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Show SALT FLAT NEWS, JULY, 1971 4 i trzr -r. ' " : VS-- fe-L: SW CRATER 'CD" Cai JMC KELLER RANCH Z,St' ISLAND MTS. krSiimkm. !; bMkR-REED PASS BOXELDER COUNT Y ' T00ELE C0UNTY S-'h" 'Sytk iJ-('J'1 ' --A'- AWoqons abandoned .1 38 cM,fr FL0OTN8 ISLAND "V i j . I wfeV'' '.:.SALT FLATSi GREAT SALT LAKE DESERT '"Z UOW I .'' FLIGHT STRIP 1 desert MT5r. -Wendqver rangeVv ; '-4. DONNER-REED TRAIL 'r' US snA ! GREAT SALT LAKE DESERT SECTION U UA Scol. KNOLLS' Donner-Reed Troll ? !? If" 5 Dir rood present , , I I I I I 1 X Moonds where wagons were obandoned If 2 were excavated; 3 were passed by Map drawn by Roy D Tea f Michael J. Bulle"H In'formoiicn ond roucjfi atse'tches by J Derle Thorpe i Great Salt Desert (from page 5) summers for it will be remembered remem-bered that Edwin Bryant wrote that as he traveled across the flats, the mud "gradually became softer, and our mules sometimes sunk to their knees." Perhaps this southwesterly course was set to avoid extremely mucky areas to the north. In any event just as the road begins to turn to the northwest, it suddenly divides, one-half of it continuing on toward Wendover for a mile or so before swinging back and joining the other half. Perhaps here again exceptionally muddy conditions caused this diversion. Since most map makers have not personally investigated this terrain, the peculiar change of directions di-rections is not normally recorded; generally the road is depicted as streaking to the northwest as straight as an arrow for Pilot Peak. Interestingly enough, one of the first maps ever published concerning the Hastings Cutoff -T. H. Jefferson's Map of the Emigrant Road from Independence, In-dependence, Mo., to St. Francisco, Fran-cisco, California (New York, 1849) makes something of the same mistake as its successors and shows the road stretching due west (rather than northwest) from Hastings Pass in the Cedars. This would make the route run south of the present highway rather than north, a condition contrary to fact. Since Jefferson is generally accurate in depicting the route in other areas, one is en couraeed to conjecture that he was so preoccupied in getting across the desert that he neg lected to make careful observa tions. His map does at the same time illustrate a sudden shifting to the north just before it reaches Silver Island (called Fire Island by Jefferson) and then takes it west to the "Good water & Grass and the "Bonark Wells" that nestle beneath Pilot Peak (which Jefferson Jeffer-son forgets to depict altogether). The map accompanying West from Fort Bridger corrects some of Jefferson's errors - among the most important is that it shows Pilot Springs is not due west of Hastings Pass and at least starts the pioneers off in the right direc-tion direc-tion from the Cedar Mountains yet at the same time it creates some errors of its own, calling Floating Island, Crater Island and depicting the crossing of Silver Island farther south than was actually the case. And, of course, it does not show the great bend in the road toward Wendover. Dr. David E. Miller and his colleagues col-leagues first noticed this bend in 1956, but the weather was such that they could not pursue it. The following year, Dr. Gerard S. Cautero and the present writer managed to make the entire long drive by jeep but were unable to clock the actual distance of the bend because our mileage indicator indica-tor had broken. Nevertheless, from evidence obtained from these and other trips, Dr. Miller was able to produce a relatively authentic map of the area, although al-though still not giving enough prominence to the bend in question. ques-tion. The 1962 expedition in the Trackmasters and Spryte made it possible for our cartographer - J. Derle Thorpe, research engineer (Continued on page 7) Whale Earth Natural Foods 1026 SECOND AVE. SALT LAKE CITY ORGANIC FOODS STONE GROUND FLOURS GRAINS HERBS SEEDS SPICES DRIED FRUITS ORGANIC PRODUCE RAW JUICE AND SANDWICH COUNTER oiliest 224 SOUTH 0 EAST 41 E8StXSIOX COP 363-4963 8:00 A.M. - 8:00 P.M. MONDAY thru THURSDAY 8:00 A.M. - 6:00 P.M. FRIDAY & SATURDAY |