1860s (LDS)

Centuries: 18th century - 19th century - 20th century
Decades: 1830s 1840s 1850s - 1860s - 1870s 1880s 1890s
Years: 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869

[edit] 1860

October - The Transcontinental Telegraph is linked to Salt Lake City, Utah. Brigham Young and Abraham Lincoln are among the first to send messages with the new link.

July 8 - President Abraham Lincoln signs the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act which not only bans plural marriage but limits church and non-profit ownership in the territories to $50,000. The measure has no funds allocated for enforcement, and President Lincoln's opinion is to leave the Mormons alone if they leave him alone.
Patrick E. Connor arrives in Utah with California recruits to represent the federal government as they had been pulled out of Utah due to the American Civil War. He establishes Fort Douglas and encourages his men to find valuable ores so that miners are enticed to settle in Utah to offset the mormon population.

Valuable ores are discovered in Tooele County, Utah, sparking a rush of new, non-mormon immigrants to Utah.
February 4 - Brigham Young, Jr. is ordained an apostle by President Brigham Young. It is not until four years later that he becomes a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Utah's Black Hawk War, the deadliest conflicts in the territory's history, occurs as the three armies - LDS, Indian, and federal - fight among one another.

October - Brigham Young, Jr., already an ordained apostle, is adopted into the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

May 10, - The First Transcontinental Railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, north of the Great Salt Lake. The railroad brought increasing numbers of non-Mormons into the state, and several influential non-Mormon businessmen would make fortunes in the territory.