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Mormon Corridor:

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The Mormon corridor, highlighted in red

The Mormon Corridor is a term for the areas of the Western North America that were settled between 1850 and approximately 1865 by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Beginning in Utah, the corridor extends northward through western Wyoming and eastern Idaho to Yellowstone National Park and reaches south through San Bernardino, California and Mesa, Arizona. Settlements in Utah south of the Wasatch Front stretched from St. George in the southwest to Nephi in the northeast and including the Sevier River valley, the corridor is roughly congruent with the area between present-day Interstate 15 and U.S. Route 89. Most of the population of the state that is not along the Wasatch Front or in Utah's Cache Valley resides in this corridor. Outside the Western United States, more isolated Mormon settlements were also founded in Western Canada and Mexico.

The larger chain of Mormon settlements, ranging from Canada to Mexico, were initially established as agricultural centers or to gain access to metals and other materials needed by the expanding Mormon population. The communities also served as waystations for migration and trade centered on Salt Lake City during the mid- to late 19th century. Several of these colonies could also have provided support for a second migration of the Latter-day Saints which might have become necessary due to pressure by the U.S. government, starting with the Utah War. Some settlements were associated with existing or prior towns, and many were abandoned once the threat of persecution decreased after the 1890 Manifesto, and the transportation system in the Western United States matured. The transcontinental railroad was especially significant in reinforcing or altering settlement patterns.