Browse Items (31 total)

You know those world-famous Green River melons? Well, they need lots of water to build that juicy goodness. Learn how one farm along the Green River solved the problem of getting water to its fields. The town of Green River, Utah, is known for its…

People living in Utah have been managing water to support agriculture for over a thousand years. Using tools and techniques perfected by their ancestors, these ancient farmers manipulated water and adapted to their dry environment in order to…

The evil queen gave Snow White a poisonous apple that sent her into a magical deep sleep, but in Tooele County, a mining company used run-off water polluted with heavy metals to grow their toxic orchards. In 1933, a Tooele mining company called the…

From ancient times to today, the harvest and preparation of food has been tough work, especially in the arid deserts of the Great Basin. Learn how Paiute families did that work together in order to feed and foster their communities.Throughout Utah,…

Irrigation was essential to early Mormons’ ability to survive in Utah. Learn how they labored physically, intellectually, and communally to make the desert bloom.Looking back at the Mormons of the late nineteenth century, one historian joked that,…

On September 10, 1911, twelve Jewish families arrived in Gunnison, Utah, to establish a Jewish agricultural community.  The group was part of the “Back to Soil” movement, which believed Jews needed to leave the city and live on farms. The…

Ghost Towns of the old west are generally relics of the mining industry, but Old La Sal in San Juan County is a now-deserted cow town.Situated in the northeast corner of San Juan County at the foot of the La Sal Mountains, old La Sal was once a…

Adequate water for crops proved to be a challenge for settlers throughout Utah. Those in Box Elder County established a strong dry-farming practice, due to inadequate water supply.When the Mormon settlers arrived in Utah, they immediately planted…

Salt Lake City’s bee inspector is an official position that reminds us of Salt Lake County’s very real agricultural past.Few people these days know that Salt Lake County has a bee inspector. Hiring someone to watch bees in Utah’s most urban…

Keetley Farm was an agricultural settlement for Japanese Americans during World War II.Many Utahns know the story of the internment camps built to imprison Japanese Americans during World War Two. Utah was even home to one such camp at Topaz in…

A bird once considered to be helpful pest control, the invasive English Sparrow made it on a legislative “hit list” in the 1800s.Most Utahns have heard the tale of how in 1848 a flock of California gulls swooped down and gorged themselves on a…