Misplaced Pages

#595404

99-713: The Kaiparowits Plateau is a large, elevated landform located in southern Utah , in the southwestern United States. Along with the Grand Staircase and the Canyons of the Escalante , it makes up a significant portion of the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument . Its extension to the southeast, Fiftymile Mountain , runs nearly to the Colorado River and Lake Powell , and is a prominent part of

198-645: A Mormon missionary for thirteen years, and a Salt Lake City newspaper owner, finally left Utah and wrote The Rocky Mountain Saints . His book gives a witnessed account of life in Utah, both the good and the bad. He finally left Utah and Mormonism after financial ruin occurred when Brigham Young sent Stenhouse to relocate to Ogden, Utah, according to Stenhouse, to take over his thriving pro-Mormon Salt Lake Telegraph newspaper. In addition to these testimonies, The Confessions of John D. Lee , written by John D. Lee—alleged "Scapegoat" for

297-749: A determined genus of hadrosaur, but do resemble some species of Kritosaurini or at least some species of Kritosaurus . However, in 2016, a possibly forth valid species of Gryposaurus named G. alsatei , which was named after Alsate , who was the last leader of the Mescalero Apaches , was unearthed in the Javelina Formation in Texas. Further research is needed to confirm its validity. As of 2016, there are currently three named species that are recognized as valid today: G. notabilis , G. latidens , and G. monumentensis . The type species G. notabilis

396-591: A further strain on Utah's water security and impacting the state's economy. The name Utah derives from the name of the Ute tribe , meaning 'people of the mountains'. However, no such word exists in the Utes' language, and the Utes refer to themselves as Noochee . The meaning of Utes as 'the mountain people' has been attributed to the neighboring Pueblo Indians , as well as to the Apache word Yuttahih , which means 'one that

495-471: A grinding motion analogous to chewing , and its teeth were continually replacing and packed into dental batteries that contained hundreds of teeth, only a relative handful of which were in use at any time. Plant material would have been cropped by its broad beak, and held in the jaws by a cheek -like organ. Its feeding range would have extended from the ground to about 4 m (13 ft) above. The paleontologists who unearthed G. monumentensis back in

594-451: A major reason for poor air quality in Utah . On March 18, 2020, Utah suffered a 5.7 magnitude earthquake originating 3.7 mi (6.0 km) northeast of Magna, near Salt Lake City. Utah is known for its natural diversity and is home to features ranging from arid deserts with dunes to thriving pine forests in mountain valleys. It is a rugged and geographically diverse state at the convergence of three distinct geological regions:

693-418: A member of the duckbill subfamily without hollow head crests. The general term "gryposaur" is sometimes used for duckbills with arched nasals. Tethyshadros was once thought to fall into this group as well, before it was described (then known under the nickname "Antonio"). A subfamily, Gryposaurinae, was coined by Jack Horner as part of a larger revision that promoted Hadrosaurinae to family status, but

792-474: A more solid crest. The dubious hadrosaurid Stephanosaurus marginatus was considered a possible species of Kritosaurus , following the synonymy of Gryposaurus with Kritosaurus . However, this synonymy was rejected in the 2004 edition of the Dinosauria , with Stephanosaurus being tabulated as dubious. Gryposaurus was a hadrosaurid of typical size and shape; one of the best specimens of this genus,

891-414: A partial skull from New Mexico, which he named Kritosaurus . This skull was missing the snout, which had eroded into fragments; Brown restored it after the duckbill now known as Edmontosaurus annectens , which was flat-headed, and believed that some unusual pieces were evidence of compression. Lambe's description of Gryposaurus provided evidence of a different type of skull configuration, and by 1916

990-458: A regiment of California volunteers in 1862. Connor established Fort Douglas just 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Salt Lake City and encouraged his people to discover mineral deposits to bring more non-Mormons into the territory. Minerals were discovered in Tooele County and miners began to flock to the territory. Beginning in 1865, Utah's Black Hawk War developed into the deadliest conflict in

1089-412: A variety of social functions, such as identification of sexes or species and social ranking. It could also have functioned as a tool for broadside pushing or butting in social contests, and there may have been inflatable air sacs flanking it for both visual and auditory signaling. The top of the arch is roughened in some specimens, suggesting that it was covered by thick, keratinized skin, or that there

SECTION 10

#1732845280596

1188-417: Is absent from the upper part of the formation, with Prosaurolophus present instead. Other dinosaurs known from only the lower part of the formation include the horned Centrosaurus and the hollow-crested duckbill Corythosaurus . Gryposaurus may have preferred river -related settings. The distinctive nasal arch of Gryposaurus , like other cranial modifications in duckbills, may have been used for

1287-506: Is also known from bonebed material. Horner, who described the specimens, considered it to be a less derived species. New material from the Kaiparowits Formation of Utah, in Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument , includes a skull and partial skeleton that represent the species G. monumentensis . Its skull was more robust than that of the other species, and its predentary had enlarged prongs along its upper margin, where

