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© 2004 Sallie Dean Shatz Introduction Essay for Utah 24/7 16 Cows, 66 Oxen By Lee Benson There is a place in the northern part of Utah, away from the cities, the salt flats, the reservations and the ski resorts, where two rail-roads once met and the present collided head-on with the past. They drove a golden spike into the ground at Promontory Point that tenth day of May, 1869, connecting East to West, the Golden Gate to the Empire State, and the territory of Utah to the nation. What had begun 22 years before as a refuge for a religion on the run-when 148 Mormon pioneers, 16 cows, and 66 oxen settled the barren, uninhabited valley of the Great Salt Lake, then still a part of Mexico-became, overnight, a station on the main line. Collisions between past and present have continued unabated ever since. As the photographs on these pages show, Utah is a place of contrast and change, of diversity and conformity. It's a difficult state to define: It is a desert famous for its snow with enough saltwater to cover Rhode Island, yet the closest ocean is 700 miles away. Utah's signature basketball team is the Jazz, while its signature musical group is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Butch Cassidy was born here and so was Marie Osmond. Its mountains contain both the largest open-pit copper mine on Earth and vast expanses of federally protected wilderness that can never be touched. All the while, the landscape is transformed. Cities grow while red rock canyons shrink. Developers in their SUVs replace farmers on their John Deeres. The slick rock around Moab, once cursed by cowboys because their horses couldn't get traction, is now toasted by mountain bikers because it gives perfect traction to their fat tires. Park City, once the world's richest silver mountain is now home to the world's richest skiers. Despite the ever-shifting landscape and continual tugs-of-war for control, the past resolutely keeps its grip. Nearly 70 percent of the state's population retains membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hearkening back, in one form or another, to those 148 pioneers, 16 cows, and 66 oxen. And the roots of temperance show. Utah remains dead last in the nation in per-capita alcohol consumption but first in the consumption of Jell-O. It has the highest birthrate in the country, the largest households, and the second-lowest death rate and poverty level. When the Olympic Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City and the vicinity in 2002, a one-for-all community spirit showed itself when more than 25,000 Utahns volunteered to help put on the games for no pay. The turnover rate in personnel during the three-week event was less than 4 percent. And what of the golden spike that in large measure got everything started? They dug it up and put it in a museum in California. The train hasn't run past Promontory Point in years. Native Utahn LEE BENSON has been a columnist at the Deseret Morning News for 25 years. A graduate of Brigham Young University, he lives with his family in Park City. Browse    View All    16 Cows, 66 Oxen    Hearth & Home    Hard at Work    Utah at Play    Reason to Believe    Our Town Photos: 140 Photographers: 34 Towns: 56

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