Show 51 through such a narrow gorge must have been a noteworthy sight From the Provo level the lake has diminished to its present size because the rate of evaporation has greatly exThe present Great Salt ceeded the amount of precipitation Lake is estimated to be about 25000 years old Ironical as it may seem Lake Bonneville was named in although he spent three years exploring in the west evidently never entered the present boundaries of Utah or came within many miles of the Great Salt Lake Certainly he never saw that body of water which he vowed he honor of a man who explore2® Needless to say he had nothing to do with the scientific study of Lake Bonneville Captain B L E Bonneville evidently did not seek the honor of having the Great Salt Lake given his name It was rather the work of 7ashington Irving who using Bonneville’s journal as a guide would glorified that captain in The Rocky Mountains and attached his name to the Great Salt Lake21 Bonneville himself when questioned in later years about the name of the lake replied of Bonneville as told in study of the journey one to this conclusion Irving s Rocky Mountains leads 21 This work published in 1837 was later reprinted under the title "The Adventures of Captain Bonneville” which contains the same material and is the one most commo20 A nly found in libraries |