1386-667: Is from the late Campanian -age Upper Cretaceous Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, Canada. It is now thought that another species from the same formation, Kritosaurus incurvimanus (also known as Gryposaurus incurvimanus ), is a synonym of G. notabilis . The two had been differentiated by the size of the nasal arch (larger and closer to the eyes in G. notabilis ) and the form of the upper arm (longer and more robust in K. incurvimanus ). Ten complete skulls and twelve fragmentary skulls are known for G. notabilis along with postcrania , as well as with two skeletons with skulls that had been assigned to K. incurvimanus . G. latidens , from

1485-609: Is higher up' or 'those that are higher up'. In Spanish , it was pronounced Yuta ; subsequently, English-speaking people may have adapted the word as Utah . Thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, the Ancestral Puebloans and the Fremont people lived in what is now known as Utah, some of which spoke languages of the Uto-Aztecan group. Ancestral Pueblo peoples built their homes through excavations in mountains, and

1584-667: Is hindered by the fact that the incurvimanus type specimen is missing the front part of the skull, so the full shape of the nasal arch cannot be seen. The 1942 publication of the influential Lull and Wright monograph on hadrosaurs sealed the Kritosaurus / Gryposaurus question for nearly fifty years in favor of Kritosaurus . Reviews beginning in the 1990s, however, called into question the identity of Kritosaurus navajovius , which has limited material for comparison with other duckbills. Thus, Gryposaurus has once again been separated, at least temporarily, from Kritosaurus . This situation

1683-622: Is just over the Nevada state line in the southern Snake Range. One of western Utah's most impressive, but least visited attractions is Notch Peak , the tallest limestone cliff in North America, located west of Delta . Much of the scenic southern and southeastern landscape (specifically the Colorado Plateau region) is sandstone , specifically Kayenta sandstone and Navajo sandstone . The Colorado River and its tributaries wind their way through

1782-609: Is known from a skull and partial skeleton from Utah. G. monumentensis was listed second on the top 10 list of new species in 2008 by the International Institute for Species Exploration . Recently, a possible fourth species of Gryposaurus , Gryposaurus alsatei , was unearthed in the Javelina Formation , which dates to the late Maastrichtian , along with an unnamed species of Kritosaurus and an undescribed saurolophine which closely resembles Saurolophus , but with

1881-402: Is known from numerous skulls, some skeletons, and even some skin impressions that show it to have had pyramidal scales projecting along the midline of the back. It is most easily distinguished from other duckbills by its narrow arching nasal hump, sometimes described as similar to a " Roman nose ," and which may have been used for species or sexual identification, and/or combat with individuals of

1980-465: Is made more confusing by old suggestions by some authors, including Jack Horner, that Hadrosaurus is also the same as either Gryposaurus , Kritosaurus , or both. This hypothesis was most common in the late 1970s–early 1980s, and appears in some popular books; one well-known work, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs , uses Kritosaurus for the Canadian material ( Gryposaurus ), but identifies

2079-551: Is mostly concentrated in two regions: the Wasatch Front in the north-central part of the state, which includes the state capital, Salt Lake City , and is home to roughly two-thirds of the population; and Washington County in the southwest, which has somewhat more than 180,000 residents. Most of the western half of Utah lies in the Great Basin . Utah has been inhabited for thousands of years by various indigenous groups , such as

SECTION 20

#1732845280596

2178-477: Is not now in use. A rough equivalent is Kritosaurini , as used by Alberto Prieto-Márquez. Kritosaurus has been proposed to be a synonym of Gryposaurus , but it is slightly younger. Additionally, while the skull of Kritosaurus is incompletely known, lacking most of the bones in front of the eyes, it was very similar to that of Gryposaurus . The following is a cladogram based on the phylogenetic analysis conducted by Prieto-Márquez and Wagner in 2012, showing

2277-589: Is now known as the Straight Cliffs Formation, a layer of sandstone that makes up the base of the plateau. Remnants of the peat are now seen as beds of coal within this layer. Later deposits during the Cretaceous period formed higher sandstone layers, known as the Wahweap and Kaiparowits Formations. Further deposition during later epochs formed layers that are now seen at the surface of the plateau, including

2376-538: Is that Hadrosaurus , although known from fragmentary material, can be distinguished from Gryposaurus by differences in the upper arm and ilium . Further research has revealed the presence of a second species, G. latidens , from slightly older rocks in Montana than the classic gryposaur localities of Alberta. Based on two parts of a skeleton collected in 1916 for the American Museum of Natural History , G. latidens

