Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
1854 - Salt Lake City

Salt Lake City, capital of Salt Lake co., Utah Territory, is situated near the E. bank of the Jordan river, which connects Great Salt Lake with Utah Lake.about 22 miles S.E. from the Great Salt lake, and 4200 feet above the level of the sea. It was laid out in July, 1847, by a company of 143 Mormons. The city contains 260 blocks of 10 acres each, separated by streets which are 128 feet wide. There are 8 houses in each block, so arranged that no two houses front each other. The houses are built of adobes or sun-dried bricks. The 4 public squares of the city are to be adorned with trees from the four quarters of the globe, and supplied with fountains. On one of these a magnificent temple is now being erected ; and a gorgeous banner, constructed of the flags of all nations, is ere long to be unfurled from "Ensign Mount," which overlooks the new city of the "Saints." Salt Lake city contains a handsome theatre, which cost above $20,000.

The climate of the valley in which the city stands is very salubrious, and the soil where it can be irrigated is extremely fertile. Wheat is said to produce, under favorable circumstances, a hundred fold. The mountains which enclose the valley on the eastern side arc covered with perpetual snow. Their summits are said to be about 10,000 feet (nearly 2 miles) above the level of the sea. Population, in 1853, estimated at 10,000.

A New and Complete Gazetteer of the United States: Giving a Full and Comprehensive Review of the Present Condition, Industry, and Resources of the American Confederacy ... Thomas Baldwin (of Philadelphia.) Joseph Thomas January 1, 1854 Philadelphia : Lippincott, Grambo & Company 1854.

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