Utah

(yoo'tah,) a Territory of the American Republic, b. N. by Idaho, N.E. by Wyoming Ter., E. by Colorado, S. by Arizona, and W. by Nevada, has an extreme length of 325 m., by a mean breadth of 300 m. Area, 93,107 sq. m., or 54,064,640 acres. U. is an immense basin, from 4,000 to 5,000 ft. above sea-level, surrounded by mountains, which at some points reach the altitude of 8,000 to 10,000 feet. Excepting the Green and Grand rivers, head branches of the Colorado, and the Humboldt, which empties into a lake in Nevada, its rivers empty into the Great Salt Lake, in the northern centre of the territory, and similar salt lakes or inland seas. This great valley, which includes the new State of Nevada, is formed by a branch of the Rocky Mountains on the E., and the Sierra Nevada on the W. The formations are primitive and metamorphic, with secondary basins 15 or 20 m. wide. The principal mountains lying within the territory are the Humboldt range, 6,600 feet high, in the W., and the Wahsatch, in the S., 12,000 feet. There are numerous lakes, usually without outlet, except into each other. Many of these lakes are of salt water. The main lacustral feature of U., the Great Salt Lake, at an elevation of 4,200ft. above the level of the sea, has a length of 70 m., with a width of 30, and occupies an area of 2,100 sq. m. Its surface is dotted with 9 islands, the largest of which is 16 m. in length. The waters of this lake (first explored and described by Fremont in 1843) are so salt that no living creature is found to exist in them. The lands of the "Great Basin " W. of the Wahsatch Mts. are for the major part sterile, for lack of irrigation; on the other hand, the region E. of the Wahsatch po e es a better soil, and is eminently fitted both for pasturage and for cereal crop-raising. The timbered lands of U. take up abt. 2,000,000 acres, and are principally found on the mountain slopes, along with extensive coppices in the river bottoms. U. is rich in its mineralogical features. Gold, silver, iron (red hematite), copper, zinc, lead, coal, salt, sulphur, alum, and borax being extensively found, together with varieties of building-stone. The precious metals, particularly silver, are widely distributed over the S.W. portion of the Ter., and appear to form outlying lodes of the White Pine deposits of Nevada. Rock-salt constitutes a stratific feature in many parts of the Wahcatch range; extensive coal-measures under- ' lie Sunamit and San Pete cos., and sulphur largely exists in Millard co. The cereals grown in U. comprise wheat, barley, oats, rye, and buckwheat. Flax, hemp, and cotton also furnish considerable yields; fruit-culture is much attended to, and cattle-rearing and wool growing are important items of the Territorial industry. In 1870, the number of acres of land in farms was 118,755; unimproved lands, 29,606 acres. Cash value of farms, $2,297,922; of farm-implements and machinery, $291,390. Total estimated value of all farm-products, $1,973,142; of orchard and dairy stuffs, $52,638; of forest products, $800; of home manu fs., $56,891; value of animals slaughtered or sold for slaughter, $172,382. Total value of live-stock, $2,149,814. Number of farms (of all sizes), 4,908.-U. is politically divided into 21 cos., of which the principal centres are Salt Lake City (the cap.), Brigham City, Ogden City, Provo, Fill more, Manti, and Celu City. The govt. is both executively and legislatively carried on after the manner of the other territories of the U. States. Education is provided for by the establishment of common schools, with the higher branches of learning finding pabulum in the University of the State of Deseret (as it is called), and in seminaries of a superior grade. In 1870, the total a e ed valuation of the Ter. amounted to $12,565,842, of which $7,047,881 was attachable to real estate; true valuation of real and personal estate, $16,159,595. U., prior to 1848, consisted of an almost absolutely unknown tract forming part of the " Great Basin of North America," and in eluding within its limits what now forms portions of the Territories of Colorado and Nevada. In the year above stated occurred the Mormon immigration from Nauvoo, Ill., to the shores of the Great Salt Lake, where they founded Salt Lake City, and, in the year following, organized their settlement into a constituted community under the name of the State of Deseret, a proceeding which Congre refused to recognize, though it became by the latter body organized and admitted as a Territory of the Union, Sept. 9, 1850. During the years which followed, so-called "Gentile" immigration was opposed in every way po ible by the Mormon authorities, and it was not before the completion of the pa age of the Union Pacific Railroad through the N. part of the Ter., skirting the Great Salt Lake, that any noticeable progre had been made by civilization upon the Mormon monopoly of isolated power and a umed vested rights. Since then, however, the great influx of immigration, together with schismatic agitation among the Mormons themselves, have done much to throw U. open to the progre ive and utilitarian influences of the times, and, despite the failure of a bill which pa ed the House of Representatives in 1870, for the suppre ion of polygamy, to become a law of the land, it inflicted a blow upon that institution which promises to be a fatal one. Besides which, the Mormon power has been brought under jurisdictional subjection to the existing laws of the U. States, and all military gatherings whatsoever forbidden, save by order of the U. S. marshal. Pop. in 1870, 86,786. V. the 22d letter and 17th consonant of the English [s. 925] V V, language, forms the middle labial aspirate, and as such is nearly allied to f, being constituted by the same organs; the only difference between the two is that u is vocal and f aspirate-thus bearing the same relation to each other that p does to b. Vhas one sound only, as in vast, vowel, vex, .; and though always po e ing an intonation differing from that of u, the two letters were formerly, until about the beginning of the 16th cent., considered and written as one letter. Uhas since been used as a vowel, and vas a consonant. In German, v carries the sound of f, and wof v; and in most languages is interchangeable with b, m, andf. As a numeral, this letter stands for 5, and with a dash over it, for 5,000. VR in modern inscriptions stands for Victoria Regina, " Queen Victoria"; in musical notation, a single signifies violin, and repeated, VV, denotes that instrument in the plural. [s. 926]