2475-533: Is the central feature of protected state and federal parks such as Arches , Bryce Canyon , Canyonlands , Capitol Reef , and Zion national parks, Cedar Breaks , Grand Staircase–Escalante , Hovenweep , and Natural Bridges national monuments, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (site of the popular tourist destination, Lake Powell ), Dead Horse Point and Goblin Valley state parks, and Monument Valley . The Navajo Nation also extends into southeastern Utah, and

2574-526: Is the lowest point in the state, at 2,000 feet (610 m). The northernmost portion of the Mojave Desert is also located in this area. Dixie is quickly becoming a popular recreational and retirement destination, and the population is growing rapidly. Although the Wasatch Mountains end at Mount Nebo near Nephi , a complex series of mountain ranges extends south from the southern end of the range down

2673-565: Is the only state where every county contains some national forest. Utah features a dry, semi-arid to desert climate , although its many mountains feature a large variety of climates, with the highest points in the Uinta Mountains being above the timberline . The dry weather is a result of the state's location in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada in California. The eastern half of

2772-460: Is the variety of its terrain . Running down the middle of the state's northern third is the Wasatch Range , which rises to heights of almost 12,000 ft (3,700 m) above sea level. Utah is home to world-renowned ski resorts made popular by light, fluffy snow and winter storms that regularly dump up to three feet of it overnight. In the state's northeastern section, running east to west, are

2871-529: Is well illustrated in a synthetic aerial image ( here , 450 kB), which looks northwest from a point near Navajo Mountain . The Kaiparowits Plateau is the darker area to the left, while the Escalante River Basin is the lighter area to the right. The Colorado River (as Lake Powell) runs across the bottom of the image, and at the upper right is the Aquarius Plateau and Boulder Mountain . During

2970-548: The 45th state . People from Utah are known as Utahns. Slightly over half of all Utahns are Mormons , the vast majority of whom are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which has its world headquarters in Salt Lake City; Utah is the only state where a majority of the population belongs to a single church. The LDS Church greatly influences Utahn culture, politics, and daily life, though since

3069-716: The Dinosaur Park Formation in Alberta , Canada, and two formations in the United States: the Lower Two Medicine Formation in Montana and the Kaiparowits Formation of Utah . A possible additional species from the Javelina Formation in Texas may extend the temporal range of the genus to 66 million years ago. Gryposaurus is similar to Kritosaurus , and for many years the two were thought to be synonyms. It

Kaiparowits Plateau - Misplaced Pages Continue

3168-455: The I-15 corridor, including the densely populated Wasatch Front , receives approximately 15 inches (381 mm). The Great Salt Lake Desert is the driest area of the state, with less than 5 inches (127 mm). Snowfall is common in all but the far southern valleys. Although St. George receives only about 3 inches (76 mm) per year, Salt Lake City sees about 60 inches (1,524 mm), enhanced by

3267-609: The Kritosaurus skull had been redone with a nasal arch and both Brown and Charles Gilmore had proposed that Gryposaurus and Kritosaurus were one and the same. This idea was reflected in William Parks 's naming of a nearly complete skeleton from the Dinosaur Park Formation as Kritosaurus incurvimanus , not Gryposaurus incurvimanus (although he left Gryposaurus notabilis in its own genus). Direct comparison between Kritosaurus incurvimanus and Gryposaurus notabilis

3366-576: The Mountain Meadow Massacre —also came out in 1877. The corroborative testimonies coming out of Utah from Mormons and former Mormons influenced Congress and the people of the United States. In the 1890 Manifesto , the LDS Church banned polygamy. When Utah applied for statehood again , it was accepted. One of the conditions for granting Utah statehood was that a ban on polygamy be written into

3465-587: The Mountain Meadows massacre . Before troops led by Albert Sidney Johnston entered the territory, Brigham Young ordered all residents of Salt Lake City to evacuate southward to Utah Valley and sent out the Nauvoo Legion to delay the government's advance. Although wagons and supplies were burned, eventually the troops arrived in 1858, and Young surrendered official control to Cumming, although most subsequent commentators claim that Young retained true power in

3564-638: The Rocky Mountains , the Great Basin , and the Colorado Plateau . Utah covers an area of 84,899 sq mi (219,890 km ). It is one of the Four Corners states and is bordered by Idaho in the north, Wyoming in the north and east, Colorado in the east, at a single point by New Mexico to the southeast, by Arizona in the south, and by Nevada in the west. Only three U.S. states (Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming) have exclusively latitude and longitude lines as boundaries. One of Utah's defining characteristics

3663-785: The U.S. government intensified due to the practice of plural marriage , or polygamy , among members of the LDS Church. The Mormons were still pushing for the establishment of a State of Deseret with the new borders of the Utah Territory. Most, if not all, of the members of the U.S. government opposed the polygamous practices of the Mormons. Members of the LDS Church were viewed as un-American and rebellious when news of their polygamous practices spread. In 1857, particularly heinous accusations of abdication of government and general immorality were leveled by former associate justice William W. Drummond, among others. The detailed reports of life in Utah caused

