Show 2 Various geological expeditions and surveys have tributed to the vast amount of knowledge now available ment con- concerning ancient Lake Bonneville predecessor of Great Salt Because this phase of the lake has been thoroughly Lake treated the present study concentrates on the strictly "his- torical” period of activity about the lake since the coming of the white man to its shores in 1824 Only those explorations and activities (and parts of them) of which the lake was a major factor are considered Since the Indians evidently did little or nothing to explore or develop the lake no special attention is given them Likewise the "Mormon question" to which hundreds of volumes have been devoted receives no special consideration in this study their activities development Only in so directly related to the lake are the Mormons considered at all were far as and its In spite of the importance of the Great Salt Lake in the development of the West most early journals contain relatively little information about it Trappers and explorers were men of deeds not of writing Even the Mormons settled its shores meticulous record keepers that they we re (and are) had little to say about the lake in their journals and publications On the other hand John who Fremont on Stansbury and other government explorers left voluminous accounts chiefly concerning the physical characteristics of it It has been a chief task of the Howard C |