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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

The Walker War Reconsidered, Ryan Elwood Wimmer Dec 2010

The Walker War Reconsidered, Ryan Elwood Wimmer

Theses and Dissertations

In July of 1853, Chief Wakara's band of Utes clashed in a series of violent confrontations with the Mormon settlers. This conflict is known as the Walker War. Many complex factors contributed to this war. After some earlier violence between Mormons and different bands of Utes between 1847 and 1851, the Mormons continued their quick expansion settling on Ute lands. From 1851 to 1853 Mormon and Ute relations continued to decline as Mormons expanded their settlements occupying Ute hunting grounds. In addition to these land encroachments, new laws were enacted regulating trade between the Spanish and Utes by Brigham Young. …


Garden Grove, Iowa: From Mormon Way Station To Permanent Settlement, 1846-1852, Jill N. Crandell Nov 2010

Garden Grove, Iowa: From Mormon Way Station To Permanent Settlement, 1846-1852, Jill N. Crandell

Theses and Dissertations

When the Mormon people began evacuating Nauvoo, Illinois, in February 1846, they intended to leave the United States and build a home for themselves in the West, where they could practice their religion without persecution. However, as Brigham Young led thousands through severe rain and mud that spring, he soon decided that too many of the Saints were unprepared for the long journey to the mountains. Mormons built way stations across Iowa, places where they planted crops, raised log cabins, and obtained the necessary food and supplies. After the Saints moved on to Utah in following years, many of these …


Contested Space: Mormons, Navajos, And Hopis In The Colonization Of Tuba City, Corey Smallcanyon Jul 2010

Contested Space: Mormons, Navajos, And Hopis In The Colonization Of Tuba City, Corey Smallcanyon

Theses and Dissertations

When Mormons arrived in northern Arizona among the Navajo and Hopi Indians in the late 1850s, Mormon-Indian relations were initially friendly. It was not too long, however, before trouble began in conflicts over water use and land rights. Federal agents would soon consider Mormons a threat to the peaceful Hopis because both the Navajo and Mormons were expanding their land claims. Indian agents relentlessly pleaded with Washington to establish a separate Indian reservation. They anticipated this reservation would satisfy all three parties, but its creation in 1882 only created more problems, climaxing in the 1892 death of Lot Smith at …


Making The Desert Blossom: Public Works In Washington County, Utah, Michael Lyle Shamo Jul 2010

Making The Desert Blossom: Public Works In Washington County, Utah, Michael Lyle Shamo

Theses and Dissertations

The following thesis is a study of how communities of Washington County, Utah developed within one of the most inhospitable deserts of the American West. A trend of reliance on public works programs during economic depressions, not only put people to work, but also provided an influx of outside aid to develop an infrastructure for future economic stability and growth. Each of these public works was carefully planned by leaders who not only saw the immediate impact these projects would have, but also future benefits they would confer. These communities also became dependent on acquiring outside investment capital from the …


Violence Across The Land: Vigilantism And Extralegal Justice In The Utah Territory, Scott K. Thomas Mar 2010

Violence Across The Land: Vigilantism And Extralegal Justice In The Utah Territory, Scott K. Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

For years historians of the American West have overlooked Utah when dealing with the subject of extrajudicial violence, while researchers of Mormonism have misread the existence of such violence in territorial Utah. The former asserts that Utah was free from extrajudicial proceedings and that such violence was nearly nonexistent within the contours of the Mormon kingdom. The latter maintains that any violence that existed in Utah was directly connected to the religious fanaticism of the Mormon populace in the region. The reality is that much of the extralegal violence in Utah was a result of the frontier, not the religion …