3762-536: The Uinta Mountains , which rise to heights of over 13,000 feet (4,000 m). The highest point in the state, Kings Peak , at 13,528 feet (4,123 m), lies within the Uinta Mountains. At the western base of the Wasatch Range is the Wasatch Front , a series of valleys and basins that are home to the most populous parts of the state. It stretches approximately from Brigham City at the north end to Nephi at

3861-509: The Western United States . It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona , Colorado , and New Mexico . It also borders Wyoming to its northeast, Idaho to its north, and Nevada to its west. In comparison to all the U.S. states and territories, Utah, with a population of just over three million, is the 13th largest by area , the 30th most populous , and the 11th least densely populated . Urban development

3960-611: The ancient Puebloans , the Navajo, and the Ute. The first Europeans to arrive - in the mid-16th century - were the Spanish. Because of the region's challenging geography and harsh climate, it only became a peripheral part of New Spain (and later of Mexico). Even while it was Mexican territory, many of the Utah region’s earliest European settlers were from the United States; notable among these were Mormons who were fleeing marginalization and persecution in

4059-640: The lake-effect snow from the Great Salt Lake, which increases snowfall totals to the south, southeast, and east of the lake. Gryposaurus Gryposaurus (meaning "hooked-nosed ( Greek grypos ) lizard "; sometimes incorrectly translated as " griffin ( Latin gryphus ) lizard" ) was a genus of duckbilled dinosaur that lived about 80 to 75 million years ago, in the Late Cretaceous (late Santonian to late Campanian stages ) of North America . Named species of Gryposaurus are known from

Kaiparowits Plateau - Misplaced Pages Continue

4158-442: The late Santonian -early Campanian Lower Two Medicine Formation of Pondera County , Montana, USA, is known from partial skulls and skeletons from several individuals. Its nasal arch is prominent like that of G. notabilis , but farther forward on the snout, and its teeth are less derived , reflecting iguanodont -like characteristics. The informal name "Hadrosauravus" is an early, unused name for this species. G. monumentensis

4257-416: The 1990s the state has become more religiously diverse as well as secular. Utah has a highly diversified economy , with major sectors including transportation, education , information technology and research, government services, mining, multi-level marketing , and tourism. Utah has been one of the fastest growing states since 2000, with the 2020 U.S. census confirming the fastest population growth in

4356-453: The 2000s brought the fact that this creature dined on tough, fibrous plant material which would imply that Gryposaurs was both a grazer and a browser . Like other bird-hipped dinosaurs of the Dinosaur Park Formation, Gryposaurus appears to have only existed for part of the duration of time that the rocks were being formed. As the formation was being laid down, it recorded a change to more marine -influenced conditions. Gryposaurus

4455-701: The Fremont people built houses of straw before disappearing from the region around the 15th century. Another group of Native Americans, the Navajo , settled in the region around the 18th century. In the mid-18th century, other Uto-Aztecan tribes, including the Goshute , the Paiute , the Shoshone , and the Ute people, also settled in the region. These five groups were present when the first European explorers arrived. The southern Utah region

4554-584: The Kaiparowits Plateau. This plant was intended to be fed by large coal deposits in the plateau, which may have yielded up to 4,000,000,000 short tons (3,600 × 10 ^  kg) of fuel. The electricity produced would have gone to the growing populations near Los Angeles , San Diego , and Phoenix . Initially hailed as an economic boon to this isolated area of southern Utah, the proposal met with growing opposition from federal regulatory agencies and from environmental groups , who had only recently experienced

4653-602: The LDS Church's first three temples in Utah, each started after but finished many years before the larger and better-known temple built in Salt Lake City was completed in 1893), as well as Parowan, Cedar City, Bluff, Moab, Vernal, Fillmore (which served as the territorial capital between 1850 and 1856), Nephi, Levan, Spanish Fork, Springville, Provo Bench (now Orem ), Pleasant Grove, American Fork, Lehi, Sandy, Murray, Jordan, Centerville, Farmington, Huntsville, Kaysville, Grantsville, Tooele, Roy, Brigham City, and many other smaller towns and settlements. Young had an expansionist view of

4752-838: The Olympic venues built along the Wasatch Front continue to be used for sporting events. Preparation for the Olympics spurred the development of the light-rail system in the Salt Lake Valley , known as TRAX , and the reconstruction of the freeway system around the city. In 1957, Utah created the Utah State Parks Commission with four parks. Today, Utah State Parks manages 43 parks and several undeveloped areas totaling over 95,000 acres (380 km ) of land and more than 1,000,000 acres (4,000 km ) of water. Utah's state parks are scattered throughout Utah, from Bear Lake State Park at

4851-565: The Twelve , became the leader of the LDS Church in Nauvoo, Illinois . To address the growing conflicts between his people and their neighbors, Young agreed with Illinois Governor Thomas Ford in October 1845 that the Mormons would leave by the following year. Young and the first group of Mormon pioneers reached the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. Over the next 22 years, more than 70,000 pioneers crossed

