| Show va-- rAdiiIdkA I I LOCAL Sunday January Trtune The Salt Lake 4 A4 13 1992 For Many Utah's Bead Sea Is Truly a Great Salt Lake Al Continued from 13 says Ty Harrison an associate professor of botany at Westminster College "They're the end product of 15000 years of rapid evolution" Ella Sorensen a birder from West Valley City adds this about the lake she loves: "There are waves There is foam There is a cacophony of all the different sounds You hear avocets weep and calls from the terns The blackbirds sound like a strangled cat You've got the quacks of ducks Then the sky broadens out and you get a feeling of space People who call it a disgrace and say it stinks haven't really been there" 4 4 It f' : xtee it Aa 7 yellow- -headed 22000-yearol- I Tj pldvzesoa—4Emo Great Salt Lake's rise in d y "The strangest animals are those found in the gravels and shorelines of Lake Bonneville" says Mr DeCourten "You find exotic Ice Age creatures like mastodons saber-toottigers giant ground sloths musk oxens native North American horses now extinct and camels They were here just 20000 years ago" Evidence of Lake Bonneville can now be seen by looking closely at the benches of Great Basin valleys When the huge freshwater lake formed 70000 years ago it covered parts of Utah Idaho and Nevada Then about 14500 years ago a natural dam in Cache Valley collapsed That caused 35 million cubic feet of water per second to be released from Lake Bonneville into Idaho's Snake River Valley period During a four- - to the amount of water pouring into the world's seas nearly doubled of the boat and watched the awesome storm work its way across the lake "It scooped up water just like a tornado" Mr Charles recalls "It looked like the water was danc- ing" Says William Alder a meteorologist with the National Weather Service: "Microbursts and erratic winds anywhere from 40 to 60 miles per hour enough to cause 4-waves can come up and ot suddenly" The lake also can be blamed for fog in surrounding valleys And "lake effect" — the which occurs when cold air rolls across the lake vacuums up moisture and dumps it on the Wasatch Front — accounts for much of the area's snowfall "There are a lot of things the lake has up her sleeve which makes forecasting the lake effect kind of spooky" Mr Alder adds st Those who walk along a Great Salt Lake dike — at any of the eight wildlife refuges — touch history The nation's first public marsh the Public Shooting Grounds opened in 1923 on the north side of the lake The Bear lievable" boat was on its side water in Only the mast taking touching bottom on the shallow lake prevented the craft from tipping over completely Mr Charles The 21-fo- ot man-mad- e 08 1 Ds K 0 N sio - -- - 7 - Or-- t"'" '‘7 7 ' 01 - 4 t 0 --'1- - - 41 — 39 I I lwr F1TH i: t I 11 11 it ftt 1''' rtt T11111ctts 1 0 '1p-40- I 1 4 0 ' - — 1 E ': it)14 ms:yt416):::o: et v' - e e ' Li M $39 ea pc $29 ea pc $39 ea pc KING (1 FIRM CLASS1C-EXTR- TWIN ltd warranty $39 ea pc QUEEN $59 ea pc FULL $49 ea pc $59 ea pc r POSTURE t ' 411 — '- & 2 end table set "Iri 1175 a Ira:: i to 0 KING 1 9 ' F0 42 II 11 $69 ea pc KING $69 ea pc $59 ea pc QUEEN $14 ea pc $41 ea pc S84 ea pc POSTURE I I POSTURE 1 t4 PAL $94 ea pc it wk - 4- - 16 k 4 t 1$1roft - I-- i c it- -- r r 'we F i ell -- - - -- ar- stl 1 i 16 - 0)011:00 - -r J --- - 1 1 z - twocomo! 1 IA P 1 I pt m -- ' 1 r r 1 i 1 I i1 IragifireaNrstiu ea pc 4 - I $A KING r 6 t ‘-- $118 ea pc QUEEN I 1 4 i -- nt park where they were unloaded onto a 4000-foo- t pier The Moorish-lookinpavilion burned to the ground in 1925 but was rebuilt on the same spot Re treating waters left it high and dry in the 1930s After being closed more than a decade the building burned in 1970 probably the victim of an arsonist Wally Wright developed a new Saltair south of the original in the spring of 1983 A year later the fickle lake struck again This time flood waters destroyed the interior of the building months after it opened Mr Wright says his two sons were preparing a freshwater pond for tourists when a large wave from the lake swamped it "My sons had to run for their lives" Mr Wright recalls "At that point I knew we would be shut down" Pushed by record rain and snow the Great Salt Lake wiped out the Antelope Island causeway in 1983 The lake rose to a record level of 421185 feet on June 3 1986 and again on March 30 1987 (The record low of 4191 feet was set in 1963) In an attempt to control flooding in suburban areas engineers breeched the Southern Pacific Causeway The breech may have eliminated