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Show SUNDAY, unday The Salt Lake Trib MARCH 31, 1996 PERSONALS Page J-4. 5 SECTION J ATTITUDE Page J-6 REMONTISLAND Looking out from near top of FremontIsland offers panoramic Great Salt Lake view. such as rabbits and larger mammals need brush and trees to survive. Finally, the istand has few springs or seeps offering fresh water. While Antelope Island has 40 sources of fresh water, Fremont hasonly one or two. And, near one of those seeps, Smith found the remains of the Wenner home. A foundation made of crumbling rocks wasall that remained, After more searching, he also discovered the couple's gravesite, A stone and cement monument, engraved plaque and small metal fence guard the site, Wenner, a Salt Lake City judge, was diagnosed with consumption in 1885. According to Morgan's account, doctors told him his life depended on an existence in open air and sunshine: Thus,after some inquiries, the judge elected to sell his home on South Temple and purchase muchof FremontIsland from the Union Pacific Railroad. Soon, he would sail his young wife Kate, 4-year-old son, 2-year-old daughter and a hired girl to the desolate island where they wouldlive until his death on Sept. 19, 1891 Kate Wenner's memoir, A Great Adventure on Great Salt Lake, offers insights about life on the lonelyisland. “Onaccountofthesalt air, we were not success- ful with trees nor garden,” she wrote. “Our fuel was dead sagebrush and greasewood and the com- bination was fine. Nothing better than a broiled Photos by Tom Wharton/The Salt Lake Tribune Biologists Kris Zuby, left, and Barb Smith enjoy a sunset on sparse, uninhabited FremontIsland, with Carrington Island in the background. Desolation Surrounds Salt Lake Isle’s Lore By Tom Wharton ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE FREMONT ISLAND — Onlonely nights when shroud of mystery. Mostly, though, Smith wanted to see what his neighboring island was like. How did it differ from Antelope Island? Wasit as barren as most visitors claimed? Whatlived there? What would the views be like? Thus, after gaining permission to spenda night on the island privately owned by a Utah family, Smith led a party of nine to Fremont Island's wind whipped the Great Salt Lake into a froth, southeast shore on a clear and warm, early-March Tim Smith often stared across the inland sea di lay. north toward FremontIsland, Traveling by boat across thea blue waters aoArd.be ws -sof,the Great Salt Lake fri Anialane “On hot sui 24seereen ‘prineflies cleared marina, the party eectDespite the safethe lake of algae and waves of heat rolled off the ty afforded by radios zat cell phones, being oolite sand of white beaches, the managerof Anstranded on a barrenislandfelt ikean adventure. telope Island State Park found himself looking Few humansvisit this place. Fewer knowits histonorth seven miles at the top point of Fremont Ty. Island. Thelarge boat pulled to within 30 feet of the And he became morecurious. shoreline. State park ranger Craig Hall dared not When heleft Antelope for a short vacation last movecloser. Putting on waders, the small party of summer, a cheat grass-fueled fire raced across 2,945-acre FremontIsland. Thefire, left to burn, turned the northern sky crimson and gold andleft water and began hauling gear to shore. Words written in 1843 by Fremontas he approachedthe island came to mind.‘Wefelt plea- and yet distant, a place filled with a fascinating sure in remembering that we were the first who, in the traditionary annalsof the country, had vis- though brief humanhistory. He wanted to see the cross that mountain man Kit Carson carved into a lichen-encrusted rock near the top ofthe island's 4,995-foot high point in 1843 while waiting for explorer John C. Fremontto finish surveying the Great Salt Lake. He dreamedof finding the graves of judge U.J Wennerandhis wife, Kate, who lived onthe is- Fremont, excited about the prospects of being ly bear his name, called it DisappointmentIsland becausesolittle life existed there. Whyis it so devoid of life? Division of Wildlife Resources biologist Don Paul, who studies the islands of the Great Salt Lake, offered several theories. First, the island has been usedintermittently by humanssince pioneer times. Because of the human habitation, the birds stay away..Colonial nesting. birds such as pelicans and gulls prefer places devoid of humans and predators. Second, becauseof heavy grazing, there are few trees andlittle cover ontheisland. Wild