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We have compiled some of the more interesting facts about the great state of Utah for your amusement

Paul Winchell, the ventriloquist, was not only the voice of the puppet, Jerry Mahoney, and Tigger, in the Winnie the Pooh films, he also invented the artificial heart. He donated the patent for it to the University of Utah.
The state features five (5) National parks - only Alaska and California have more. Great Basin, Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks are just as close to SLC as the southern Utah parks - less than 5 hours away.
In addition to the parks listed above, several others are within a day's drive, including: Mesa Verde, Great Basin, Glacier and Rocky Mountain.
Mailing an entire building has been illegal in the U.S. since 1916 when a man mailed a 40,000 ton brick house across Utah to avoid high freight rates.
Salt Lake City gets an average of 17 inches more snow annually than Fairbanks, Alaska.
Salt Lake City recently wrested back the title of the most Jello consumed (per capita) from Des Moines, Iowa. A green-Jello-with-carrots pin was one of the most sought-after during the pin trading mania of the Olympics.
Utah is the 13th largest state in the U.S. by area, the 16th leading state in surface area covered by water, and with over 2 million people, it ranks as the 34th most populous state.
At Four Corners, where the states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona all meet, it is possible to stand in all four states at the same time. It is the only place in the nation where one can perform this amazing feat.
The Utah State Bird is the California Seagull - even though we are 700 miles from the Pacific Ocean.
The State Tree is the Colorado Blue Spruce.
Utah was the second territory/state to grant women the right to vote, but the first to allow women to cast ballots (1870) - as our polls opened a few hours before Wyoming's.
A statue in the State Capitol honors Martha Hughes Cannon - the first female state senator in American history (1896).
Utah became a state in 1896 - the 45th state accepted into the Union. Oklahoma (1907), New Mexico & Arizona (both 1912), Alaska & Hawaii (both 1959) followed.
Because of a railroad causeway across the Great Salt Lake, the northern end is many times saltier than the southern end of the lake. The southern end has several large rivers that flow into it.
When you buy your Utah hamburger, the counter person may ask "Would you like fry sauce with that?" Fry sauce is a blend of mayonnaise and ketchup, and is unique to our state.
Annual precipitation varies from less than 5" in Utah's arid Great Salt Lake desert to more than 60 inches in the northern mountain ranges.
The beehive was a symbol of industry and cooperation to early Mormon pioneers, and it is still seen predominantly throughout the state. Tours of Brigham Young's Beehive House (so named because of the beehive shaped cupola on the roof) are free, and a favorite of many visitors to Salt Lake City.
Likewise, the honeybee is noted for its industry. The Book of Mormon used the word "deseret" for honeybee, so you will see that word on businesses all over Utah (including the local paper, The Deseret News.) In fact, before becoming a state - this area (and much of Nevada, Idaho, Arizona and part of California) was referred to as the Territory of Deseret.
It follows that our state motto is a single word: Industry.
Rainbow Bridge, reached by boat at Lake Powel, is nature's abstract sculpture. It is naturally carved of solid sandstone, and is the world's largest natural-rock span. It stands 309 feet high, and 278 feet wide.
The Great Salt Lake covers over 2,100 square miles (more than one million acres) with an average depth of only 13 feet. The deepest point is only 34 feet! The lake is about 70 miles long and 40 miles wide. Its salinity ranges from 9% to 28% - considerably higher than the 3% found in our planet's oceans.
The salt concentration of the lake varies as the lake level changes. As the level rises, the salt concentration drops, and as the lake level drops, the salinity rises. The present salinity of the lake is saltier in the northern part (north of a railroad causeway which crosses and essentially dams the lake). Because the southern part of the lake has a greater inflow of water from tributaries, it has a current salt concentration of 10 to 11%.
The shore of the Great Salt Lake is covered with what looks like sand, or maybe salt. In fact, it is most likely oolite - which is calcium carbonate that forms nearly round sand-sized balls around "organic" material excreted by the billions of brine shrimp.
