Show CHAPTER VI EARLY EXPLORATION POUR MEN IN EULLBOATS CIRCUMNAVIGATE THE LAKE Path the discovery and early exploration of Great Salt Lake were closely related to the activities of Rocky Mountain fur trappers In 1824 William Henry Ashley’s men had pioneer- trail across the country via South Pass and had reached the shores of the lake several groups arriving at different points on the lake at about the same time as shown ed a new trappers soon explored all possible beaver streams along the whole Wasatch front from the Mai ad and Bear on the north to Utah Lake and its tributaries on the south In their search for the valuable pelts these men covered the whole northeast east and southeast shores of the lake before the end of 1825 It was under their direction that the earliest lake exploration was conducted Earlier historians have tended to center the Ashley activities More complete around Utah Lake rather than Great Salt Lake and accurate study however tends to place the Great Salt These hardy above Lake in a more important position Even Ashley’s post so long considered to have been built on Utah Lake is now considered to have been somewhere on the shores of the Great Salt Lake probably on the Weber near the present site of Ogden |