Life in the
Utah Territory
Settlement, Pony
Express, the Telegraph,
& the Railroad
Objective for Unit & Lesson:
 Unit Objective: Students will understand the
political and social development of Utah in the
late 19th century.
 Lesson Objective: Students will evaluate what life
was like in the Utah Territory and understand keys
aspects of the Pony Express, Telegraph, and the
Railroad.
Life in the Utah Territory
 Main occupation of Utahns:
farming & agriculture
 Crops grown: wheat, corn, oats,
potatoes, peas, and beans
 Many in St. George grew cotton
so the people could make their
own clothes
 Many raised animals: cows, pigs,
sheep, and chickens
 Homes were very basic when
people first settled: log cabins.
Roofs were made of tree limbs,
brush, & mud
Schools in the Territory
 First schools in Utah were LDS Church
schools.
 They were taught:
 Reading
 Writing
 Arithmetic
 Bible & Book of Mormon
 People had to pay for their children
to attend school so many did not
get to attend because working on
the farm was more important
Brigham Young

Brigham Young:

First territorial Governor


Organized the territorial government, selected location of capital city, worked
with federal government, started new towns all over the territory, and organized
the immigration of thousands of new people
Also the main leader of the Mormon Church

Division between Church & State was not particularly strong early on in the
territory (in other words: government leaders & religious leaders were the
same people)

This situation created tension in Utah between those who were Mormon and
non-Mormons



Mormons felt that the federal government’s influence to remove their religious
leaders from political office was unfair
Non-Mormons felt that they had no voice in Utah and were discriminated in the
territory
Because of all these issues, Brigham Young was removed from governor office
in 1857
Other Facts
 Sleep Tight! Don’t let the Bed Bugs
Bite!
 Many slept on rope beds so “sleep
tight” meant that the ropes on your
bed were tight so you would be cozy &
comfortable
 Pioneer Day
 Celebration of the arrival of the first
pioneers into the Great Basin on July
24th, 1847.
First Newspaper
 First newspaper published in Utah
Territory was the Deseret News in
1850
 Newspaper represented that Salt
Lake City was now a functioning
“city” with it’s own newspaper
 Printed once a week
 The Union Vedette and the Salt Lake
Tribune were later started and
offered a different views than the
Deseret News.
Other Religions
 Though Utah was predominantly
Mormon, other religious groups came
to Utah as well. Including the Baptists,
Methodists, Jews, and Catholics.
 “ The most important name in Utah
Catholic history was Reverend
Lawrence Scanlan. He traveled on
foot and horseback to the larger
towns and small mining camps of the
state. Along with the Sisters of the Holy
Cross, Father Scanlan organized
mission schools, hospitals, churches,
and later the completion of the
Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt
Lake City.” – Utah History Textbook
Pony Express
 Their Goal: carry mail from
Missouri to California in only
10 days.
 Station posts along the way,
about every 10 miles. At
each station, the rider
would mount a fresh horse.
After changing horses 8
times, the mail was given to
a new rider.
 Cost $3.00 to send a letter
You would be a good Pony
Express Rider if you…
 Weighed less than 125
pounds
 Were honest
 Were an orphan (no parents)
 Under 18 years of age
 Were a good shot (shooting
guns)
 Were a hard worker
 And were brave & daring
Primary Source: Pony Express
Rider
 Read Buffalo Bill Cody’s account of being a
Pony Express Rider and answer the questions.
 If you had the chance, would you have wanted
to be a Pony Express Rider?
 What were some of the difficulties involved with
being a Pony Express Rider?
 Pretend you are a Pony Express Rider- write a
letter “home” telling your family what your life is
like:
Telegraph
 Pony Express only ran from April 1860 to October 1861
 Why? Telegraph companies finished stringing telegraph wires across
the country in 1861.
 The telegraph could send messages across the nation in only a few
seconds.
 Important telegraphs that were transmitted to Utahns:
 News of the Civil War (1861-1865)
 Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
 How did it work? “ A device that uses electrical pulses to transmit
coded messages through a wire to a receiver, where the message is
then decoded.” Most famous code: Morse Code
 Video clip
Telegraph Video
 Watch the 4 minute video clip about the two men
who helped create the telegraph and Morse code.
 How did Alfred Vail create the telegraph?
 What letter was the most common in the English
language and therefore got the shortest signal?
 How did Samuel Morse get credit for the invention of
the telegraph?
Railroad
 Trains first started in: 1811 by John
Blenkinsop. He designed the first
successful and practical
locomotive in England
 Railroad era in the United States
started in 1830 when the first USA
train, “Tom Thumb” went from
Baltimore to Ohio
 1862: President Abraham Lincoln
signed the Pacific Railway Act
which authorized the construction
of the first transcontinental railroad.
Transcontinental Railroad
 Transcontinental: an item that extends across a continent
 Construction took 6 years: from 1863 to 1869
 Two companies contracted to build the railroad: Union Pacific
Railroad & Central Pacific Railroad
 Union Pacific started in Omaha, Nebraska
 Central Pacific started in Sacramento, California
 http://up150.com/timeline
 May 10th 1869: Transcontinental Railroad joins in Utah at Promontory
Point
 Golden Spike Ceremony
 Story of California Governor missing the spike
 Movie clip
Promontory
Point
Union
Pacific
Railroad
Central
Pacific
Railroad
How did the railroad impact
Utah?
3 ways the Railroad impacted Utah:
 Pioneer Era Over- no longer have to travel months &
months across the country in covered wagons. Same
distance could be done in DAYS on the train.
 Change in Utah culture & dynamics: Many
immigrants came & STAID in Utah after working on the
railroad
 Chinese
 Irish
 Utah now connected to the rest of the nation
 Helps lead to future statehood
Book
 “Coolies” by Yin Chris Soentpiet
 As you listen, pay attention to what it was like to
be a railroad worker.
 What discrimination did Shek & Wong as Chinese
workers face?
Newspaper Headline
 Pretend you are a journalist for the Deseret News
in 1869. Write a headline and article (7
sentences) about the transcontinental railroad
and the exciting Golden Spike Ceremony
connecting the East & West here in Utah.
 Mention at least one impact of the railroad on
Utah in your article
 Be creative and use your best penmanship