Gradually the newly created territorial government was organized. Brigham Young took the oath of office as governor before Daniel H. Wells, Chief Justice of the State of Deseret, February 3, 1851. The first officers appointed from other states arrived in Utah on June 7, the last on August 17,1851.

The Provisional State of Deseret existed for slightly over two years as the de facto government in the Great Basin of North America, and held three formal legislative sessions. The last to meet after the official formation of the Territory of Utah produced a criminal code and the bulk of Deseret law. It is normal to ponder on the relative importance of the work accomplished by that government and the true significance of the resolution which dissolved Deseret as a government. Some comprehension of the value of having formed this provisional government can be drawn from subsequent action taken by the Utah Territorial Government.

The first legislature of the Territory of Utah convened September 22, 1851, and the laws of the State of Deseret were legalized. On the same day a second resolution was passed. A joint committee consisting of two members of the Council and three of the House of Representatives was instructed "to revise and classify the laws of the State of Deseret, which have been legalized by this Assembly, so as to apply to the Territorial organization of the Territory.... " The laws of Deseret were thus incorporated into Utah law, and constituted a firm foundation for general law in the territory.

The establishment of the Territory of Utah in 1850, the organization of its government, and the first session of the territorial government in 1851, were contemporary with the first permanent non-Indian settlement in Nevada at Genoa. In this Political History of Nevada, detailed consideration has been given the Provisional State of Deseret and the Territory of Utah because of the fact that much of the area which eventually became the State of Nevada was once part of Deseret and Utah Territory. The laws of Utah Territory, based on those of Deseret, were in effect throughout what is now Nevada, the southern-most portion excepted, and Carson County government was established in what is now western Nevada by the Territory of Utah. From Nevada's first permanent settlement in 1851, until the establishment of the Territory of Nevada 10 years later, most of our early history is that of the western part of Utah Territory.

A primary objective of the Utah authorities was to provide food for the rapidly increasing population. An effort was made to scout for favorable locations to colonize and occupy the territory with settlements; distances did not deter them. Beginning in 1855, the hardy and industrious Mormon people settled colonies on the eastern slope of the Carson Range in areas now a part of Nevada, and as far southwest as San Bernardino (later, California). The old fort at Las Vegas was established as a trading post. Settlements were established at Franktown in Washoe Valley and Callville on the Colorado River in what is now Clark County. In Carson Valley, on rich and well-watered soil, was founded a settlement called "Mormon Station." It was good land for farming, and also on a route to the mines of California. John and Enoch Reese, Mormon merchants and traders, erected the first permanent dwelling place in Nevada in the summer of 1851.

As the population of western Utah Territory increased, it became evident that some form of local government must be instituted. A meeting called November 12, 1851, organized a provisional government. This meeting was held at Mormon Station, renamed Genoa, in 1855. Either the people ignored the fact that they were subject to the laws of the Territory of Utah, or they considered those laws inadequate. Undoubtedly the geographical location of the various settlements in the "far west" of Utah Territory was a basic cause of unrest. Legally, Fillmore City was the seat of government for the new territory. However, early sessions of the legislature met at Great Salt Lake City because of uncompleted facilities at Fillmore, located in Pauvan Valley 150 miles to the south. Both of these cities were over 500 miles to the east and separated from Carson Valley by some of the most formidable terrain for travel on the continent. Provisions for locating the capital of the Territory of Utah were established by joint resolutions of the Utah Territorial Legislature.

These distances, coupled with lack of attention given the settlers in the western portion of Utah by the early territorial government, might have been offset by establishment of local government in the western valleys. Among other problems, the absence of some measure of county organization had led to lawlessness and confusion concerning property rights.

The State of Deseret had not attempted to organize its vast area into counties, particularly areas without permanent settlement. Though practical at the time, the policy became inadequate when new areas attracted settlement.

The original six counties of Deseret, and those created later, covered only a small part of the provisional state and were geographically defined as encompassing certain inhabited valley areas, none of which were located in, or extended into, what is now Nevada (see Map 4). This type of county organization was inherited and legalized by the Territory of Utah, which continued the practice by forming another such "valley" county in 1851.

