Provo as cities of the second class for school purposes; in 1908-9 six county school districts of the first class were formed. In 1892-1893 text-books and supplies were first furnished free to pupils in the grades; and in the same year supervisory work was introduced. At the head of the public school system is a state superintendent of public instruction, elected for four years, and a board of education, composed of the state superintendent, the president of the state university, the president of the Agricultural College, and two appointees of the governor serving for four years. There is a county superintendent whose term is two years. And in each district there is a board of three trustees, one retiring each year. Two or more contiguous districts may unite to form a high school district. School attendance is compulsory for twenty weeks each year in rural districts and for thirty weeks each year in cities of the first and second class for all children between eight and sixteen years. In 1900 the percentage of illiterates at least ten years old was 3.1. In 1909 there were 685 public schools in the state; the total number of pupils of school age (six to eighteen years) was 102,050, the number enrolled in the public schools was 84,804, and the average daily attendance was 66,774; the total number of teachers was 2255 (1645 women), and the average monthly salary of men teachers was $88.13 and of women $57.44; and the total expenditure for public education was $2,762,581 for the year, being more than twice as much as was expended by the state ten years before. The laws of the state provide for a commission, in cities and counties, for the retirement of public school teachers on a pension. The university of Utah at Salt Lake City was opened in 1850 as the state university of the “state of Deseret.” The State Agricultural College and Experiment Station (1888) is at Logan. At Cedar City, in Iron county, is a branch normal school, connected with the state university. There is a state school for the deaf and the blind (1884) at Ogden. The Art Institute at Salt Lake City has an annual art exhibit, a state art collection, and a course of public lectures on art. There is a state commission which promotes the establishment of free libraries and gymnasiums. The Mormons control Brigham Young University (1876) at Provo, Brigham Young College (1878) at Logan, the Latter-day Saints University (1887) at Salt Lake City, and academies at Ogden, Ephraim, Castle Dale, Beaver and Vernal. Other denominational schools are: St Mary's Academy (1875; Roman Catholic) in Salt Lake City; All Hallows College (1886; Roman Catholic) in Salt Lake City; Westminster College (1897; Presbyterian) in Salt Lake City, and Presbyterian academies at Logan, Springville and Mt. Pleasant; Rowland Hall Academy (1880; Protestant Episcopal) for girls at Salt Lake City; and Gordon Academy (1870; Congregational) at Salt Lake City.
Charitable and Penal Institutions.—The state supports a Mental Hospital (1884, with provision for feeble-minded and non-insane epileptics since 1907) at Provo, a state Industrial School (1889) at Ogden and a state prison (1850) at Salt Lake City. Under a law of 1905, amended in 1907 and 1909, provision is made for separate juvenile courts in all districts in which there are cities of the first (Salt Lake City) or the second class (Ogden, Logan and Provo) with jurisdiction over children under eighteen years of age; and similar jurisdiction is given to district courts elsewhere. In connexion with the juvenile court detention homes have been established, and in certain conditions justices of the peace are empowered to act as judges of the juvenile court in their respective precincts. There are many denominational charities, especially Mormon, the entire state being divided into ecclesiastical units or “stakes” for charity organization.
Finance.—The principal source of public revenue is the property tax. An amendment of 1908 provides for the taxation of mines and mining property. The state assumed the Territorial debt of $700,000, and has added to it a bonded indebtedness of $200,000; the bonds, formerly 5%, have been refunded at 3½ and 3%. There were only private banks until 1872, when Brigham Young organized a national bank. The first savings bank was organized in 1873, and state banks now outnumber national banks. The banking business for many years was largely in the hands of high Mormon officials, and the loyalty of church members built up a remarkable financial confidence, so that no Utah banks failed even in the panic of 1893.
