Portal:Utah/FA archive
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The Great Salt Lake, located in the northern part of Utah, is the largest salt lake in the Western Hemisphere, the fourth largest terminal lake in the world, and the 33rd largest lake on Earth. The lake is the largest remnant of Lake Bonneville, a pluvial lake which covered much of western Utah in prehistoric times. The lake is endorheic (has no outlet besides evaporation), and thus has very high salinity, far saltier than sea water. Although it has been called "America's Dead Sea", the lake provides habitat for millions of shorebirds and waterfowl, including the largest staging population of Wilson's Phalarope in the world. In addition to birds and brine shrimp, the lake is also home, oddly enough, to a Chilean flamingo named Pink Floyd. Read more...
Zion National Park is a United States National Park located near Springdale, Utah in the southwestern United States. The principal feature in the 229 square mile (593 km²) park is the 15 mile (24 km) long and up to half a mile (1 km) deep Zion Canyon, which was cut through the reddish and tan-colored Navajo Sandstone by the North Fork of the Virgin River. Other notable park features include the Great White Throne, Checkerboard Mesa, Kolob Arch, Three Patriarchs, and the Virgin River Narrows. The geology of the Zion and Kolob canyons area includes nine formations that together represent 150 million years of mostly Mesozoic-aged sedimentation. At various periods in that time, warm, shallow seas, streams, ponds and lakes, vast deserts and dry near-shore environments covered the area. Uplift associated with the creation of the Colorado Plateaus lifted the region 10,000 feet (3,000 m) starting 13 million years ago. Read more...
St. George is a city located in southwestern Utah. It is also the county seat of Washington County.GR6 The city is 119 miles (192 km) northeast from Las Vegas, Nevada, and 303 miles (488 km) south from Salt Lake City, Utah. The Utah Population Estimates Committee stated in 2005 that 65,968 people lived in the city. It is estimated that in 2050 the city will be home to 317,818 residents, earning it the place of Utah's most populated city. In September 2005, St. George was declared the second fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States as its county's population is expected to grow from 125,010 in 2005 to 607,334 by 2050. Read more...
The Liberal Party of Utah, along with the People's Party, was a local political party that flourished in Utah Territory in the latter 19th century before Democrats and Republicans established themselves in Utah in the early 1890s. The Liberal Party was formed in 1870 to oppose The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the LDS Church; popularly known as the "Mormons"), which dominated local politics. Thus, the Liberal Party represented the non-Mormon side in religiously-charged Utah government. Though vastly outnumbered, the Liberal Party offered an opposing voice and successfully won several local elections. Anti-Mormonism was a central theme of the party until it disbanded in 1893 and was absorbed by the national parties. Read more...
The exposed geology of the Bryce Canyon area shows a record of deposition that covers the last part of the Cretaceous period and the first half of the Cenozoic era in that part of North America. The ancient depositional environment of the region around what is now Bryce Canyon National Park varied from the warm shallow sea the Dakota Sandstone and the Tropic Shale were deposited in to the cool streams and lakes that contributed to the colorful Claron Formation that dominates the park's amphitheaters. Other formations were also created but were mostly eroded following two major periods of uplift; one around 70 million years ago (creating the Rocky Mountains) and another 10 to 15 million years ago (creating the Colorado Plateaus). Read more...
Rice-Eccles Stadium is football stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah. The stadium was originally built in 1927, and is the home stadium of the University of Utah Utes. The 2002 Winter Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies where held at the stadium.
Ute Stadium opened on October 1, 1927 with a Utah victory over Colorado Mines, 40-6, and was dedicated on October 22 against Colorado. The seating capacity was 20,000. An additional 10,000 seats were added to the north end in 1947. Bob Rice gave $1 million USD to the university to renovate the stadium in 1972. Additional seating was added to the south end of the stadium, new locker rooms and a new press box were added, the playing surface was lowered, and the track was removed. This brought the capacity to 32,500. Read more...
