The Partition of Utah

[chrispi]

There were proposals to divide Utah between Colorado, Idaho and Nevada. WI this were completed under Lincoln?

[Zioneer]

That's, uh, actually mostly what happened in OTL. Utah Territory was gigantic compared to how big it is now, and most of it was cut down throughout the years to create Colorado, Nevada, and a little bit of Idaho. Here, see? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_Territory) Modern day Utah is basically the smallest the Federal Government could get it without provoking another Utah War.

What do you mean about proposals to divide it under Lincoln?

[chrispi]

What I was meaning was what would happen if the Partition of Utah were complete, that is, everything east of the Wasatch were given to Colorado, and the rest were granted to Nevada. Failing that, what about a rump Utah Territory that encompasses only the Wasatch Front?

[Sven]

What I was meaning was what would happen if the Partition of Utah were complete, that is, everything east of the Wasatch were given to Colorado, and the rest were granted to Nevada. Failing that, what about a rump Utah Territory that encompasses only the Wasatch Front?

Orleans is the only organized territory in United States history that didn't eventually give rise to a state by the same name (except territories with compass directions as names). This, to me, suggests that the existence of an incorporated Utah Territory makes the later existence of a State of Utah more or less inevitable. What its boundaries look like is another matter entirely.