Settlement on the Great Salt Lake without Mormonism

Hi all,

I was wondering how people thought the Great Salt Lake would have been settled had Joseph Smith never existed.

What would have caused people to go there? What type of people would it have been?

What would the economy have been involved with?

When would it be settled and when would it get statehood?

How would these changes affect the settlement of the rest of the West and national politics?

Interested in any and all speculations!

Thanks,

Socrates
 
I imagine, like most of the rest of the west, that people would have been drawn to it by the opportunity to farm, ranch and mine. One interesting idea is that if the first settlers hadn't been Mormons, it might have become a wine-producing area. (It's a little chilly, but there's plenty of sun and just enough water.)

And it would have been granted statehood much, much earlier — by 1875 at the latest — and probably would have been a lot larger. (People don't remember this, but Nevada was granted early statehood by special exemption when there were only 40,000 people there, basically to save them from Teh Eeeevil Mormons.:rolleyes:)
 
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