Utah
Uncovering the little-known history of southwest Utah’s only Chinatown
At first, Chris Merritt couldn’t believe his eyes.
It was the opening day of an archeological survey he organized near the ghost town of Silver Reef northeast of St. George. His goal was to find physical evidence of the Chinatown he believed was once there, and he didn’t have to look far.
“The ground was shimmering with material culture, what we call artifacts, from China,” the Utah Historic Preservation Office archaeologist said. “So I’m like, ‘OK, we’re in the right spot. We’re in the right location.’”
Over the next two days, Merritt’s survey team — which included local volunteers and representatives from the Bureau of Land Management and Chinese Railroad Workers Descendents Association — found more than 500 examples of Chinese artifacts. Piece by piece, these discoveries are helping to paint a picture of life in southern Utah’s only Chinatown.
Researchers already had some idea that Silver Reef — a silver mining boom town in the 1870s and 1880s — was home to a group of Chinese residents, he said, but this was the first study into what their lives may have looked like.
“They don’t show up in history books. They don’t show up in diaries. These artifacts are truly their testimony to their lives.”
Courtesy of Utah State Historic Preservation Office
He hypothesized that the town’s Chinese residents lived together in their own neighborhood. He honed in on the potential site by overlaying modern-day aerial images with historical town maps. The density of artifacts at the survey site not only proved his theory and pinpointed Chinatown’s location, but also blew past his expectations.
The Silver Reef Chinatown site is hardly remote, straddling BLM land just northeast of St. George near I-15 and popular hiking trails. So he expected that most of the pottery and other items would have been carried off at some point in the 140 years since the town’s heyday.
Instead, the team found the desert floor littered with fragments of fine porcelain cups and bowls, many hand-painted with delicate blue flowers and bamboo shoots. They also spotted pieces of giant rice vessels large enough to fit a person — something he hadn’t seen at other Chinatown sites near Utah’s Transcontinental Railroad — along with containers of imported soy sauce, pickled eggs and dried ginger.
That shows the town had shops catering to Chinese customers who wanted the comforts of home.
“You can almost start smelling the food in the back of these businesses and homes, smelling much like Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province.”
Those imported eggs and sauces would have had quite a journey, crossing the Pacific Ocean by boat before arriving in Silver Reef on a wagon because the town had no railroad line. It adds up to a community with an incredible global trade system that appears much more complex than many of the other boom-and-bust Chinatowns that popped up across the West at that time.
“When there’s people who want things, things will get there,” Merritt said. “The freight wagons were the Amazon delivery driver of the day.”
Courtesy of the Utah State Historic Preservation Office
The U.S. Census and other archives indicate that at least 250 Chinese immigrants lived there during the town’s peak, but Merritt said that’s likely an undercount. That’s partly because the residents formed a town within a town, pushed there by the racism they faced and by a desire for their own community.
The typical Chinatown resident, he said, would have been a young adult man with little money or education. Most would have worked service jobs, such as laundry or cooking, because the local mining union barred them based on their race. But some belonged to a higher socioeconomic class, too — Silver Reef’s Chinatown even had an herbal doctor.
LoAnne Barnes, a board member at the local Silver Reef Museum, said these discoveries bring the region’s diverse history to life — something all Utahns can benefit from.
“The more we can appreciate the history of the ethnic groups that make up this country, the stronger country we would be.”
The museum already features a display highlighting the town’s Chinese history, and she hopes some of the items will add to that.
Even with all of these recent findings, Merritt said, the survey is only scratching the surface of Silver Reef’s full history. He plans to continue exploring and cataloging the items found on the surface before potentially excavating and preparing items for public display.
Someday, he hopes to help put up interpretive signs near the site so visitors can learn more about the town’s Chinese residents while walking in their footsteps.
“That’s why these types of places are so significant. … They can transmit you back into that period, and you can almost hear that town booming and the mining sounds and the stamp mills and 15 different languages being spoken. And you start feeling a lot more connected to that place.”
SALT LAKE CITY — Lucas Horns points over a fence on Main Street toward an empty lot with a blue shipping container on it, tucked between downtown Salt Lake City’s tallest buildings.
That container, he explains, will serve as a makeshift bar on Thursdays and Fridays through the remainder of summer, set up next to a live music stage and a space that will be dedicated to various lawn games for people of all ages. The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art will provide some art as part of an outdoor sculpture and food and drink venue combination aimed to liven up an otherwise dead space.
“Our hope is just to add to the ecosystem,” said Horns, program director for the Blocks, a joint venture between Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County to develop arts and culture programs within the downtown area.
The Blocks is launching what it calls the “Art Garten” in the lot of the old Utah Pantages Theater, 144 S. Main, beginning this week. It’s a free event that blends a beer garden with live music, art and games for all ages.
A DJ will be spinning hits from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday, while live music from the steps of the Eccles Theater across the street will fill the air during the same hours on Friday. A rotating list of DJs and live bands will fill in the space during the same hours twice a week for the next few months.
The event will include a rotating food truck lineup, along with cornhole, giant chess and other lawn games for people of all ages. The Blocks didn’t want to compete with bars and restaurants, so the hours hit around happy hour, while also being friendly for people with families, Horns said.