History.—Existing documents seem to indicate that Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, the Spanish explorer, sent out an expedition of twelve men under Captain Garcia Lopez de Cardenas in 1540, which succeeded in reaching the Colorado river at a point now within the state of Utah. But more extended exploration was conducted by two Franciscan friars, Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Velez de Escalante, who, on the 29th of July 1776, left Santa Fé with seven others to discover a direct route to Monterey on the coast of Alta California. This party came in sight of Utah lake on the 23rd of August. Almost half a century later, in the winter of 1824-25, James Bridger, a trapper, discovered the Great Salt Lake while seeking the source of the Bear river. Many trappers in their skin boats followed his lead, notably William H. Ashley, of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, who, in 1825, at the head of about 120 men and a train of horses, left St Louis and established the fort named for him at Lake Utah. In 1843 General John C. Frémont with Kit Carson and three others explored the Great Salt Lake in a rubber boat. With Brigham Young and his little band of Mormon followers (between 140 and 150 members), who entered the Great Salt Lake Valley in July 1847, begins the story of settlement and civilization (see Mormons). Before the end of 1848 about 5000 Mormons had settled in the Salt Lake Valley. The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Feb. 2, 1848) ceded to the United States the vast western territory which included Utah. Early in 1849 the Mormon community was organized as the state of Deseret[1] with Brigham Young as governor. Deseret then comprised not only the present state of Utah, but all Arizona and Nevada, together with parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and California. Application was made to Congress to admit it as a state or Territory, and on the 9th of September 1850 the Territory of Utah, then comprising the present state and portions of Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming, was established under an Act, which provided that it should be admitted as a state, with or without slavery, as the constitution adopted at the time of admission prescribed. (See Compromise of 1850.) The Republican party and (less violently) the Democratic in their national platforms and in Congress attacked and opposed the Mormon institution of polygamy. Statehood, therefore, was not granted until the 4th of January 1896, owing to the apparent hostility of the Mormon authorities to non-Mormon settlers and to repeated clashes between the Mormon Church and the United States government regarding extent of control, polygamous practices, &c. And even after the admission of the state these questions arose in the matter of seating prominent Mormons who were elected to Congress. For a detailed account of these difficulties and of the growth of the “Gentile” or non-Mormon element see the article Mormons.
Through irrigation experiments agriculture became the industrial foundation of the desert community. The waters of City Creek were at first diverted and a canal was built; and the results were encouraging, though in the summer of 1848 crops were destroyed by a swarm of black crickets; but in turn this pest was devoured by sea-gulls, and the phrase “gulls and crickets” has become one of peculiar historic significance in Utah. After 1849 the gold-fever horde bound for California furnished a source of revenue to the Mormons, as their settlement afforded an admirable post for supplies.
The division of land among the Mormons was singularly equitable. Each city block consisted of 10 acres divided into eight 1¼-acre lots, which were assigned to professional and business men. Then a tier of 5-acre lots was apportioned to mechanics, and 10- and 20-acre parcels of land were given to farmers, according to the size of their families. As Great Salt Lake City grew all landholders benefited, either by the location of their property or because of its size, the smaller lots being closer to the business centre and the larger tracts being in the outlying districts.
In 1847 Brigham Young had succeeded Joseph Smith as president of the Mormons, and he held that position of veritable dictator until his death (1877); John Taylor succeeded him, and Wilford Woodruff in 1890 was chosen head of the organization; then Lorenzo Snow was president in 1898-1901, and Joseph Fielding Smith was elected in 1901.
From time to time the Indians have risen against the Mormons. Between 1857 and 1862 outbreaks were frequent, and on the 29th of January 1863 occurred the battle of Bear river, where some 300 Shoshones and Bannocks and about 200 of Colonel P. E. Connor's command participated in a bloody engagement. In April 1865 an Indian war broke out under the leadership of Blackhawk, which lasted intermittently until the end of 1867. But in June 1865 treaties were concluded with the majority
- ↑ According to the Book of Mormon, “Deseret” means “land of the working bee.”
