The first large emigration to Utah occurred in 1847 when Brigham Young came with a Mormon group to Salt Lake City. Joseph Smith, prophet of the Mormons, stated that Utah would be the Zion of the Mormon people. By 1870 there were over 70,000 people that had settled Salt Lake City.
On this day January 4th, in 1896, Utah is admitted as the 45th state of the United States. Brigham Young had come to Utah in the midst of the Mexican-American War, and 1848 in the Treaty of Hidalgo, Utah would become part of the United States.
A majority of the U.S. government was morally opposed to polygamy, so in order to be admitted as a state the Latter Day Saint church had to abandon its policy and belief to be able to marry multiple women, although it was still practiced. Approximately 60% of Utah is Mormon. Utah’s total population is 2,817,222, with 80% living around Salt Lake City.