Salt Lake City, the State Capital, is located in
Salt Lake County and is the county seat. It lies between
Provo and
Ogden on I-80, at the base of the Wasatch Range about 15 miles east of the
Great Salt Lake.
Jim Bridger arrived in thee area in 1824 and discovered the Great Salt Lake. A group of Mormons from Illinois arrived in 1847, under the leadership of Brigham Young. The streets were laid out by the pioneers in 1848 and almost all run exactly north-south or east-west. Salt Lake City soon became a thriving community.
Today Salt Lake City, population 181,743, is Utah's largest city. It is the industrial, financial, commercial and religious center of the state. Salt Lake City is the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also known as the Mormons. Among many points of interest are the Brigham Young Monument, the Temple, and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Madeleine.
Salt Lake City is part of the Salt Lake City-Ogden, Utah metro area.