the color difference and salinity level of the two parts of the lake but it level didn't drop the south-sidenough Gov Norm Bangerter worried that the rising waters would wipe out freeways The Salt Lake City International Airport 300-foot-wi- 1 virVir6L-4- ci:(tikzielli 14 I rip i -t r 141 ) ' 04- i f t o" o ia P FIRM DLX warrany pc i 31: FIRM R ELEGANCE-SUPE- TWIN g - LUXURY-SUPE- 20t $74 ea 1 KING 15-y- r ltd warrarny $64 ea pc QUEEN $108 ea pc 139 ea pc $84 ea pc KING TWIN 1 4 171JE warranty TWIN - in FIRM A layr ltd FULL re - s QUEEN $59 ea pc 1 or-- 1 v If ( I $49 ea pc FULL FULL - t- TWIN IMPERIAL-EXTR- I ‘ l'Al A( FIRM Y ItVT31741 KfITY Nita ?' ltd r ot71 0 PROFILE-LUXUR- I I at ' "Ai - iI i (VP ii! I 0 0 t t ii Likts' glass Ilic i FULL PLUS-F1R- r ltd warranty $24 ea pc QUEEN POSTURE F — only in - TWIN '4' Brass & ti)1 J S Lid' 44 this combination dance - t 1 POSTURE i kyi $ I v I - Great Salt Lake's most colorful and dynamic period began in 1870 a year after the transcontinental railroad was completed Resorts featuring bathing beaches boat docks dance halls and hotels popped up along the shores offering Utalans unique swimming and entertainment opportunities into the 1950s John W Young — Brigham's third son — opened the first resort in 1870 But when the lake started to recede more than 20 years later he moved it to what is now known as Lagoon The old Saltair resort constructed in 1893 by the Salt Lake and Los Angeles Railroad Company at a cost of more than 050000 was once the jewel of the lake During the Roaring '20s Intermountain residents rode trains to g 1 46144"""'""6"w"""""' 1 lc w - ' r1TriatT rr'" --- 0 1 4 t' - 4-3- 1 - 4 L''-- kl i I NI No' dr- - ' I coffee - - 0 4 'rib AVAItABIE - - DELIVERY ' gv 1 F1 tii 40) lit ' -- - 111 oS :r lotvw- - ti - from only Ct I 1 ' ' "4 w I i s SAME DAY 1 1y 1 - r - ' 4 ut mik 41--- 1 1 I MANY MORE LIVING ROOM SELECTIONS THROUGHOUT OUR HUGE WAREHOUSE! t - ' IT 1 The CHASTMT 4441 'WEIRill N ! 1 0 1 1 A '1 tt4ek - ' 1 ' :t 14- - t - : - t 1 43 i- - ring - 1 a — for dreeet Iteadoortl chest & nightitand! I ''''' - - 7- 1 A --t-- KA 1 0 10 I it413 bird-nestin- g planned to do with the grapes sent him back to the mainland e i 0 0 During the 1890s there was a different kind of mining going on: Pioneers in need of fertilizer scooped up bird guano on Gunnison Island This barren patch of land — a scant 164 acres — grows and shrinks with the rise and decline of the Great Salt Lake It also remains a nesting ground for some 19000 California gulls and 18000 pelicans which trek to the lake from the Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf of California Though the island is closed to the public during the nesting period Division of Wildlife Resources' biologist Don Paul once paid a spring visit to conduct biological work "It's like watching one of the most spectacular scenes you've ever seen in any nature movie" Mr Paul says "You get a selfish feeling out there It's like walking on hallowed ground or finding a lost treasure in a pirate's cave It's a spiritual feeling: In 1895 a poet named Alfred Lambourne was likely trying to raise his spirits by growing grapes on the island for wine But the Mormon Church no doubt suspi- cious about what the settler 111:i I t 14tgLt' Zo144f 4- - t- i iirk il - COUPONP VALUABLE I y 0 Because of last week's incredible turnout manufacturers have ordered to EXTEND our Coupon Sale'!!! 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I ' Hartmann The Salt Lake Tribune his wife and son held onto the side tween Antelope and Stansbury islands when a "Tooele twister" turned the quiet lake into a monster A strong gust of wind or micro-burslapped one side of the boat and before Mr Charles and his son could react they were hit with another blast from the other direction "We tipped from one side to the other in just about two seconds" Mr Charles recalls "It was unbe- k it s Ask Hal Charles of West Valley City about the lake's dynamics On last a Sunday evening in mid-Jun- e year Mr Charles and his family were enjoying a leisurely sail be- h Al made an island resort or Saltair one of my favorite cataclysms" It also marked the beginning of the end of Lake Bonneville As the weather warmed and the Ice Age ended Lake Bonneville slowly shrank The Great Salt Lake is its legacy "And it is not a static puddle of saline water" the geologist adds "but a dynamic water that has expanded and contracted" remains of creatures which lived in this mud 20000 years ago" Geologists like Mr DeCourten have discovered