Place:Salt Lake, Utah, United States

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source: Family History Library Catalog

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Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The county was created in 1850. Salt Lake County is the 37th most populated county in the United States and is one of four counties in the Rocky Mountains to make it into the top 100. (Others being Denver County and El Paso County, Colorado and Clark County, Nevada.) Salt Lake County is the only county of the first class in Utah - which under the Utah Code (Title 17, Chapter 50, Part 5) is a county with a population of 700,000 or greater.

Salt Lake County occupies the Salt Lake Valley, as well as parts of the surrounding mountains, the Oquirrh Mountains to the west and the Wasatch Range to the east (essentially the entire Jordan River watershed north of the Traverse Mountains). In addition, the northwestern section of the county includes part of the Great Salt Lake. The county is noted for its ski resorts; Salt Lake City won the bid to host the 2002 Winter Olympics. Salt Lake County is the central county of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. Sustained drought in Utah has more recently strained Salt Lake County's water security and has caused the Great Salt Lake level drop to record low levels.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

This area was occupied for thousands of years by cultures of indigenous peoples.

19th century

The future Salt Lake County area was settled by European Americans in 1847 when Mormon pioneers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fled religious persecution in the East. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley after descending what settlers later called Emigration Canyon. Brigham Young, their leader, declared "This is the place" after seeing the valley. Compared to eastern regions, it seemed arid and unpromising to some of the migrants. Settlers used extensive irrigation to develop agriculture and the flourishing, self-sufficient city, known then as Great Salt Lake City. Thousands of Mormons joined them in the next several decades.

Settlers buried thirty-six Native Americans in one grave after an outbreak of measles occurred during the winter of 1847.

The initial territorial settlement was in Great Salt Lake City proper, but Brigham Young desired to secure a substantial population base across the then-uninhabited Great Basin, so he soon asked members to resettle farther out from the central point. They declared themselves a state (State of Deseret) in hopes of gaining admittance to the Union, and to assure the nascent state would grow uniformly, they named an as-yet-unbuilt settlement in mid-state as the state's capital (Fillmore).

The county was officially organized on January 31, 1850, with slightly more than 11,000 residents recorded.^[1] In 1850, 26 slaves were counted in Salt Lake County.^[1] In 1852, the territorial legislature passed the Act in Relation to Service and the Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners formally legalizing slavery in the territory.

The idea of statehood for the new area was quickly tossed aside by the federal government, and the area was declared a territory in September 1850 – the Utah Territory. Construction of the capitol building in Fillmore was basically completed in 1855, so the territorial legislature traveled to the small community for their first session there. It was to be their last, as they chose to meet in Great Salt Lake City the following year, and in 1857 formally voted to make Salt Lake City (the shorter name adopted in 1857) the capital of the Territory. In 1858, when the Utah Territory was declared in rebellion, the federal government sent troops to install a new governor and keep watch over the area. The government transition was made peacefully, then the troops set up Camp Floyd to the south in Utah County. In 1862, Fort Douglas was established on the eastern bench, near the current site of the University of Utah, as the federal government wanted to ensure loyalty of the territory during the American Civil War.

Patrick Edward Connor, the leader of the garrison at Fort Douglas, was openly anti-Mormon. He sent out parties to scout for mineral resources in the nearby mountains, hoping to encourage non-Mormons to settle in the territory. During the late 19th century, mines were established in the Wasatch mountains, most notably around Alta (and nearby Park City in Summit County). Exploiting the mineral wealth was difficult until the Utah Central Railroad was constructed and reached this area in 1870.

In the Oquirrh Mountains, the Bingham Canyon Mine, which contains vast deposits of copper and silver, was developed as the most productive of the county's mines. The mine, located in the southwest portion of the county, attracted thousands of workers to the narrow canyon. At its peak, the city of Bingham Canyon contained 20,000 residents, all crowded along the steep walls of the canyon, and natural disasters were a frequent occurrence. By the early 20th century, most of the mines in the county had closed. However, the Bingham Canyon Mine kept on expanding. In the early 21st century, it is among the largest open-pit mines in the world.

20th century

After the railroad came to the county, the population began to expand more rapidly and non-Mormons began to settle in Salt Lake City. During the early 20th century, heavy industry came to the valley as well, diversifying its economy. Local and interurban trolley systems were built covering the more urban northeastern quarter of the valley. The city dismantled the trolley system by 1945, favoring the use of individual cars. Throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the east side of the valley began to be more densely settled.

In 1942, Kearns Army Air Base, a large military installation developed for World War II, was located in what is now Kearns on the western side of the valley. After the camp was closed in 1946, the land was sold for private development. Rapid postwar residential settlement of the area began. The federal government established other major defensive installations along the Wasatch Front and in the Great Salt Lake Desert during World War II, which stimulated the economy and brought more people to the area, establishing Utah as a major military center that benefited from federal investment. In the nationwide suburban boom of the late 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s, such cities as South Salt Lake, Murray, Midvale, and much of the east side of the valley grew rapidly.

In common with other industrialized cities, Salt Lake City faced inner-city decay in the 1960s, when residents moved to newer housing in the suburbs. Cities such as Sandy, West Jordan, and what would become West Valley City grew at boomtown rates in the 1970s and 1980s. Huge residential tracts were developed through the center of the valley, and within ten years, the entire area had been converted from farmland into sprawling bedroom communities to Salt Lake City. West Valley City was created from the merger of the three unincorporated cities of Granger, Hunter, and Redwood (including Chesterfield) in 1980.

But not every area of the county saw growth. The former mining towns related to Bingham Canyon were abandoned in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for expansion of the open-pit mine. The city of Bingham Canyon was completely torn down and swallowed up in the mine by 1972, and the dismantling of Lark in 1980 completed the process. The only remaining mining town in the county is Copperton, located southwest of West Jordan, with approximately 800 residents. Magna has workers who continue to be associated with the mine's smelting operations in Garfield and at Arthur Mill.

In the 1990s, the county's areas of rapid growth shifted further south and west. Farm and pasturelands were developed as suburbs. The cities of West Jordan, South Jordan, Riverton, Herriman, and Draper are some of the fastest-growing cities in the state. During the 1990s, Salt Lake City gained population for the first time in 40 years. Salt Lake City's selection as the host of the 2002 Winter Olympics spurred a construction boom in the city that continued after the Olympics; slowing only in the 2008 recession. As the county's population has surpassed 1 million, a main issue it faces is urbanization. Only a few small rural areas remain in the far west of the valley. Other issues facing the county today include congested transportation and related air pollution.

21st century

According to data from the LDS Church and the State of Utah, Salt Lake County was 50.6% LDS (Mormon) in 2008, as reported in the Deseret News. By 2013, this had increased to 51.41%. However, by 2018, this had decreased to 48.91%, making Salt Lake County a majority non-Mormon county. Sustained drought in Utah has progressively strained Salt Lake County's water security in the 21st century and has caused the Great Salt Lake level drop to record low levels.

Timeline

Population History

source: Source:Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790-1990

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