The city at the foot of the Wasatch Range — where the Great Salt Lake (eight times saltier than the ocean) shimmers at the edge of the nation's driest non-desert city, Temple Square's golden-spired temple represents the largest investment of labour by a single religious community in 19th-century America, the world's greatest snow (over 500 inches per year at Alta) is 35 minutes from downtown, and the 2034 Winter Olympics venue construction has already begun
Salt Lake City (205,000; metro 1.2 million) is the capital of Utah and the world headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — a faith founded in 1830 that transformed a salt-crusted desert basin into a metropolis via one of the most dramatic voluntary mass migrations in American history (the Mormon Pioneer Trail, 1846–1869). The city sits at an elevation of 4,327 feet (1,319 m) at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains — 35 minutes from the ski resorts of the Cottonwood Canyons (Alta and Snowbird average 500+ inches of annual snowfall), and 45 minutes from Park City (host of t…
The Ute, Goshute, Paiute, Navajo, and Shoshone peoples occupied the Great Basin region for thousands of years before European contact. Mormon Prophet Brigham Young led the first pioneer company (148 people, 73 wagons) from Winter Quarters, Nebraska, to the Salt Lake Valley — arriving July 24, 1847, the day Young reportedly declared 'This is the right place' from a wagon as the valley opened below. The transcontinental railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, Utah (53 miles north of Salt Lake City) on May 10, 1869 — where the Union Pacific and Central Pacific tracks met in the 'Golden Spik…