They want to work here. A Unity of Church and State For more than 150 years, theology and philosophy have been willing partners in the economic development of the Great Basin. In 1847, Brigham Young led members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints across the mountains and into what was then part of Mexico. They had left their homes in Illinois where they had been persecuted for their beliefs. Here, they set up small farming communities and established Salt Lake City as the new center for the church.
Adversity rides a fast horse.
In 1848, the treaty ending the Mexican War also made Utah part of the United States. The California Gold Rush of 1849 drew thousands westward - and the main route went right through Utah. The federal government tried to force Latter-Day Saints members to conform to its standards and to give up some of their beliefs and practices, especially a form of polygamy, which men have more than one wife. Federal troops were sent to Utah in 1857 to enforce the issue, and which the church officially abandoned in 1890. It has been estimated that 90 percent of the population of Utah today shares the same Mormon religion.