creatures dering about neighbors’ affairs, worrying about my children’s companions. We learned to know ourselves, enjoy ourselves, children and books.” Whenthe judge died, Kate and her three chil- dren werealoneon theisland (a new son, Lincoln, had been bornin Illinois when Kateleft the island for a short time). Morgan offeredthis story: “Kate had only the hired girl to help her, and the girl had such a horror of death that nothing could induce her to enter the room. Kate washed and dressed her husband's body, went outside and got a board, laid it on chairs beside the bed and contrived to move her husband's body to the @ See FREMONT,Page J-3 ited the islands, and broken, with the cheerful sound of human voices, the long solitude of the place,” the explorer wrote. The group quickly set up camp andpreparedto hikeeast. Sincetheislandis only 5 miles long and 2 miles wide, this would be a short hike. Armed with an old map, a copy of Dale Morgan's classic book The Great Salt Lake, a copy of Fremont’s land from 1886 until 1891 He wonderedif he might come upon rare and ancient stone bowls like the ones archaeologists discovered on Fremont, artifacts only found in one other place in Utah and usually associated with Eskimo cultures. And the Antelope Island manager soughtto explore the barren island and beaches walked by Jean Baptiste, a Salt Lake City gravedigger who journal, an archaeological study and the personal crime of robbing graves, only to disappear in a bones. Another found the skin of a snake. But, in was banished to FremontIsland in 1862 for the even called it Death Island. thefirst to explore theisland that would eventual- explorers slipped into the cold thigh-deep salt the few Fremont life forms struggling to survive. To Smith, the neighboring island seemedclose many ways, this wasa lifeless island. One visitor lamb chopover the greasewood, which is a hard, glowing, clean coal. There was so much to do, so muchto think about in this new life away from the world, the only family on the island. I began to feel much of mylife would have been wastedliving in the outside world imitating fashions, won- story of Kate Wenner, Smith wanted to find the remains of the Wenners’ homeand the couple's Bird expert Ella Sorensen and biologists Kris Zuby and Barb Smith studied the island for signs of life. Except for the sound of an occasional meadowor hornedlark or the distant honking of Canada geese, there were fewsigns of life. One explorer found a cove full of bleached sheep WITH A WHISPER Horse People Are Putting Faith in Gentle Training “Dancing and riding, it’s the same damn thing,” he wouid say. “It’s about trust and consent. You've gotten hold of one another. The man’s lead- ing but he’s not dragging her, he’s offering a feel and shefeels it and goes with him. You're in harmony and moving to each other’s rhythm, just fol- lowing thefeel.” From The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans By Angela Soper ponytail and his face shadowed by a large cowboy me Quietly, the man stepped forward and raised he rope to guide the horse's direction as he galage around the pen. First left, then right. If, when the stallion turned, he put his head toward the man, he was always allowed to continue the change in direction. Butif he turned his rear end to the man — the horse’s defensive instinct — the rope was shaken quicklyor slapped against the man’s leg to direct the horsetostop. As the odd tango between man and horse continued, the stallion slowly realized all was well if he faced the man. Unlike a few minutes earlier when the horsebolted in terror if the man got too close, the colt was now eager to walk up to this stranger and allow him to scratch his forehead. Within 15 The young stallion’s burnished copper coat glistened in the morning sun as he galloped around the small circular enclosure. his eyes wide and his nos- minutes, the stallion stood quietly, his body gradually relaxing and his large dark eyes soft with trust. The image wasa far cry from the romantic stories of “bronco busting” in the old West, when cowboys rode a bucking horse until the steed gave up the enclosure stood a man holding a coiled length of the man. SPECIAL TO THE TRIBUNE trils flared crimsonwith alarm. In the center of the rope ‘The manwastall, his dark hair pulled back in a fight and bentto the will — and spurs and whip — of @ See HORSES,Page J-2 Michael B. Soper Park City trainer Kim Cutler works with a young mare, teaching hertrust and acceptance. |