Quote:
Originally Posted by RC14
I have wondered how Utah would have developed had the Mormons never arrived. I wouldn't think Salt Lake would have been the largest city. Perhaps there would have been a larger city in the are that is now Ogden, maybe the Provo or St George areas?
I think the state would have been much less developed. Maybe more like Wyoming or Northern Nevada.
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it might not be a state at all. The mormons first settled around what is now salt lake city back when that region was still part of mexico. They wanted the US to take over their area of mexico and accept them into the union as a massive new state called "Deseret", which wouldve stretched from San Diego and LA all the way northeast to the tetons in wyoming, west to roughly leadville, CO, and from oregon to new mexico. congress repeatedly denied their applications until the proposed state shrank down in size to what is now utah.
my guess is without the mormons, what is now utah would be split. It is really a strange state, because it covers parts of two vastly different regions, the great basin in the west, a flat, bone-dry former lakebed puckered with tiny isolated mountain ranges, and in the east, the colorado pleateau, a maze of canyons, rivers, and ephemeral streams.
I agree it would also be much less developed. Northern utah would probably look a lot like southern idaho, with a few cities the size of twin falls and maybe one the size of boise.. spokane at most