Utah Trivia & Tidbits - Page 12

Looking for Utah trivia? Try our list Utah little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Thousands of years ago, Lake Bonneville’s changing shoreline left behind an alluvial fan, or bench, that today is the site of Cedar Hills (pop. 3,094). The deposits of sand and stone left by the lake water created a raised area, which now overlooks Utah Lake and the Utah Valley.

first appeared: 11/9/2003

With a base elevation of 9,600 feet and a peak elevation of 11,307 feet, the resort town of Brian Head (pop. 118) on Brian Head Peak is Utah’s highest town. The peak originally was known as Monument Peak until its name changed in the early 1900s. Differing stories claim its name comes from either a U.S. geological survey official named Bryan or politician William Jennings Bryan, despite the different spelling.

first appeared: 11/2/2003

Boxer Jack Dempsey spent part of his childhood in Provo, as his family settled there about 1907, when he was 12. Although he dropped out of school in the eighth grade, Dempsey went on to become the world heavyweight boxing champion in 1919, holding the title until defeated by Gene Tunney in 1926.

first appeared: 10/26/2003

The Navajo called the Capitol Reef National Park area near Torrey (pop. 171) the “Land of the Sleeping Rainbow,” because of its colorful canyon walls. The park protects the Waterpocket Fold: a monocline, or warp in the Earth’s crust, that’s almost 100 miles long, where the rock layers on the west side have been lifted more than 7,000 feet higher than the layers on the east side.

first appeared: 10/19/2003

Nolan K. Bushnell, from Clearfield (pop. 25,974), is considered the father of the video game industry. He studied electrical engineering at the University of Utah, and in 1972 co-founded Atari Corp. and co-created the video game Pong, which resembles electronic table tennis.

first appeared: 10/12/2003

The ski resort at Alta (pop. 370), which saw its first ski lift begin operating in 1939, helped out the war effort just a few years later. Paratroopers from the Army’s 10th Mountain Regiment learned to ski on Alta’s slopes, as they prepared for the possibility of fighting in Europe’s mountains.

first appeared: 10/5/2003

The Flaming Gorge-Uintas Scenic Byway runs for 82 miles between Vernal (pop. 7,714) and the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. History along the byway ranges from Dinosaur National Monument (the world’s largest Jurassic-period dinosaur quarry) to the Swett Ranch Historic Site (an early-1900s Utah ranch).

first appeared: 9/28/2003

The state’s first U.S. Olympic champion, Alma Richards, is reported to have said that his running and jumping abilities came from chasing rabbits near his home in Parowan (pop. 2,565). Richards set an Olympic record in Stockholm in 1912, with a high jump of 6 feet 4 inches. He won more than 245 medals and trophies in 21 years of track and field competition, and was elected to the Utah Sports Hall of Fame in 1956.

first appeared: 9/21/2003

The American West Heritage Center in Wellsville (pop. 2,728) preserves the history of the Old West from 1820 to 1920. The site includes the Jensen Historical Farm, a working farm dating to the turn of the 19th century. Plans for the future include an American Indian village, pioneer settlement, mountain man rendezvous site, and military encampment.

first appeared: 9/14/2003

The Golden Spike National Historic Site 32 miles west of Brigham City (pop. 17,411) celebrates May 10, 1869, when Union Pacific crews pushing west from Nebraska officially met Central Pacific crews pushing east from California at Promontory Summit—thus completing the first transcontinental railroad. Although the ceremony featured four ceremonial spikes, including one of gold, the actual last spike was ordinary iron.

first appeared: 9/7/2003

Evelyn Wood, who developed a system to teach speed reading and comprehension, was born in Logan (pop. 42,670) in 1909. After studying people who read very quickly, including her professor Dr. C. Lowell Lees at the University of Utah, she opened her first Evelyn Wood Institute in Washington, D.C., in 1959. Wood herself could read 2,700 words per minute.

first appeared: 8/31/2003

Utah is the only state with a capital whose name consists of three words: Salt Lake City. Interestingly, each of those three words contains four letters.

first appeared: 8/24/2003

During the summer training season at Utah Olympic Park in Park City (pop. 7,371), freestyle aerial skiers can soar 70 feet in the air, practicing twists, turns, and flips, before splashing down in a 750,000-gallon pool that’s designed to soften their landings.

first appeared: 8/24/2003

Constructed in 1867 to offer travelers protection and refreshment, Cove Fort is the last remaining fort built by the Latter-day Saints in the 1800s. Situated 20 miles south of Kanosh (pop. 485), the fort was built with volcanic rock to form a square with walls 100 feet long.

first appeared: 8/17/2003

Sand Hollow, Utah’s new state park, opened April 18, 2003. Located 15 miles east of St. George, (pop. 49,663) the 20,000-acre park includes a reservoir, beaches, much of nearby Sand Mountain, and 15,000 acres of sand dunes—a popular playground for dirt bikes and four-wheeled vehicles.

first appeared: 8/10/2003

The state named the Rocky Mountain elk its official state animal in 1971. Sometimes called wapiti by American Indians, elk inhabit most of Utah’s mountain ranges, eating primarily grasses. A male elk’s antlers can grow to more than 5 feet across.

first appeared: 8/3/2003

Butch Cassidy was born Robert LeRoy Parker on Friday April 13, 1866 in Beaver (pop. 2,454). He was the oldest of 13 children in a Mormon pioneer family that moved to a ranch near Circleville (pop. 505) when he was 13—where a rustler named Mike Cassidy taught him to rope, ride, and shoot.

first appeared: 7/27/2003

Standing 127 feet high, the nation’s largest blue spruce tree can be found in Ashley National Forest in Wasatch County. Utah also claims champion “big trees” for the Rocky Mountain juniper, limber pine, cliffrose, Rocky Mountain white fir, and alderleaf cercocarpus.

first appeared: 7/20/2003

Newspaper Rock, a state historical monument, shows rock art from 1,500 years ago to the beginning of the 20th century. The oldest drawings are attributed to ancient Pueblos who lived in the area from 100 B.C. to 1540 A.D.

first appeared: 7/13/2003

Known as Utah’s Little Hollywood, Kanab (pop. 3,564) celebrates the more than 100 Western movies and TV shows made in the area with its own Walk of Fame. Ronald Reagan, Tom Mix, Ben Johnson, producer Howard Koch, and the entire Gunsmoke cast are among those with stars on the town’s streets.

first appeared: 7/6/2003

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