Show CHAPTER XEX SALT PRODUCTION AND OTHER GREAT SALT LAKE INDUSTRIES production of salt is by far the most important Utah industry directly dependent on the Great Salt Lake for its existence Since the earliest white men came to the lake mention has been made of the presence of salt samples The have been collected and general use made of the product Jedediah Smith found and gave samples to William Henry Ashley in 1825 Says Ashley’s journal: it At one place particularly hundreds of bushels might have been collected from the surface of the earth within a small space He Jedediah Smith gave me some specimens which equal in appearance and quality the best Liverpool salt This entry follows immediately Ashley’s account of Smith’s visit to the Great Salt Lake in 1825 James Bridger had noticed the salinity of the lake when he discovered it in 1824 rather early mention of salt samples from the lake was made in Niles Register for December 9 1826 In speaking of the Great Salt Lake the article states:2 The water of this lake is much saltier than that of Another 1 H C Dale 2 Quoted from Coming of the Ashley-Smi- th W Mormons" J Snow 111 Explorations 158 "The Great Basin Before the |