Mormon Settlement
In 1847 a persecuted people walked into the Great Basin and built a society from scratch — grid towns, irrigation canals, ninety settlements in a decade, a landscape still legible across Utah today. That is the achievement. The cost is the other half of the ledger, and others bore it: the land was taken from Ute, Paiute, Goshute, and Shoshone people with no treaty of cession, their subsistence destroyed until starvation drove the Black Hawk War; and in 1852 the territory legalized both Black slavery and the indenture of Native children. Both truths belong to the same story.
Scenic Byway 125
Boulder
One of the last places in America to receive paved road access
Cannonville
Gateway to Kodachrome Basin and the Grand Staircase
Escalante
The town that gave Grand Staircase-Escalante its name
Henrieville
A blink-and-you-will-miss-it ranching hamlet
Tropic
A quiet pioneer town in the shadow of Bryce Canyon
Scenic Byway 12 / UT-241
I-155
Beaver
A charming main street town with surprisingly good food
Lehi Roller Mills
The flour mill from the movie Footloose
Nephi
A quiet ranching town at the foot of Mount Nebo
Scipio
A tiny crossroads town where I-15 meets the old highway
Temple Square
The spiritual and architectural heart of Salt Lake City