“We were interested in adding something new to downtown,” he told KSL. “There aren’t a lot of spaces where families can go, and the parents can grab a beer and hang out while their kids play lawn games. That’s kind of a rarity in Utah, and especially downtown, so I think we’re filling an important niche.”
At the same time, it livens up a piece of Main Street that’s been lifeless for years.
The Utah Pantages Theater was demolished in 2022, amid a last-second effort to preserve the century-old building. Salt Lake leaders approved a $0 sale of the building to international real estate firm Hines and local developer Joel LaSalle in 2019, setting the stage for a proposed 31-story residential high-rise on Main Street.
However, the project stalled with the market. “Unprecedented market changes,” such as record inflation, emerged at approximately the same time as the theater was demolished, making it difficult to secure financing for the project off the ground, a spokesperson for Hines told KSL in 2024.
The situation hasn’t changed much since then, leaving Main Street with a vacant lot blocked off by a large wooden board for years. Some of the lessons from “Open Streets” and other downtown activation events helped piece together an event to use the space while it remains vacant.
“We’re excited just to be able to do a pop-up park like that in that location on Main Street, with programming unlike anything else we’ve done on Main Street,” said Dee Brewer, director of the Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance. “I’m really excited to see how the public responds.”
Hines cleared the space for the event, which will continue on Thursdays and Fridays through the end of September. Horns and Brewer say they expect the venue to return next year and potentially longer, depending on how long the tower project remains on pause.
It may not be the perfect solution to a development holdup, but they believe it’s an upgrade from the current situation.
“A blank, empty wall is never good for walkability or for the urban environment,” Horns said.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
SALT LAKE CITY — A law designed to prevent so-called “dumpster babies” is now 25 years old — and one of the individuals it was designed to save is now close to the same age.
Utah‘s Newborn Safe Haven law was designed to give pregnant moms a safe alternative where they could leave a baby they could not or would not be able to care for. The original sponsors of the bill say they don’t know how many children have been saved over the years, but one of them, Sam Peterson, was on hand to mark Monday’s special anniversary.
He said the law means everything to him.
“It is something that has given me my life! It’s my privilege to be a part of this law,” Sam said.
He stood next to his mother, Heather Peterson, who said she gets emotional talking about the law allowing her and her husband to adopt Sam.
“We feel like a miracle happened. We feel like you came to us in the most amazing way and you have an amazing story and we think it’s important that other people hear it,” she said.
Heather and Sam agreed that the Newborn Safe Haven allowed them to become a family.
It was a bill originally sponsored by former Utah Senator Patrice Arent a quarter century ago. Arent said she felt compelled to act after hearing too many stories about so-called “dumpster babies.”
“Babies that had been left to die in unsafe places like dumpsters or public toilets,” Arent explained, “Or even someone who left their baby in a drawer in their bedroom in Cottonwood Heights. I heard these stories and I just knew I had to try to find a way to provide a safe alternative.”
So Arent, a Democrat, worked with former Republican lawmaker John Valentine to sponsor and help pass Utah’s Newborn Safe Haven law.
Arent said it was a true bipartisan collaboration.
“It allows our birth parents to legally give up custody of an infant. It’s anonymous and it’s in a hospital. There will be no questions asked, and the baby then ends up in a safe, loving home,” she said.
Less than a year after the law went into effect, Sam’s birth mother left him at a Utah hospital. Heather said she and her husband adopted him three days later. Sam is now 24.
“We are living proof that Safe Haven works, because we didn’t know anything about his birth mom… It was like he just dropped out of heaven,” Heather said.
Sam said he is eternally grateful.
“It’s given me a family, it’s given me friends, it’s given me an opportunity to go to college. Day three, I was with my mom, and so she will always be my mother, and I will always cherish that,” he said.
Sam said he will be graduating next year from BYU with an engineering degree.
Utah
Utah football: Previewing the 2026 schedule with a look at Utah State, Iowa State – East Idaho News
SALT LAKE CITY (KSL.com) — It’s officially under 100 days until Utah football kicks off its 2026 season.
Last week, we highlighted the first two games of the schedule, Idaho and Arkansas, and now we’ll continue the schedule series with a look at the last nonconference game, Utah State, and the first game of conference play, Iowa State.
As a reminder, the early part of the schedule lays out nicely for Utah to gradually build upon before hitting the toughest part of its schedule (at least on paper). As mentioned last week, there are challenges early in the schedule and no guarantees; but if Utah really is a Big 12 title contender, then the early part of the schedule should be manageable.
The early sportsbooks have Utah leading the conference (with BYU) with 8.5 wins. And Utah’s next two opponents are projected at or near the bottom of their respective conferences, which bodes well for the potential to pick up two early wins.
Let’s continue our look into the schedule with Game 3 and 4: Utah State and Iowa State.
To see a more thorough breakdown of these games, click on the YouTube video below.
