Salt Lake County, Utah Utah Territory after traveling what settlers later called Emigration Canyon. Brigham Young, their leader, declared "This is the place" after seeing the valley. Compared to eastern regions, it seemed arid and unpromising to some of the migrants. Settlers used extensive irrigation to develop agriculture and the flourishing, self-sufficient city, known then as Great Salt Lake City. Thousands of Mormons joined them in the next several decades. The county was officially organized on January 31, 1850, with slightly more than 11,000 residents recorded. Mormon settlements were scattered across the valley and beyond. They relocated the territorial capital to Great Salt Lake
John Sharp (Mormon) the Mormons' opposition to the law". Sharp died in Salt Lake City of intestinal cancer. His son James Sharp was the mayor of Salt Lake City and succeeded in his position as director of Union Pacific Railroad. Sharp is also the great-great-grandfather of writer Anne Fadiman. John Sharp (Mormon) John Sharp (9 November 1820 – 23 December 1891) was a 19th-century leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Utah Territory. Sharp was the LDS Church's representative in negotiations regarding the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad through Utah Territory. He represented the LDS Church