4950-530: The United States and arrived via the so-called Mormon Trail . In 1848, after the Mexican–American War , the region was annexed by the U.S. , becoming part of the Utah Territory , which included what later became Colorado and Nevada. Disputes between the dominant Mormon community and the federal government delayed Utah's admission as a state: in 1896, after it agreed to outlaw polygamy, it was admitted as

5049-599: The Utah/Idaho border to Edge of the Cedars State Park Museum deep in the Four Corners region and everywhere in between. Utah State Parks is also home to the state's off highway vehicle office, state boating office, and the trails program. During the late 20th century, the state grew quickly. In the 1970s growth was phenomenal in the suburbs of the Wasatch Front. Sandy was one of the fastest-growing cities in

SECTION 50

#1732845280596

5148-560: The West. Salt Lake City became the hub of a "far-flung commonwealth" of Mormon settlements. With new church converts coming from the East and around the world, Church leaders often assigned groups of church members as missionaries to establish other settlements throughout the West. They developed irrigation to support fairly large pioneer populations along Utah's Wasatch front (Salt Lake City, Bountiful and Weber Valley, and Provo and Utah Valley). Throughout

5247-676: The administration of James Buchanan to send a secret military "expedition" to Utah. When the supposed rebellion should be quelled, Alfred Cumming would take the place of Brigham Young as territorial governor. The resulting conflict is known as the Utah War , nicknamed "Buchanan's Blunder" by the Mormon leaders. In September 1857, about 120 American settlers of the Baker–Fancher wagon train, en route to California from Arkansas, were murdered by Utah Territorial Militia and some Paiute Native Americans in

5346-574: The area in 1825. The city of Ogden, Utah , was named after Peter Skene Ogden , a Canadian explorer who traded furs in the Weber Valley. In late 1824, Jim Bridger became the first known English-speaking person to sight the Great Salt Lake . Due to the high salinity of its waters, he thought he had found the Pacific Ocean; he subsequently learned this body of water was a giant salt lake . After

5445-531: The bones, teeth, egg shells, and even the tracks of the animals that lived then. The skull of a ceratopsid , a horned dinosaur, was unearthed from the Wahweap Formation in 1998. A species of Struthiomimus , a toothless (yet carnivorous) dinosaur, was identified in the Kaiparowits Formation. As recently as 2007, the characterization of an unusual species of Gryposaurus , a duck-billed dinosaur,

5544-401: The country at that time. Today, many areas of Utah continue to see boom-time growth. Northern Davis , southern and western Salt Lake , Summit , eastern Tooele , Utah , Wasatch , and Washington counties are all growing very quickly. Management of transportation and urbanization are major issues in politics, as development consumes agricultural land and wilderness areas and transportation is

5643-570: The discovery of the lake, hundreds of American and Canadian traders and trappers established trading posts in the region. In the 1830s, thousands of migrants traveling from the Eastern United States to the American West began to make stops in the region of the Great Salt Lake, then known as Lake Youta. Following the death of Joseph Smith in 1844, Brigham Young , as president of the Quorum of

5742-407: The eastern Great Basin. West of the Great Salt Lake , stretching to the Nevada border, lies the arid Great Salt Lake Desert . One exception to this aridity is Snake Valley , which is (relatively) lush due to large springs and wetlands fed from groundwater derived from snow melt in the Snake Range , Deep Creek Range , and other tall mountains to the west of Snake Valley. Great Basin National Park

5841-590: The flank and tail; uniform polygonal scales on the neck and sides of the body; and pyramidal structures, flattened side-to-side, with fluted sides, longer than tall and found along the top of the back in a single midline row. In 2016, Gregory S. Paul estimated the size of G. latidens at 7.5 metres (25 ft) in length and 2.5 metric tons (2.8 short tons) in body mass and the other two species ( G. notabilis and G. monumentensis ) at 8 metres (26 ft) in length and 3 metric tons (3.3 short tons) in body mass. The three named species of Gryposaurus differ in details of

5940-484: The happiness of the very early Church members before polygamy. They independently published their books in 1875. These books and the lectures of Ann Eliza Young have been credited with the United States Congress's passage of anti-polygamy laws by newspapers throughout the United States, as recorded in "The Ann Eliza Young Vindicator", a pamphlet which detailed Ms. Young's travels and warm reception throughout her lecture tour. T. B. H. Stenhouse, former Utah Mormon polygamist,

6039-436: The later part of the Cretaceous geologic period, the area that is now the Kaiparowits Plateau was located near the western shore of the Western Interior Seaway . The interior of the plateau was an area of peat swamps, while what is now the Straight Cliffs were at the shoreline. Further to the west was an area known as the Sevier Highlands. Erosion from the Highlands deposited approximately 1,500 ft (460 m) of what

