This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Each Friday, The Salt Lake Tribune presents historic images in a special series called A Look Back. This week's installment features a photo gallery of some of Utah's previous governors, including those of the Utah Territory before it became a state in 1896. The U.S. president appointed 15 territorial governors from 1850 until Utah became a state 1896.
Governor John W. Dawson's three-week term was the shortest, and Brigham Young's seven-year run as the first territorial governor was the period's longest. The state's longest serving governor was Calvin Rampton, who served three terms from 1965 to 1977. Olene Walker served the shortest term, the remaining 14 months of Mike Leavitt's term upon Leavitt's resignation to become head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
At age 36, Heber Manning Wells was the youngest person to become Utah's governor, and at the age of 70, Simon Bamberger became the oldest to be elected. Walker, at 72, was the oldest person to enter the office.
Every gallery of the series is available at http://www.sltrib.com/topics/lookback. Here is a sampling:
Women's fashion from 1949-50
Key moments in Utah Jazz history
Historical images of Sugar House
Past Sundance Film Festival parties
Utah firefighters at the turn of the 19th century
Historic bars and saloons in Utah
Early settlers in Idaho
The 1988 Yellowstone fire
Early Utah mansions and homesteads
Pony Express, postal service and telegraph in Utah
The mining ghost town of Mercur
Construction of the Salt Lake Tabernacle
Historic buildings in Utah
30 years of iconic rock and roll in Utah
Hunting and fishing in the early 1900s
BYU, Utah football programs
Saloons, brewing companies in Utah around 1900
Historic photos of Temple Square