The Old West in Utah

Utah is the Cross Roads of the American West - Explorers, Trappers, Outlaws, Pioneers, the Railroad, Cowboys and Indians - all found their way into Utah's amazing story. As far as the Old West goes, Utah is the real deal. The connection Utah has with the Old West still lives on in the lives of many Utahns. Being a part of Utah's heritage, the cowboy culture thrives in the lives of those living and working on one of the State's many ranches and farms. The romance of life under the stars in a spectacular setting of mountains, mesas, and colorful buttes and spires were made famous by the many John Wayne movies filmed in Utah in the iconic Monument Valley.

Under the jurisdiction of the Navajo Nation, there's nothing quite like a Navajo-guided tour into the heart of the valley. The echoes of famous, romanticized outlaws like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and their Wild Bunch Gang and their namesake canyon hideouts, such as Robbers Roost, are Utah history.

Utah's connection with the ancient Anasazi and Fremont Indians, and the Indian tribes of historic times, such as the Paiute, the Northern Shoshone, the Goshute, Utah Ute Indians, and the Navajo, is broadcast through the ages in the form of petroglyph and pictograph panels etched or painted into sandstone, ancient ruins of kivas, granaries, and cliff dwellings, as well as through the lives of modern day Native Americans living on Indian reservations and in Utah's towns and cities. This connection Utah has with the old west is an important part of the state's spirit today, as well as an important part of what makes Utah UTAH!

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