SECTION 60

#1732845280596

6138-402: The limestone layers of the Wasatch Formation. The sandstone layers of the Kaiparowits Plateau have become a unique source of fossilized remains of the Late Cretaceous Period , vital to understanding the evolution of dinosaur and early mammalian species. These layers represent not only an unbroken sequence of the period between 70 and 82 million years ago, but have also preserved fine details of

6237-580: The lower jaw's beak was based. This new species greatly expands the geographic range of this genus, and there may be a second, more lightly built species present as well. Multiple gryposaur species are known from the Kaiparowits Formation, represented by cranial and postcranial remains, and were larger than their northern counterparts. In Texas, specifically at the Javelina Formation and the El Picacho Formation , indeterminate hadrosaur remains resembling Kritosaurus and Gryposaurus have been unearthed for decades, but none were considered to be identifiable as

6336-527: The majority of eastern Utah's population lives. Economies are dominated by mining, oil shale , oil , and natural gas-drilling, ranching , and recreation . Much of eastern Utah is part of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation . The most popular destination within northeastern Utah is Dinosaur National Monument near Vernal . Southwestern Utah is the lowest and hottest spot in Utah. It is known as Utah's Dixie because early settlers were able to grow some cotton there. Beaverdam Wash in far southwestern Utah

6435-436: The mounted skeleton of K. incurvimanus as Hadrosaurus in a photo caption. Although Horner in 1979 used the new combination Hadrosaurus [Kritosaurus] notabilis for a partial skull and skeleton and a second less-complete skeleton from the Bearpaw Shale of Montana (which have since fallen out of the literature), by 1990 he had changed his position, and was among the first to again use Gryposaurus in print. Current thought

6534-459: The nation since 2010. St. George was the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the United States from 2000 to 2005. Utah ranks among the overall best states in metrics such as healthcare , governance, education, and infrastructure. It has the 12th-highest median average income and the least income inequality of any U.S. state. Over time and influenced by climate change , droughts in Utah have been increasing in frequency and severity, putting

6633-427: The nearly complete type specimen of Kritosaurus incurvimanus (now regarded as a synonym of Gryposaurus notabilis ) came from an animal about 8.2 meters (27 feet) long. This specimen also has the best example of skin impressions for Gryposaurus , showing this dinosaur to have had several different types of scalation: pyramidal, ridged, limpet -shaped scutes upwards of 3.8 centimeters long (1.5 inches) on

6732-484: The northern skyline from the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area . Roughly triangular in shape, the Kaiparowits Plateau extends for over 50 mi (80 km) from near the town of Escalante in Garfield County , to the south and southwest through Kane County and nearly to the border with Arizona . At its southeastern end, the plateau rises from Lake Powell nearly 4,000 ft (1,200 m) to an elevation of 7,584 ft (2,312 m). The northeastern edge of

6831-421: The only place in the western United States to have African slavery. The three slaves, Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby, came west with the first group of settlers in 1847. Utah was a Mexican territory when the first pioneers arrived in 1847. Early in the Mexican–American War in late 1846, the United States had taken control of New Mexico and California. The entire Southwest became U.S. territory upon

6930-483: The plains and settled in Utah. For the first few years, Brigham Young and the thousands of early settlers of Salt Lake City struggled to survive. The arid desert land was deemed desirable by the Mormons as a place where they could practice their religion without harassment. Settlers buried thirty-six Native Americans in one grave after an outbreak of measles occurred during the winter of 1847. The first group of settlers brought three African slaves with them, making Utah

7029-447: The plateau is defined by the Straight Cliffs , below which are the broad sandstone flats of the Escalante River . The western edge of the plateau is at the Paria River , Cottonwood Canyon , and the Cockscomb. The southern end of the plateau is deeply dissected by tributaries of the Colorado River, including Rock, Last Chance, Warm, Wahweap, and Coyote Creeks. These canyons are now major side channels of Lake Powell. An extension of

7128-542: The plateau's high terrain is known as Smoky Mountain, the location of one of the few roads on the plateau. The northwestern end of the plateau is less well defined, essentially merging with the Aquarius Plateau . Canaan Peak, just south of Highway 12 and the town of Escalante, rises to 9,233 ft (2,814 m). Overall, the plateau covers an area of approximately 1,650 sq mi (4,300 km), much of it covered by pinyon - juniper woodland. This topography

7227-539: The popular mid-century western film genre. From such films, most US residents recognize such natural landmarks as Delicate Arch and "the Mittens" of Monument Valley . During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, with the construction of the Interstate highway system, accessibility to the southern scenic areas was made easier. Since the establishment of Alta Ski Area in 1939 and the subsequent development of several ski resorts in

