33 MORE Fun Facts about Utah

We had so much positive feedback on our 33 Fun Facts about Utah, that we compiled 33 more Fun Facts about Utah:

1. The Salt Lake Temple Square is the #1 tourist attraction in Utah.
2. Rainbow Bridge, Nature’s abstract sculpture carved of solid sandstone, is the world’s largest natural-rock span. It stands 278 feet wide and 309 feet high.
3. Arches National Park in southeastern Utah contains over 2,000 natural rock arches.
4. Capitol Reef National Park protects The Waterpocket Fold a 100-mile long wrinkle in the earth’s crust known to geologists as a monocline. The Waterpocket Fold extends from Thousand Lakes Mountain to the Colorado River.
5. The city of Hurricane lies in line with traffic going to the National Parks and Lake Powell. Average daily traffic on Hurricane’s State Street is 7,397 visitors per day, or over 2.7 million visitors a year.
6. Utah covers 84,900 square miles of land and is ranked 11th largest state in the United States.
7. The federal government owns 65% of the state’s land.
8. The Great Salt Lake, which is about 75 miles long and 35 miles wide, covers more than a million acres.
9. Utah’s professional sports teams include the Utah Jazz of the NBA, the Salt Lake Buzz of Triple A baseball, the Utah Grizzlies Hockey club of the International Hockey League and Real Salt Lake.
10. The name Utah comes from the Native American Ute tribe and means people of the mountains.
11. Utah has 5 national parks: Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Bryce and Capitol Reef.
12. Utah has 7 national monuments: Cedar Breaks, Natural Bridges, Dinosaur, Rainbow Bridge, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Timpanogos Cave andHovenweep.

    

13. Utah has 2 national recreation areas: Flaming Gorge and Glen Canyon.
14. Utah has 6 national forests: Ashley, Dixie, Fishlake, Manti-LaSal, Uinta, and Wasatch-Cache.
15. Kanab is called “Park Central” because it is located only minutes away from a grand array of three (3) national parks, three (3) national monuments, one (1) national recreation area and two (2) state parks. Two (2) national forests and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wilderness areas also surround Kanab.
16. Kanab is known as Utah’s Little Hollywood because of the large number of motion pictures that are filmed in the area.
17. Another favorite movie location is the Bonneville Salt Flats.

    

18. The television series “Touched by an Angel” is filmed in Utah.
19. The Heber Valley Railroad’s magnificent steam engine and ten passenger railroad cars have been filmed in over 31 motion pictures over the past 20 years.
20. Utah is also host to the internationally known Sundance Film Festival. Held every January, Sundance is one of the largest independent film festivals in the United States.
21. There are 29 counties in Utah.
22. Cedar Hills is built upon an alluvial fan or bench, created thousands of years ago when it was a shoreline of Lake Bonneville.
23. Famous Utahns include Roseanne Barr, John Browning, Butch Cassidy, Jake Garn, Jewel, Donny Osmond, Marie Osmond, Steven Young, David Archuleta, Karl Malone, Robert Redford, Julianne and Derek Houghs, Orson Scott Card, and Mitt Romney
24. Gosiute, Paiute, Shoshone, and Ute Indian tribes lived in Utah.
25. The Great Salt Lake is 3 to 5 times saltier than the ocean. Fish free, the lake’s largest aquatic critters are brine shrimp.
26. Of the 50 states, Utah has the youngest population; one of the highest birth rates; the second lowest death rate; the healthiest population; the highest literacy rate; the highest percentage of high school graduates; and the highest number of people with a college education.
27. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has its head offices in Utah.
28. Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah all meet at four corners. This is the only place in the country where four states come together.
29. Utah is home to the largest open-pit mine in the world, Brigham Canyon (also called Kennecot Copper Mine)
30. Salt Lake City, UT, has more plastic surgeons per capita than any other city in the United States
31. During World War II Alta ski center became involved in the war effort when paratroopers from the 10th Mountain Regiment trained on its slopes.
32. Despite its appearance on most maps, Utah’s eastern boundary is NOT an exact straight line. Instead of running true north for from Four Corners to Wyoming, the Utah border skews west about one mile. (19th century survey errors remain between mileposts 81and 89, and 100 and 110.)
33. Utah granted women the right to vote in 1870, 50 years before the United States Congress ratified the Nineteenth Amendment.

What other fun facts do you know?