Utah State Aggies
Date: Thursday, Sept. 19 (1:30 p.m. MT, FOX)
Location: Rice-Eccles Stadium; Salt Lake City, UT
2025 record: 6-7 (4-4 MWC)
Final AP ranking: N/A
Last meeting: Sept. 14, 2024 (Utah win, 38-21)
Preseason win projection: 4.5 wins (Bovada)
The “Battle of the Brothers” hasn’t had as much animosity over the years as a certain other rival in the state. But that doesn’t mean either in-state rival will want to give up any ground early in the season.
Utah last played Utah State during its miserable 2024 season, where the Aggies served as just one of Utah’s five wins that season in a come-from-behind victory in Logan. The circumstances of this year’s squad should be better than what Utah encountered in 2024, but the game comes a week after what could be a physical test against Arkansas.
On paper, Utah is the better team, but Utah State head coach Bronco Mendenhall has prepped enough against the Utes over the years to provide some intrigue in Utah’s final nonconference game of the season. And if the week prior went poorly for Utah, the Aggies will be eager to pounce.
The Aggies have a fair amount of returners to build on from last season but lose several top contributors to make it a challenge — including leading receiver Braden Pagen and offensive coordinator Kevin McGiven to … Utah.
Mendenhall brought back a familiar face in Robert Anae to his coaching staff as the team’s offensive coordinator. The two have been together for more than 15 years over several stops, and that familiarity will certainly help provide some much-needed consistency.
But the Aggies will have to get it done without starting quarterback Bryson Barnes under center. As his replacement, Mendenhall brought back McCae Hillstead to Logan, where he was previously as a freshman before transferring to BYU.
Hillstead hasn’t seen much of the field since leaving Utah State, but will likely be tabbed as the team’s starter. In 2023, Hillstead threw for 1,062 yards, 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions on a 59.5% completion percentage for the Aggies. A lot has changed since then, and can Hillstead be the heir apparent to lift the Aggies to new heights under Mendenhall?
Hillstead benefits from three starting interior offensive lineman returning, but will have a fresh set of talent around him, including transfer receivers Javon Robinson (Georgia State), Rex Haynes (Arizona) and Eli Wood (Oklahoma State). Robinson has the most production and will likely be the focal point to Anae’s offense.
To pair the passing attack, senior running back Javen Jacobs returns to lead the charge after rushing for 429 yards and five touchdowns on 65 carries. He also had 379 receiving yards and three touchdowns last season to be an additional threat in Anae’s quick-passing attack.
On defense, the Aggies have at least one veteran player at each level returning, which should provide some consistency from last season; however, the defense was a bit of a liability at times and gave up too much. But could a rebound be in order?
An improved defense with a potent Anae offense could spell trouble if Utah isn’t ready. There’s still enough questions surrounding the makeup of the team to predict an improved season, but Mendenhall is known for getting the most of his teams, especially in rivalry games.
Iowa State Cyclones
Date: Saturday, Sept. 26 (TBA)
Location: Rice-Eccles Stadium; Salt Lake City, UT
2025 record: 8-4 (5-4 Big 12)
Final AP ranking: N/A
Last meeting: Nov. 23, 2024 (Iowa State win, 31-28)
Preseason win projection: 5.5 wins (Bovada)
Flip a coin and that will have better odds than trying to predict what this year’s Iowa State team will do. The Cyclones were completely gutted after head coach Matt Campbell left Ames, Iowa, after a decade to take the same job at Penn State.
As such, 55 players — including starting quarterback Rocco Becht — entered the portal following Campbell’s departure. Of those, 23 transferred to Penn State, 11 went to different Big Ten schools and three others went to different Power Four conferences.
No starting player at Iowa State last season is on this year’s roster — hence the prediction from many that Iowa State will finish last in the Big 12 this season.
Iowa State turned to up-and-coming talent Jimmy Rogers as its next head coach, pulling him away after just one season at Washington State. Rogers, though, has limited experience at the FBS level after serving as head coach at South Dakota State from 2023-24, where he was defensive coordinator previously since 2019.
Joining him from Washington State is defensive coordinator Jesse Bobbit, who helped the Cougars to the 15th best defense in FBS last season. At offensive coordinator, Rogers pulled Tyler Roehl away from the Detroit Lions after spending one season as the team’s tight ends coach.
Roehl previously spent one season at Iowa State as the team’s running back coach — his only FBS coaching experience — and has only been an offensive coordinator at North Dakota State from 2019-23.
So it’s a coaching staff in the infancy of their FBS tenure, which could provide new blood to the sport as up-and-coming talents or they could be in over their heads. It’s anyone’s guess at this venture — even with sustained success at the FCS level.
To compound the problems, Iowa State is turning over a roster that will have a new face at every position on both sides of the ball. Don’t expect an Indiana-like glow-up in Year 1 for Rogers.
Iowa State did well to recruit quality talent — including projected starting quarterback Jaylen Raynor (Arkansas State) and defensive end Isaac Terrell (Washington State) — but it’s a tall task to strike gold at every position in the first season.
Expect the defense to be further along than the offense early on, due mostly to the three defensive lineman who followed the coaching staff from Washington State. If Bobbit can create anything similar to the success he had last season, the defense may be good enough to keep Iowa State around long enough to do some damage.
But trying to project how it will all shake out for Iowa State is a fool’s errand.
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