7326-424: The region but were not interested in colonizing the area because of its desert nature. In 1821, the year Mexico achieved its independence from Spain, the region became known as part of its territory of Alta California . European trappers and fur traders explored some areas of Utah in the early 19th century from Canada and the United States. The city of Provo, Utah , was named for one Étienne Provost , who visited

7425-411: The relationships of Gryposaurus among the other kritosaurins: Wulagasaurus Kritosaurus Gryposaurus latidens Gryposaurus notabilis Gryposaurus monumentensis Aquilarhinus Secernosaurus Willinakaqe As a hadrosaurid , Gryposaurus would have been a bipedal / quadrupedal herbivore , eating a variety of plants . Its skull had special joints that permitted

7524-574: The remainder of the 19th century, Mormon pioneers established hundreds of other settlements in Utah, Idaho , Nevada , Arizona , Wyoming , California , Canada , and Mexico —including in Las Vegas, Nevada ; Franklin, Idaho (the first European settlement in Idaho); San Bernardino, California ; Mesa, Arizona ; Star Valley, Wyoming ; and Carson Valley, Nevada . Prominent settlements in Utah included St. George , Logan , and Manti (where settlers completed

7623-604: The same species. A large bipedal / quadrupedal herbivore around 8 meters (26 feet) long, it may have preferred river settings. Gryposaurus is based on specimen NMC 2278, a skull and partial skeleton collected in 1913 by George F. Sternberg from what is now known as the Dinosaur Park Formation of Alberta, along the Red Deer River . This specimen was described and named by Lawrence Lambe shortly thereafter, Lambe drawing attention to its unusual nasal crest. A few years earlier, Barnum Brown had collected and described

7722-465: The sandstone, creating some of the world's most striking and wild terrain (the area around the confluence of the Colorado and Green Rivers was the last to be mapped in the lower 48 United States). Wind and rain have also sculpted the soft sandstone over millions of years. Canyons, gullies, arches, pinnacles, buttes, bluffs, and mesas are common sights throughout south-central and southeast Utah. This terrain

7821-571: The scenic canyons of the Colorado River and its tributaries being inundated by Lake Powell, behind the Glen Canyon Dam . After ten years of dispute and facing rising construction costs, the proposal was abandoned in 1975. Utah Utah ( / ˈ juː t ɑː / YOO -tah , / ˈ juː t ɔː / YOO -taw ) is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of

7920-545: The signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , February 2, 1848. The treaty was ratified by the United States Senate on March 11. Learning that California and New Mexico were applying for statehood, the settlers of the Utah area (originally having planned to petition for territorial status) applied for statehood with an ambitious plan for a State of Deseret . The Mormon settlements provided pioneers for other settlements in

8019-445: The skull and lower jaw. The prominent nasal arch found in this genus is formed from the paired nasal bones . In profile view, they rise into a rounded hump in front of the eyes, reaching a height as tall as the highest point of the back of the skull. The skeleton is known in great detail, making it a useful point of reference for other duckbill skeletons. Gryposaurus was a saurolophine (hadrosaurine of older references) hadrosaurid,

8118-539: The south end. Approximately 75 percent of the state's population lives in this corridor, and population growth is rapid. Western Utah is a mostly arid desert with a basin and range topography. Small mountain ranges and rugged terrain punctuate the landscape. The Bonneville Salt Flats are an exception, being comparatively flat as a result of once forming the bed of ancient Lake Bonneville . Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake , Sevier Lake , and Rush Lake are all remnants of this ancient freshwater lake, which once covered most of

8217-433: The spine of Utah. Just north of Dixie and east of Cedar City is the state's highest ski resort, Brian Head . Like most of the western and southwestern states, the federal government owns much of the land in Utah. Over 70 percent of the land is either BLM land , Utah State Trustland, or U.S. National Forest , U.S. National Park , U.S. National Monument , National Recreation Area or U.S. Wilderness Area . Utah

8316-484: The state constitution. This was a condition required of other western states that were admitted into the Union later. Statehood was officially granted on January 4, 1896. Beginning in the early 20th century, with the establishment of such national parks as Bryce Canyon National Park and Zion National Park , Utah became known for its natural beauty. Southern Utah became a popular filming spot for arid, rugged scenes featured in

8415-560: The state lies in the rain shadow of the Wasatch Mountains . The primary source of precipitation for the state is the Pacific Ocean, with the state usually lying in the path of large Pacific storms from October to May. In summer, the state, especially southern and eastern Utah, lies in the path of monsoon moisture from the Gulf of California . Most of the lowland areas receive less than 12 inches (305 mm) of precipitation annually, although

8514-457: The state's mountains, Utah's skiing has become world-renowned. The dry, powdery snow of the Wasatch Range is considered some of the best skiing in the world (the state license plate once claimed "the Greatest Snow on Earth"). Salt Lake City won the bid for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games , and this served as a great boost to the economy. The ski resorts have increased in popularity, and many of