a world in Lake Bonneville's sediment almost unimaginresidents able to modern-da- OP' DNelt mid-'80- "That" says Mr DeCourten "is "These" he proclaims "are the six-wee- ' - University of Utah geologist Frank DeCourten knelt down in an old river bed just off the Pony Express trail and sifted Lake Bonneville ooze in his hands Poking through the dirt in Juab County he found tiny shells River Migratory Bird Refuge tecame the flagship of the federal system in 1928 when 65000 acres were acquired by Congress The Civilian Conservation Corps developed Locomotive Springs in 1931 Farmington Eay in 1935 and Ogden Bay in 1937 e These impoundments created lush marshes But are they natural? Peter Behrens the vice chairman of the Great Salt Lake Minerals Company for the past 25 years wonders "When a dike is built to create a bird refuge people consider it a good dike because it helps Mother Nature" the civil engineer says "When we build a dike to extract minerals that's considered a bad dike We're told we're interfering with nature" Mr Behrens' mining company — one of six on the lake — produces salt potash and magnesium by pumping water from the Great Salt Lake into 100 evaporation ponds covering 36000 acres As the water evaporates huge front loaders are used to remove minerals from the miniature lakes In 1990 mining companies harvested almost 16 million tons and the value of the minerals was more than $150 million r 4 I 1 e ' ' 'I 1 'ttliff- c 71 17-71l'''41- - t4 0 7'' t 40 tb" a LIU Vi-e- Li ki Czrol tirithrolv AuduPx:n Sockay a y comes into materna& 145X Yoga Ago —A natural sediment darn in Cache Valley collapses allowing 35 million cubic feet of Lake Bonne ille water per second to release into the Snake River and eventually into the Pacc Ocean The amount of water pouring into the worlds seas doubles The flow accounts for one half of the worlds river discharge at the time This is the beginning of the end for - 1173 —John W Young (Brigharn's third son) opens the Lake Side resort near Farmington This first of marri resorts is moved in 1894 due tc the receding lake and becomes present-da- y Lagoon M —The first dikes are built for making evaporation ponds to reclaim lake minerals Ira— The Sal Lake operation 1813 — &tail is built west of existing Salt Lake Mere Ago — The first humans arrive in the area lACOO Years Age —Lake Bonneville becomes a shrinking saline lake International Airport The resort features bathing facilities and a huge dance floor mounted on springs A train transports vietors from Sal Lake City to Saltair where they are unloaded onto a 4000-foot 1100 Yeats Ago —lake Bonneville reaches mughly the level of present Great Salt Lake the name used to reference it for times after this 1C01 AD —People of a move in from Pueblo culture 1111T1 the south 4470—Shoshoni from the southwestern Great Basin move in and replace the existing inhabitants — Spanish priests Dominguez and Escalante MI enter from Utah Valley Spanish Fork Canyon Ute Indians tell them of the great lake 50 miles north with waters harmful or extremely salty Friars leave without seeing the lake but take the first report of its existence to the outside world 1155— Lewis and Clark write that unnamed Spanish traders are active in the valley 14 — Fur trapper Jim Bridger encounters The Great Salt Lake but believes to be the Pacific Ocean 1825—Fur trappers circle lake in skin boats and discover that it is not the ocean and has no outlet 1835— First crude map of the Great Salt Lake made by trapper explorer and Army Capt B L E de Bonneville who gets as close as Bear Lake but never actually sees the Great Salt Lake j 1141— Nancy Kelsey becomes the first immigrant woman to see the Great Salt Lake This passes along the north shore while immigrating with her husband and baby from Missouri to California ld pier 1398 — Utah secures statehood —Southern Pacific uses 28000 wooden '11°666 pilings to construct the Lucin Cutoff across the middle of the lake IT1303 1325 —Sattair bums to the pilings rebuilt on the same spot ge— Congress establishes River Migratory Bird Refuge 1137—Orson Spencer sets a record for swimming from Antelope Island to Black Rock in three hours 40 minutes and 52 seconds 1159 —Southern Pacific Railroad replaces wooden trestle causeway with a rock-fillcauseway dividing the lake into a saltier northern arm and a less-salsouthern arm The construction fointly financed with the federal government uses 50 million cubic yards of rock ed ty J 1969 -- 1963 — level of Record low lake 419135 feet The state opens Great