Small family bands of hunters and gathers, very complex social and religious organization. Well adapted to live in harsh environment.Gate Cliff Series Projectile Points, Elko Series Projectile Points, Pinto, Northern Side Notched Points.

Formative Late Prehistoric:
Anasazi, Fremont
About 1000 BC to about 1300 AD

Pit house Villages, Cliff Dwellings, Elaborate Architecture variety of ceramic styles, Farming: corn, beans, and squash.

Proto-Historic and Historic Tribes
About 1300 AD to Present

Ute
Food: Gathered plants and seeds, fished. Hunted deer, buffalo and antelope
Shelter: Teepee made from buffalo hides and tall poles; could carry like a tent
Clothing: Wore long dresses, skirts, trousers, and moccasins made from buffalo hides.
Way of Life: Groups of 200 divided into smaller family groups. Women made clothes from animal skins. Men spent most of their time hunting.

Paiute
Food: Gathered seeds, plants, and roots. Farmed corn, squash, beans, sunflowers, wheat, and melons. Fished, hunted small animals.
Shelter: Wicki-up in the winter and nothing in the summer.
Clothing: Wore little clothing.
Way of Life: Family groups of 15-30
Woven baskets used for storage, carrying water, hats, trays, and bowls.

Goshute (Gosiute)
Food: Dug for roots, gathered berries, seeds from grasses and pine trees. Used a bunch of different plants. Caught birds, crickets, mice, rabbits, insects, and lizards.
Shelter: Wicki-ups in the summer, caves and rock shelters in the winter.
Clothing: Wore little clothing and had rabbit-skin blankets.
Way of Life: Small family groups. Spent most of their time gathering food.

Shoshone (Shoshoni)
Food: Gathered roots, seeds, and pinyon nuts. Fished, hunted small animals. Raised corn, squash, and beans.
Shelter: Pit houses, Wicki-ups
Clothing: Animal skins for clothes and blankets.
Way of Life: Small family bands. Made baskets and some pottery.

Navajo (Dine)
Food: Planted corn, beans, and squash. Hunted rabbits, prairie dogs, deer, and antelope.
Shelter: Hogans
Clothing: Animal skins and wool.
Way of Life: Close family group organized around the mother or grandmother. Weaved, farmed, silversmithed, and raised sheep and goats.

1776 Fathers Silvestre Velez de Escalante and Francisco Atanasio Dominguez seek a new route from New Mexico to California and explore Utah.

1821 Mexico wins independence from Spain and claims Utah.

1824 General William H. Ashley sends trappers to northern Utah and Jim Bridger discovers the Great Salt Lake.

1826 Jedediah Smith leads the first overland expedition to California.

1832 Antoine Robidoux builds a trading post in the Uintah Basin.

1841 Capt. John Bartleson leads first wagon train of settlers across Utah to California.

1843 John C. Fremont and Kit Carson explore the Great Basin.

1844-45 Miles Goodyear builds Fort Buenaventura.

1844-45 Miles Goodyear builds Fort Buenaventura.

1847 First party of Mormon pioneers arrive in the Salt Lake Valley.

1848 U.S. wins Mexican War and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo is signed which cedes Utah to the United States.

1849 Constitutional convention proposes the State of Deseret which encompasses the entire Great Basin.

1850 U.S. Senate passes a bill providing for the organization of Utah Territory (rejecting the name Deseret and shrinking its borders). University of Deseret (later University of Utah) is chartered). The Deseret News starts in June.

1852 LDS Church authorities publicly acknowledge the doctrine of plural marriage.

1853 LDS Church begins the construction of the Salt Lake Temple. The Walker War with the Ute Indians begins over slavery among the Indians.

1854 Grasshopper plagues endanger crops.

1856-1860 Handcarts are used by the pioneers traveling to Utah.

1857-1858 Brigham Young is removed as governor by President James Buchanan who sends a 2,500-man military force to accompany the new governor Alfred Cumming to the territory, starting the Utah War.

1861 Telegraph joins in Tooele County.

1861-1862 Third movement for Statehood begins in December 1861.

1863 Discovery of silver and lead in Bingham Canyon.

1865-1868 Ute Black Hawk War last major Indian conflict in Utah.

1869 Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet on May 10 at Promontory. First non-Mormon church building in Utah (Church of the Good Samaritan) in Corinne is constructed. John Wesley Powell explores the Colorado River.

1871 Dedication of First Catholic Church in Utah (St. Mary Madeleine).

1873 Poland Act passed in Congress making it legal to prosecute Mormon for practicing polygamy.

1875 Holy Cross Sisters open Holy Cross Hospital their first hospital in the U. S.

1879 First telephone service established in Ogden.

1882 Edmunds Act passed by Congress making it unlawful to cohabitate.

1887 The Edmunds-Tucker Act is passed by Congress.

1890 LDS Church President Wilford Woodruff issues the Manifesto ending church-sanctioned polygamy.

1891 B'Nai Israel Temple dedicated in Salt Lake City.

1896 Utah becomes the 45th state on January 4 and Heber M. Wells is inaugurated as the first governor.

1896 Utah becomes the 45th state on January 4 and Heber M. Wells is inaugurated as the first governor.

1906 Open pit copper mining starts in Bingham Canyon.

1909 Discovery of Rainbow Bridge.

1911 Strawberry Reservoir is completed.

1914 Auto racing begins on the Bonneville Salts Flats near the Great Salt Lake.

1915 State Capitol is completed.

1919 Zion National Park is created.
First Salt Lake Chapter of the NAACP founded.

1928 Bryce Canyon National Park is established.

1942-1945 Topaz (Japanese-American Relocation Camp) operates near Delta.

1943 Geneva steel plant begins operation in Utah County.

1952 Six-mile Duchesne Tunnel is completed for irrigation.

1956 Congress creates Colorado River Storage Project.

1964 Flaming Gorge Dam on the Green River is dedicated. Arizona's Glen Canyon Dam creates Lake Powell the nation's second largest artificial lake.

1965 Canyonlands National Park is opened.

1985 Jake Garn, is first U.S. Senator to fly in space.

1995 Salt Lake City is announced as the site for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

1996 Overcrowded highways along the Wasatch Front force the governor and Legislature to address raising taxes to pay for rebuilding of I-15 in northern Utah in time for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

1996 Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument is created by President Clinton.

1996 Utah celebrates its 100's birthday of Statehood. The year is filled with parades, balls, county histories and other activities to celebrate Utah?s entrance into the Union.

1997 Utah celebrates its Sesequentennial anniversary (150 year) since the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. This event included a variety of local activities plus the reenactment of the pioneer wagon trail from Winter Quarters to the Salt Lake Valley.

1997 The $1.325 billion bid is awarded to Wasatch Constructions to reconstruct 17 miles of I-15, the main corridor around Salt Lake City.

1998 Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah is named chairmen of the new Senate Select Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem.

1999 On August 11 a tornado ripped through downtown Salt Lake City doing over $100 million of dollars in damage.