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Gentiles in Utah

Philip F. Notarianni

The term gentile is often used to describe individuals or groups, not of the Mormon faith, who immigrated to Utah. The main impetus for non Mormon settlement resulted from U.S. military activity and the growing economic diversity and industrialization that began in the mid-nineteenth century. Of particular importance were the railroad and mining industries.

With the 1849 California gold rush, Jewish merchants entered to help supply migrating prospectors. The U.S. Army sent soldiers into Utah territory to establish Camp Floyd in 1857. In 1862, Colossians Patrick Connor and the Third California Volunteers entered the Salt Lake Valley and established Fort Douglas.

In 1869, when the Transcontinental Railroad joined at Promontory, Utah, non Mormon merchants and former Union Army officers established the town of Corinne, which quickly became the early gentile capital of Utah. Corinne was founded on the Union Pacific Railroad line as a freight center to serve Montana mines and trails. The town fought Mormons politically and economically.

Colonel Connor's soldiers had prospected the mountains surrounding Salt Lake Valley. With rail transportation appearing in the 1860s, effective commercial mining for precious metals began in the 1870s. With the influx of non Mormon laborers, accompanying service industries arrived, as well as needed institutions such as social and fraternal organizations.

Irish railroad men, fresh from working on the transcontinental railroad, flocked to mining towns, as did Chinese. Based on prospecting done by Connor's men in the 1860s, mining towns near Salt Lake City sprang up, dotting not only Salt Lake, but Tooele, Summit, Juab, Utah, and Beaver counties. With camps and towns came more people.

Religious diversity accompanied ethnic diversity. Evangelical Protestants were among the first Gentiles to organize. Episcopalians began activity in 1867 under Daniel Sylvester Tuttle. Tuttle's philosophy was peaceful coexistence with Mormons. St. Mark's Cathedral began in 1870, and by 1880, Episcopalians had founded Rowland Hall School.

Revelation Edward Bayless brought Presbyterianism to Corinne in 1870, followed by churches in Salt Lake City, Alta, and Mount Pleasant. Many Scandinavian converts to Mormonism lived in Sanpete County, and Presbyterian ministers began work to return them to Protestantism. Schools again proved important, especially during the 1877-1884 period, when Wasatch Academy opened in Mount Pleasant. Presbyterian congregations were founded in Bingham Canyon (1875), American Fork (1876), Manti (1878), Ogden (1878), Brigham City (1878), Logan (1878), Springville (1880), and Payson (1883).