The Territory Prospers - PowerPoint Presentation

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The Territory ProspersSlide2

The Railroad Revolutionizes Transportation

After the Civil War the U.S. decide to build a transcontinental railroad as a way to unite the country even furtherThe Union Pacific Railroad began building west from NebraskaThey mostly employed Irish immigrants and newly freed slaves for cheap laborThe Central Pacific Railroad began building east from California

They mostly employed Chinese immigrants

The path on the Union Pacific was very easy in the beginning because they had to lay their tracks on flat prairie land

The Central Pacific had a lot more difficult time because they had to cut through tough granite of the Sierra

NevadasSlide3

Utah and the Railroad

As the Union Pacific approached Utah, it got help from Brigham Young and the MormonsYoung said that he would collect money to help the railroad if it passed through OgdenYoung then wanted the railroad to head down to Salt Lake City, but President Grant decided it should head north around the Great Salt Lake

Both railroads were in a sort of race to see who could get the most land

The railroad would get more money with the more land that it had

The railroads eventually met at Promontory Summit north of the Great Salt Lake on May 10, 1869Slide4
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Life of Railroad Workers

Most workers for the Central Pacific were from ChinaAbout 11,000 were hired and about 2000 were killed or seriously injuredSome of the dangers they faced were blasting accidents, avalanches, cholera, and harsh weather conditionThe ones who worked for the Union Pacific were mostly Irish immigrants

Many other European immigrants and newly freed slaves worked on it

They mostly faced severe weather, and poor living and working conditions Slide7

Railroad

Changes Utah

Railroads started to pop up all over the territory of Utah

Railroads connected towns and were used in mining towns to get materials to the cities to sell

Agriculture got a boost because it made it easier and faster for farmers to get their crops to market

Businesses thrived because they were able to get more manufactured goods to their stores

The railroads also brought a huge boost of new settlers and tourists into the territory

Many actors came to perform at the Salt Lake Theatre and Mark Twain even road a train through Utah

In 1847, it took the Advance company 100 days to make it to the Salt Lake Valley from Nebraska. With the railroad it only took 2 daysSlide8

Connecting Towns

After the Transcontinental Railroad was complete Utah began to build other railroads to connect the major townsThere was the Utah Central track to connect Ogden with Salt Lake CityThere was the Utah Northern that began in Ogden and went north to Brigham City, Logan, and other town in IdahoThen there was the Utah Southern which went south from Salt Lake City to Sandy, American Fork, Provo, and even further southSlide9

Railroad Towns

The town of Corinne quickly grew around Promontory Point

The people who lived in Corinne were hoping that their city would be chosen as a junction for the North/South railroads

But another city will be chosen for this junction

The town of Ogden drastically changed with the introduction of the railroad

Many businesses began to move into the town

Utah’s first black population grew around the train yards in Ogden

Ogden’s 25

th

street, also known as “Two Bit Street,” became a “red light” district where railroad workers could satisfy their vices

Gangster Al Capone said that the city was too rough for himSlide10

Settlements Spread Out

With the railroad and new businesses coming into the territory, settlers began to spread to the eastern part of the territoryCaptain Pardon

Dodds

was in charge of the Ute Indian Reservation, but when he retired he started the town of Vernal in 1877

Vernal is a very dry and desolate place, but other settlers followed him

The town of Moab began as a trading post for people crossing the Colorado River on the Old Spanish Trail, 1878

Some settlers were called to settle in southeastern Utah

To cross the Colorado River they had to cut holes down the wall of the steep gorges and climbed down, wagons and all

This place was then known as Hole-in-the-Rock. It is now under Lake PowellSlide11
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Religious Congregations Prosper

More and more different religions began to move into the territory after the railroadsUtah gained healthy Methodist, Evangelical, and Baptist populationsSlide13

Territorial Schools

The first schools in Utah were organized by the LDS Church and were held in their buildingsLater, private schools were openedIn 1890, the Utah legislature passed the Free Public School Act, which guaranteed free public elementary schools for children in the state

University of Deseret was the first university in the territory in 1850

It was funded by the Utah government

It is now known as University of UtahSlide14

Territorial Schools cont.

Timpanogas

University opened in Provo in 1874

This was later bought by the LDS Church and named Brigham Young University

The Agricultural Academy of Utah was opened in Logan in 1888

It was later named Utah State University

Weber Academy was opened in Ogden in 1889 by the LDS Church

It later became Weber State UniversitySlide15

Electricity

Before electricity, life stopped after sundownElectricity changed that and created a night life never seen beforeThe first public display of electricity in Utah was in 1880 when a circus came to townBy the early 1890s only Salt Lake, Ogden, Logan, Provo, and Park City had working reliable electricity

Better electricity motors

made

factories

and mines improve their production speeds

Electric streetcars made traveling within cities much easier

There were street cars in Salt Lake, Ogden, Provo, and LoganSlide16

Night LifeSlide17

Amusement Parks

Streetcars were able to carry passengers from Salt Lake City to Saltair, a popular amusement park on the shore of Great Salt LakePeople could ride the rollercoaster, watch touring big jazz bands, float in the Great Salt Lake, then take the train back home

This was a popular dating destination as well

The other popular amusement park was Lagoon

Promoters advertised “Bowling, Elegant Dancing Pavilion, Fine Music, A Shady Bowery, and Good Restaurants”Slide18

Then and NowSlide19

Telephones

The first demonstration of a telephone in Utah went from a private residence on South Temple to Fort DouglasThe popularity of the telephone grew rapidlyIn 1890 there were only 500 subscribers, but by 1900 there more than 1200

By the early 1890s, phone lines reached as far south as Nephi and as far north as Preston, ID

Most sometimes only the general store in town had a telephone

And those who had a telephone didn’t know anybody else who did

It will take about 30 years before most people have a telephone