The Millard County act, with its county seat at Fillmore City, was an indication of the high esteem in which President Millard Fillmore who signed the Organic Act and made possible the creation of Utah Territory, was held by the territorial legislature.

By early 1852 New Mexico and Utah territories established their original counties, these occupying the entire area of the territories (see Map 7). New Mexico counties extended east and west in much the same pattern as later developed in Utah. Some of these covered the southern portion of what is now Nevada. The New Mexico act establishing counties was based upon older Mexican divisions. The Utah act was an elaboration of the Provisional State of Deseret county divisions, expanded to encompass the entire area of the territory.

The New Mexico action on July 6,1852, at her bifurcated first session (1851-52), pre-dated the Utah establishment of "total area" counties by about two months. A few days later the New Mexico Territorial Legislature went into more detail and specifically delineated the boundaries of each of the nine original counties, possibly realizing that "heretofore established and known" was not sufficient. The act established the following counties by name: Taos, Rio Arriba, Santa Fé, San Miguel, Santa Ana, Bernalillo, Valencia, Socorro, and Dona Ana. These original nine counties of the Territory of New Mexico retained their boundaries and no new counties were established until 1860. The history of county changes by Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, in areas eventually to form and expand Nevada, is largely that of Utah county boundary changes and establishment of new counties, most significant of which was Carson County.

The Utah Territorial Act dividing that territory into counties was approved about two months after similar action taken by New Mexico, This was the first time the entire area of Utah had been divided into county government areas.

Such action by either the Provisional State of Deseret or the territorial legislature still would have been inadequate had it been taken prior to the 1851 settlements in the "far west," since the county seats of all of the counties where Nevada is now located were situated hundreds of miles to the east. A hypothetical example of such a problem lies in the possibility that, had not additional counties and territories been organized, to this very day residents of Carson City, even with the assistance of automobiles and aircraft, would have to travel over 500 miles to their county courthouse at Fillmore City, Utah.

Three of the original 12 "total area" counties of Utah were attached to adjoining counties for election, revenue, and judicial purposes. Apportionment of representation among the counties in the territorial legislature ranged from 12 representatives and five councilors for Great Salt Lake County to one representative and one councilor shared with another county by both Juab and Tooele counties.

The act of Congress establishing the Territory of Utah had provided for a two-house legislature consisting of 13 councilors and 26 representatives. Seven of the 12 counties organized in 1852 were the first Utah counties to encompass area which is now Nevada, thereby extending technical county jurisdiction into the valleys in the western part of the territory, including Carson, Eagle and Washoe Valleys. From north to south they were, Weber, Desert, Tooele, Juab, Millard, Iron, and Washington. Of these, all but Desert County exist, though much reduced in area, as counties in the present State of Utah (see Map 7).

In theory then, a form of local county government extended into what is now Nevada, including the valleys at the base of the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada and its adjoining Carson Range. Judges, whose terms were four years, were appointed by the Utah Legislature; one for Weber and Desert, one for Iron and Washington, and one each for the other three counties. Their availability in the "far west" of the territory for purposes of rendering any justice and providing a semblance of authority was another matter.

The objectives of the provisional government meeting held November 12, 1851, at Mormon Station were stated in their declaration of intentions to evolve a system by which they could so subdivide the valley as to secure to each settler his right to land taken up and improved; to frame a petition to Congress for a distinct territorial government; to create public offices; to adopt bylaws and regulations for the government of the community.

At the meeting, resolutions were adopted providing for the survey of land claims and for the employment of a surveyor, creating the offices of recorder and treasurer, limiting claims to quarter sections, and the like. The recorder- treasurer was made accountable to the committee, which had power of appointment and removal. This committee of seven was to be practically in charge of the government. A petition to Congress was read and approved. Another meeting convened November 19, 1851, at which the petition to Congress again was read. A committee was appointed to draft bylaws. Assembling again the next day, the settlers agreed on a means of law enforcement and a court system.