8613-716: The territorial legislature passed the Act in Relation to Service and the Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners formally legalizing slavery in the territory. Slavery was abolished in the territory during the Civil War. In 1850, Salt Lake City sent out a force known as the Nauvoo Legion and engaged the Timpanogos in the Battle at Fort Utah . Disputes between the Mormon inhabitants and

8712-487: The territory that he and the Mormon pioneers were settling, calling it Deseret—which according to the Book of Mormon was an ancient word for "honeybee". This is symbolized by the beehive on the Utah flag, and the state's motto, "Industry". The Utah Territory was much smaller than the proposed state of Deseret, but it still contained all of the present states of Nevada and Utah as well as pieces of modern Wyoming and Colorado . It

8811-509: The territory's history. Chief Antonga Black Hawk died in 1870, but fights continued to break out until additional federal troops were sent in to suppress the Ghost Dance of 1872. The war is unique among Indian Wars because it was a three-way conflict, with mounted Timpanogos Utes led by Antonga Black Hawk fighting federal and LDS authorities. On May 10, 1869, the First transcontinental railroad

8910-477: The territory. A steady stream of governors appointed by the president quit the position, often citing the traditions of their supposed territorial government. By agreement with Young, Johnston established Camp Floyd , 40 miles (60 km) away from Salt Lake City to the southwest. Salt Lake City was the last link of the First Transcontinental Telegraph , completed in October 1861. Brigham Young

9009-520: The tribe is part of the coalition that manages Bears Ears National Monument . Southeastern Utah is also punctuated by the remote, but lofty La Sal , Abajo , and Henry mountain ranges. Eastern (northern quarter) Utah is a high-elevation area covered mostly by plateaus and basins, particularly the Tavaputs Plateau and San Rafael Swell , which remain mostly inaccessible, and the Uinta Basin , where

9108-407: The west and Appalachia to the east. The plateau where dinosaurs lived was an ancient floodplain dominated by large channels and abundant wetland peat swamps, ponds and lakes, and was bordered by highlands. The climate was wet and humid, and supported an abundant and diverse range of organisms. This formation contains one of the best and most continuous records of Late Cretaceous terrestrial life in

9207-472: The world. Gryposaurus monumentensis shared its paleoenvironment with other dinosaurs, such as dromaeosaurid theropods , the troodontid Talos sampsoni , ornithomimids like Ornithomimus velox , tyrannosaurids like Albertosaurus and Teratophoneus , armored ankylosaurids , the duckbilled hadrosaur Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus , the ceratopsians Utahceratops gettyi , Nasutoceratops titusi and Kosmoceratops richardsoni and

9306-686: Was a cartilaginous extension. Argon-argon radiometric dating indicates that the Kaiparowits Formation was deposited between 76.1 and 74.0 million years ago, during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period. During the Late Cretaceous period, the site of the Kaiparowits Formation was located near the western shore of the Western Interior Seaway , a large inland sea that split North America into two landmasses, Laramidia to

9405-513: Was among the first to send a message, along with Abraham Lincoln and other officials. Because of the American Civil War , federal troops were pulled out of Utah Territory in 1861. This was a boon to the local economy as the army sold everything in camp for pennies on the dollar before marching back east to join the war. The territory was then left in LDS hands until Patrick E. Connor arrived with

9504-550: Was announced. Fossils of the giant crocodilian Deinosuchus have also been found. Early settlers of the region mined certain parts of the plateau for coal in the 1870s and 1880s. The Spencer mine opened in 1913, reportedly to fuel gold mining activities along the Paria River . In 1965, the Southern California Edison Company proposed the construction of a 3000 megawatt coal-fired generation plant within

9603-592: Was completed at Promontory Summit , north of the Great Salt Lake. The railroad brought increasing numbers of people into the territory and several influential businesspeople made fortunes there. During the 1870s and 1880s laws were passed to punish polygamists due, in part, to stories from Utah. Notably, Ann Eliza Young —tenth wife to divorce Brigham Young, women's advocate, national lecturer, and author of Wife No.   19 or My Life of Bondage —and Fanny Stenhouse, author of Tell It All: My Life in Mormonism , testified to

9702-482: Was created with the Compromise of 1850 , and Fillmore , named after President Millard Fillmore , was designated the capital. The territory was given the name Utah after the Ute tribe of Native Americans. Salt Lake City replaced Fillmore as the territorial capital in 1856. By 1850, there were around 100 black people in the territory, the majority of whom were slaves. In Salt Lake County, 26 slaves were counted. In 1852,

9801-475: Was explored by the Spanish in 1540, led by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado while looking for the legendary Cíbola . A group led by two Catholic priests—sometimes called the Domínguez–Escalante expedition —left Santa Fe in 1776, hoping to find a route to the coast of California. The expedition traveled as far north as Utah Lake and encountered the native residents. The Spanish made further explorations in

#595404