Many visitors want to swim/float in the lake. Until they get there! It is really so shallow at its shoreline that one can walk for hundreds of yards before getting into knee-deep water. It is also often smelly, with a shore that swarms with harmless brine flies. But it is full of brine shrimp and it is an incredibly ecologically diverse wetland for migrating waterfowl and other animals.
A one foot rise in the lake covers approximately 900 more square miles with water.
The current lake (about 1/5th the size of Lake Ontario) is a remnant of a great Lake Bonneville - which tens of thousands of years ago, covered an area about the size of Lake Michigan.
Most rain that falls on the US, lands on one side of the "Continental Divide" or the other, and flows either to the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean. The Great Basin sits between the Rockies and the Sierras, and water here runs to low-points and evaporates. In this case, the largest body of water in the Great Basin is the Great Salt Lake.
Utah Lake by Provo is also very shallow, but fresh, and the water from there flows to the Great Salt Lake through the Jordan River. Obviously, the early Mormon pioneers named the river after the river in the Holy Land that flows from the fresh Sea of Galilee to the salty Dead Sea.
The average snowfall in the mountains near Salt Lake City is 400 inches. Because of the state's inland location, Utah's snow is unusually dry, earning it the reputation of having the world's greatest powder. Fourteen alpine ski resorts operate in Utah.
The greatest season snowfall was recorded in Alta in the winter of 83/84 when 808 inches of snow fell.
Many people who come to Salt Lake want to see "where the Mormons live". Really, they look no different than our visitors - so just try to pick them out! You'd think it would be easy as up to 60% of the state's population are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons). Hate to disappoint you, but they're hard to spot - despite the fact that they're everywhere!
The federal government owns 65% of the state's land.
Utah has the highest literacy rate in the United States.
Beaver is the birthplace of two famous individuals of the past: Philo T. Farnsworth, the inventor of television, and Butch Cassidy, the notorious western outlaw.
Utah has 11,000 miles of fishing streams, and 147,000 acres of fresh water lakes and reservoirs. The western part of the state may be arid desert, but east of Salt Lake City, the mountains are full of streams, lakes and alpine beauty.
Three quarters of the two million people who call Utah home, live in a 90-mile corridor between Logan and Provo - locally called the Wasatch Front, for the mountains that rise to the east.
You can't get lost very easily in Salt Lake City. Most cities in Utah and Southern Idaho are laid out around a "center". In Salt Lake, that's Temple Square (downtown). When you are at 350 South and 400 East - you are 3-1/2 blocks south of Temple Square and 4 blocks east of it. You're also at the world headquarters of MeetingsAmerica.
Brigham Young designed the city with streets wide enough for horse and wagon to make a "U-turn". Today, that foresight allows for most SLC streets to carry plenty of vehicular traffic.
Seven Salt Lake blocks make a mile. 7th or 700 South is one mile from Temple Square.
Main Street divides the city between east and west. South Temple divides the city between north and south. Have you got it? If you are at 400 South West Temple, is that the same as 400 West South Temple? (Answer below)
State Street (technically 100 East) is one of the broader streets and runs from the State Capitol at the north end of the valley (approximately 4th or 400 North) to Draper on the south end (about 150th or 15000 South).
Salt Lake City is the largest city to ever host a Winter Olympiad (the 2002 Winter Olympic Games).
Remember, the first number in an address is the building's place on a street. Just like your home at 457 Maple Street. 457 is your home on Maple Street. Therefore, 400 South West Temple, means you're 4 blocks south of Temple Square on West Temple Street. 400 West South Temple, means you're 4 blocks west of Temple Square on South Temple Street. They are clearly two different places. Don't give up - it makes sense after a while!
At 424 feet, the Wells Fargo Center (the one with the green neon halo at night) is the tallest building in SLC. It exceeds the height of the LDS Church office building by 4 feet. It also housed the Salt Lake Olympic Committee.
Downtown appears flat, but there is a one to two story drop on most blocks.
Gallivan Plaza is larger than Rockefeller Center in NYC. It was Budweiser's home during the Olympics, and the site of the only "trouble" - when a near riot broke out when revelers were sent home.
The Flower Patch owner wanted $1 million plus a suite, to give up his corner shop adjacent to Grand America.

To find out more, come and explore Utah!