Salt Lake City is a city in Utah, state capital, and also seat of Salt Lake County. Situated in the north central area of the state, it is 24 km (15 mi) east of its namesake, the Great Salt Lake, and lies around the western slope of the Wasatch Range. The entire Salt Lake Valley used to be part of the basin of ancient Lake Bonneville. Now, the Jordan River passes through the city. Salt Lake City is the international headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon Church (see Mormonism). It is the largest and most essential city in a massive region of the interior West and serves as the industrial, financial, religious, and commercial center of Utah. The city hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 2002.
Native Americans were living in the Great Salt Lake Valley for thousands of years before white settlement. The Shoshone, Ute, and Paiute peoples were among those Native Americans living in the area when the Mormons moved into the area in July 1847. Since the starting of their church in New York throughout 1830, the Mormons had been transferring west because of persecution. Finally they moved to the Far West to find an isolated land. After arrival within the Great Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young stated, "This is the right place." Young laid out the community in 4-hectare (10-acre) plots around Temple Square, which became the core of the Mormon faith.
Throughout 1849 the Mormons structured a new state, that they called Deseret. The Congress of the United States, nevertheless, did not grant statehood, and instead established Utah Territory during 1850 with its capital at Great Salt Lake City (the name was shortened to Salt Lake City in 1868). The population increased with a steady influx of Mormon converts. Salt Lake City incorporated in 1851 and had been designated the capital when Utah became a state in 1896.
The Mormons' practice of polygamy (having multiple wives) and their alleged disregard of federal authority led to conflicts with the federal government. In 1858 a dispute called the Utah War began because the U.S. government considered that the Mormons were undermining federal laws. Federal troops marched through the city but found that it had been evacuated. There was no fighting, and they moved on to build a post, Camp Floyd, about 65 km (about 40 mi) to the southwest. Fort Douglas was built to the eastern fringe of the city in 1862.
The city's economy was strengthened together with the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 1869 and a railroad connection from Salt Lake City towards the transcontinental railroad in 1870. Mining elevated with the arrival of the railroad, and the city's population more than doubled during the 1880s. Right after the nationwide depression of 1893, the population resumed its rapid development, passing 50,000 by 1900 and 140,000 by 1930.
Higher demand for metals during World War II (1939-1945) created a new mining boom, and a period of industrial expansion followed the war. In the mid-20th century the population of the city remained stable while the metropolitan population soared. The completion of many downtown projects since the 1970s, such as the two-story Latter-day Saints Church Office Building, ZCMI and Crossroads malls, Triad Center, Maurice Abravanel Hall, Delta Center, and the Salt Palace, has helped to maintain a viable city center.
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