he set up the first overseas banks. he wanted bankers that could think in french and german to deal with the situation over there. thank you very much for coming and spending your lunch hour with me. i appreciate it. i will be over here if you have any questions. >> you're watching american history tv all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. to join the conversation like us on facebook.

♪ >> welcome to salt lake city on american history tv. founded by big yum young. salt lake city would become the capital of the utah. known as the city of saints salt lake city is known to the mormon tabernacle choir. with a help of our comcast cable partners we learn about the

area's history. we begin about our special feature salt lake city with a tour of the capitol building. ♪ >> welcome to the utah state capitol. the capitol building in opened in 1916. it is located on capitol hill just downtown of salt lake city. the pioneers arrived in 1947. at that point this area was not part of the united states. it was still mexican terror territory. a lot of the mexican land was

being seceded. the first territorial governor had plans for a larger state that he wanted to petition the u.s. government for. he chose a part of the map that would be his center and he named it fillmore after president fillmore. no home, not much of an infrastructure. after just two legislative sessions in the partially completed capitol, they decided to move the capitol to salt lake city and start over again. it became 50 years for utah to become a state. they had 72 constitutional conventions asking the federal government to grant them statehood. various governors tried to

propose different taxes to help raise the money for the funding for the capitol and it got turned down every time. it u.s. wasn't until a wealthy man passed away that they able to start the project. he was the president of the union pacific railroad. he had part of the union pacific railroad was incorporated under utah state law. when he passed away in 1909 his wife inharted all of his estates. she had to pay a 5% tax on the railroad stock and that amounted to almost $1,800. that because lot of money at that time. that allowed them to start building the capitol building in 1912 and it cost $2.5 million. the outside of the state capitol

is similar to other capitols and the u.s. capitol but not intentionally. there was an ash tech couple vocabulary that most architects were using. a lot of columns, a lot of greek and roman reserves. the dome of the utah state capitol shortly after the capitol was nicknamed after walter. this is a unique space as far as state capitols go. most rotundas are closed that pass off in all directions but this is open from end to end. you can see clear across the building. that lends itself to an open feeling, which is also amplified by the sky lights letting in natural light.

the dome has one of the few frescoes in the capitol building. it has sea gulls and clouds painted on it. it was painted by a utah artist and he painted it from hanging scaffolding that was hanging from ropes and chains. the sea gulls are the state bird of utah. when you walk into the rotunda you're struck by the artwork that surrounds you. they represent a mix of different utah history. the four triangular paintings and the band around the rotunda were installed in 1934. they always intended to have artwork in these spaces but it wasn't until the depression era public works of art program that we were able to get funding to have artists complete the spaces. before the paintings depicted some of the four early

explorations into the utah territory. the first europeans was father doedominguez. they were trying to find an overland route from santa fe to monterey, california. this painting depicts them at utah lake in 1776. peter ogden was a rough and tumble fur trapper. he was sent by the hudson bay company to create what they wanted to call a fur desert. they wanted to eliminate all of the fur trade in a certain area of the west to prevent americans from traveling into the british base. he had a pretty nasty reputation but he was one of the primary explorers of utah and we have the city ogden named after him. americans were traveling through

the west and settling in different areas, and that included captain john fremont. he was part of u.s. corps of geological engine nears engineers. he was the first one to call the valley the great basin. he was the first one to realize all of them flow into one basin and stay there. people across the u.s. was captivated by his writing. the fourth and final painting depicts bring yum young entering into the salt lake valley. the painting southbound traffic true to reality. it is pictured standing up and strong saying this is the right place, drive on.

he was quite sick at the time. he had rocky mountain fever and he was in the back of his wagon in his sick bed. he was significant to utah history and that is why we have him in a strong stance. these were also painted on canvas actually by two u.s. artists who were living in paris, france. they painted them in france and had them shipped to utah for their final ins la installation in 1917. on the left side, it shows the pioneers entering the valley. you can see the wagons entering in from the mountain pass. on the east end, shows the valley about one year later maybe a little bit less once they started to build homes they have had been growing crops and they used irrigation to make the valley look greener than it

originally was when they arrived. we are now standing in the house of representatives for the state of utah. utah has 75 representatives and the representatives and senate are part-time legislature. they meet for 45 days of the year. sessions starts on the fourth week of january and go to the middle of march. after the main session when they vote on all the bill, they meet for interim sessions, once a month to talk about any unfished business or prepare for the next session. above the chair is latin, which means voice of the people. the house members have small districts. they serve about 37,000 people and as a resulted they consider themselves to be in touch with their constituent and to literally be the voice of the people. one of my favorite paintings in this room is new of as of the restoration project.

it was painted by a local art named david coke. it depict as member of bring yum young's family casting a ballot. most women in the u.s. did not have a right to vote until 1920 but utah territory granted women the right to vote as early as 1870. utah had an interesting struggle with women's suffrage. the federal government took away utah women's right to vote in the 1880's. when utah became a state in 1896 thanks to three women who pushed for women's suffrage utah wrote many their constitution that women could vote and run for office. they had one of the first female state senators in the country. in 1888, alice horn was also

serving in the house of representatives. she was the second woman to be voted into the state house. she passed landmark legislation for utah. she sponsored a bill that founded the first states art bill in the entire country. much of the artwork is here thanks to the leadership of alice horn. the fourth floor of the capitol servings as an art gallery and artwork that are curated by the division of art and museum. this bust depicts the first jewish governor in the state of utah. he worked in a number of different fields before he became governor. one of the projects that he accomplished was building a rail lyle from salt lake city to ogden. he also built an amusement park halfway between the two cities to attract writersship. he was a well-known throe land throe pivot.

to encourage them to ride the railroad for free and have something fun to do in the summertime. a lot of his policies reflected the progressive movement that was sweeping the u.s. jenkins was a famous race car driver who broke records on the south flats. he raced three different cars each called the called the mormon meteor. there was a rumor while other drivers drank coffee and soda before the races, he would have a glass of milk. he is shown holding a television tube in his hands because he was one of the first inventors of the television. we have a little bit of a rivalry with idaho as well because although he was born in utah, he grew up and did most of his work in idaho. they like to claim him but we like