Salt Lake State Park on the north end of Antelope Island 1970 -- Salt& burns again rebuilt at original sue -- The 1971 US Supreme property of the state opening the way to commercial exploitation I snow 1982—With increasing precipitation in mountains the lake begins to rise 1843—Capt John C Fremont makes the first scientific exploration of the lake formally names it and maps most of the islands 1984 —New Sattair development which opened five months earlier south of original sue begins to strut down due to rising lake waters Donner- - Reed in the Southern Pacific causeway at the request of the state The breech ov1 ioN 1841—The party starts west across the Great Salt Lake desert Only 47 of the 87 member party reach California 1850—The LDS Church reserves Antelope and Stansbury islands for grazing 1853—The lake is first used for commercial navigation to help build the US railroad system The first steamboat the Kate Conner is launched on the lake lug —The Golden Spike is driven at Promontory near of the lake uniting the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways the north shore 1984 —A 300-fo- opening is blasted helps to SONS flooding problems on south end It also eliminates some color differences between the two arms and slowly starts to reduce differences in salinity levels it 1988 — In a four-yeperiod the lake rises 12 feet and its volume doubles The shoreline is extended up to 12 miles covering an additional 600000 acres ar 1987 —The west desert pumping program begins with the purpose of controlling the lake level 1992— Antelope Island is scheduled to reopen in the fall Mark Knudsen I The Salt Lake Tribune !::::::::::::::::::s::::::::::'i:::::-::-::i::::::::::::-::-:i-:::::::-:::1::?:i:::'::-::::::::- also was threatened The governor and Legislature elected to spend $60 million to construct gigantic pumps on the west side of the lake When activated in April 1987 a drought year the pumps helped reduce the lake level almost 6 feet The pumps shut down in June 1989 now sit idle Mr Wright meanwhile patiently waits for the lake's inevitable decline He uses a bulldozer to remove mud and rock and dreams of the day when the building will open again Nearby vendors now sell trinkets out of old train cars and a faded white trailer Sir Malcolm Campbell of Great Britain first brought the Bonneville Salt Flats notoriety in 1935 when he raced across the crusty salt at 30113 mph for a new world record Californian Craig Breedlove driving in "The Spirit of America" gained international fame in the 1960s when he became the first to break the 400- - 500- - and barriers Gary Gabelich wheeled utilized a vehicle on Oct 23 1970 to become the fastest man on the salt He traveled 622407 mph on that record attempt The salt flats once flooded by ancient Lake Bonneville are the remains of a much larger Great Salt Lake After thousands of years of drying the flats are ideal for the attempts The race cars create a colorful land-spee- d 600-mp- h rocket-powere- d land-spee- d contrast on the sea of white crust But the show doesn't end there Camping on the flats during a meteor shower is like spending a night on an alien planet As stars shoot across the clear sky the lifeless flat terrain takes on an eerie dull gloyir Even on a moonless night the mountains loom like strange pieces of abstract art This picture may not hold forever though Some drivers environmentalists and geologists worry' that the flats may someday disap- pear Highway development and mining operations have caused the thickness of the salt to be reduced about 1 percent a year for the past 28 years This big briny lake scorned and misunderstood surprises even: those who often ply its waters Mitch Larsson who has managed Antelope Island for the past 14 years recalls one memorable night when he answered a rescue all for a stranded boater "There was a full moon" Mr Larsson recalls "The water was like glass You could see all the lights of the city I've seen it when its nice I've seen it when it's hard But there's always somethirg different I've spent 14 years out here and I've not even seen or learned about half of what's there" Adds author Terry Tempest Williams: "It's a place where noth ing is as it appears It is a landJ scape of the imagination where anything is possible" AI - - It is not court rules that the lake bed ILI then underwater - is the A A Yacht Club begins first active Lake Bonneville meal 1 'V 17177 t 713CC3 roan Aga —Lake Bonneville a freshwater lake man-mad- - - -7- -- -- --- 1 4- GREAT SALT LAYZ ------- - |
