Show 254 and south shores Several relatively large steamers were launches on its waters and serious attempts were made to capitalize on commercial shipping Decrease in lake depth was a major factor in the ultimate failure of such projects er During the cycle of the 1930’s the lake had receded so far that miles of bare land existed between the water line low-wat- points where boats had formerly docked Access to Fremont Island presents an excellent example of this change in lake navigation During the early 1940’s Charles Stoddard regularly drove sheep to and from Fremont Island on a dry sandbar In 1871 a 300 ton steamboat "City of Corinne" had made reguand lar lake trips traversing this same route Although the Great Salt Lake was an obstacle to early railroad building eventually became a highway affording it an excellent means of avoiding the steep grades and sharp curves necessitated by crossing the Promontory mountains north of the lake By the 1890 ’s the track between Corinne to the north had become a major "bottleneck" on the whole transcontinental line The climb of over 600 feet to Promontory summit required three engines and restricted the load that could be pulled Yhen the old line reached its capacity of 600000 tons a year railway and Luc in around the lake officials began casting about 17 Charles Stoddard for a means of overcoming "Facts about Fremont Island" this 5 |