Deseret

In 1849 the Mormons organized a "free and independent" government and erected the "State of Deseret," with Brigham Young as its head. But the very next year Congress deliberately snubbed it and created the "Territory of Utah" out of the same accumulation of mountains, sage-brush, alkali and general desolation, -- but made Brigham Governor of it.

Nearly 1,000 people attended tours of the 15,000-resident city, a dinner and a ceremony to commemorate Utah's Jan. 4 birthday, when the land of Deseret became an arm of the Union.