51 Research Reflection by Theadora Soter

Faculty Mentor: Disa Gambera (English, University of Utah)

By examining the relationship of Utah’s Cretan communities with the Carbon County mines and railroad industries in the early twentieth century, my intentions are twofold. First, I hope to establish a connection to my own ancestors and community members who immigrated to the area during the time period. Carbon County mines and railroads used Southern European immigrants for the most dangerous, brutal, and cruel jobs that they had to offer. The working conditions were often quite inhumane and frequently forced young, Cretan immigrants to face untimely and tragic deaths. In exploring the impact that this industry had on my own family along with the other families that make up Salt Lake’s Greek community today, I hope to track the emotional, cultural, and communal effect that immigration had on these people to better understand the state’s unique relationship to immigration both in the past and present.