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Show SALT FLAT NEWS, AUGUST, 1970 9 PaulS. Taylor (Ed. Note' This article is the final portion of a two part series on the Salt Flats and die area. In the last issue of the News die controversial repurchase of land on the Bonneville surrounding Speedway land the State of Utah had mistakenly sold a decade earlier was discussed. In this issue die , past and a few prognostications about die future of the Great Salt Lake and the Salt Flats will be presented.) Americas Dead Sea, the Great Salt Lake, and the salt desert that adjoins it, is one of the major geological and geographical fea- tures in the world. From its dis- covery by Jim Bridget in 1824 to the first settlers, to the present, the lake and salt desert have been a crucial factor in the development of Utah and the West. But before we discuss the age of man on the lake, a bit of history relative to how the lake was formed is in order. ANCIENT LAKE , BONNEVILLE The Great Salt Lake is the remains of what is now known as Lake Bonneville, a body of fresh water that at one time covered most of Utah and parts of Idaho and Nevada. Lake Bonneville splashed against the distant shores of the Great Basin during late Cenozoi times, and probably during the last great ice age, more than fifty thousand years ago. Scientists think it endured for about twenty-fiv- e thousand years. At its maximum the lake was 1,050-fee- t deep (approxiabove the presmately 1,000-fee- t ent level), 145-milwide, and 346-millong. This area is roughly equal to the combined areas of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and half of New es es Hampshire. Evidence of the depth of the lake still remains in the form of the Bonneville Terrace. After the lake attained its maximum depth, the water began an incessant pounding against its enclosing shores. These waves eventually carved out a shelf, in some places 1,500-fee- t wide. This shelf, the Bonneville Terrace, is today plainly visible on the north slope of the Oquirrh Range not far from the site of the old Saltair Resort, bn Antelope Island, and on the mountains near Wendover. The size and depth of the ancient lake can be graphically pre- sented in another manner. If Wendover had been around during Bonnevilles age, it would have been covered by 1,000-fee- t of water. Other principle Utah cities and the depth the water would have covered them include Salt Lake City, 850-fee- t, Provo, 850-fee- t, Logan, 650-fee- t, Ogden, and 500-fee- t. DISCOVERY AND EXPLORATION The first definite historical knowledge of the Great Salt Lake came the same year the Declaration of Independence was signed, 1776. In that year a small band of Spanish explorers headed by Francisco Atanacio Dominurez and Silvestre de Escalante arrived at the shores of Utah Lake and learned from Indians of a salty lake a short distance to the north. They did not explore northward, however, and the expeditions maps mistakenly show the Great Salt Lake as a northern arm of Utah Lake. Escalante named the lake Timponogos, in honor of the natives he conversed with. Jim Bridger, one of the most famous of Hie Rocky Mountain trappers, is the first white man to have actually seen and tasted the waters of Great Salt Lake. Bridger arrived at the lake, in late 1824 on a bet over the eventual point of discharge of the Bear River. Many trappers thought it ran to the Pacific Ocean, and others were sure it discharged into an inland lake. Bridger, upon tasting the water, returned to the Bear Lake rendezvous of the trappers to tell, them the Bear River ran into an arm of the Pacific. In 1837 published reports of the Great Salt Lake and the Great Basin added to the earlier exploration and circumnavigation by trapper James Clyman. Between the two expeditions the latter was headed by Captain B.L.E. Bonneville it was definitely proved that the lake was truly an inland sea. It is interesting to note that although the ancient lake is named in honor of Capt. Bonneville, he never personally saw the Great Salt Lake. By the time Mormon pioneers arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley, the land around the lake, and the lake itself, had been explored, mapped and charted, and well published. The Mormons, when they were seeking a site for settlement in the West, studied many of these reports especially John C. Fremonts account and were no doubt impressed by it. INDUSTRY Industrious Mormons were quick to grasp the economic significance of the 8,000,000,000 tons of salt in the lake. Within days after their arrival, pioneers were devising ways to remove salt from the water and the flats. The abundance of salt and minerals in the water, they found, was due to the lack of drainage for the lake. Mineral-bearin- g water flows into the lake, but leaves only through a process that evaporation leaves all minerals behind. Since pioneer days the salt harvesting business on the Great Salt Lake has steadily grown to take advantage of the more than 1,000 uses for salt. But even with present harvests, measured in hundreds of thousands of tons (Morton Salt Co. alone harvests 150, 000-ton- s yearly), Utah contributes only about one per cent of the nations salt supply. Potash production is one of the newest industries to grow in the lake region. The shimmering expanse of the Salt Flats sandwiched between the lake on the east and Wendover to the west, contains unlimited quantities of potash for those smart enough to take it. Earliest attempts to extract potash from the brine began during the First World War with a plant constructed by the Solvey Process Company of Syracuse, New York. Extraction operations flourished until the end of the war when prices fell. In the late 1930V, Bonneville Ltd., a new company organized to process potash, began operations. Since that time they have developed an extensive system of canals and ponds for evaporation purposes. In the last few years new plans have been proposed and operations begun for extraction of other minerals such as Magnesium Chloride, Sodium Sulphate, Potassium Chloride, and Lithium Chloride from the brine of the lake. The Great Salt Lake and adjacent Salt Flats seem destined to become a treasure chest of minerals. Swimming in the lake is another industry that has boomed and failed with the level of the lake. During the past century almost a score of resorts have enjoyed a few years of prosperity before failing, primarily due to the lakes receding waters. Largest and most famous of the bathing resorts was Saltair which offered visitors not only swimming in water the management dared you to try to sink in, but also dancing in a mammoth pavilion or riding on a roller coaster. Saltair was originally constructed in 1893 and periodically renovated to remain modem in appearance and facilities. Salt-air- s popularity varied with the level of the lake. Generally speaking, the resort enjoyed high water from 1893 until 1930. During the decade after 1930, the lake fell to its lowest recorded level and Saltair was left high and dry. From that time on with the exception of a few years during the the resorts buildings 1940s slowly fell into a state of disrepair and finally it was permanently closed to the public during the Summer of 1968. The recreational aspect of the Great Salt Lake is kept alive today by three resorts now operating west of Salt Lake City, and by the recently opened Great Salt Lake State Park on Antelope Island west of Syracuse, Utah. THE FUTURE The Utah State Legislature in 1963 created the Great Salt Lake Authority, charged with the responsibility of preparing a long range program for lake development. A seventy-fiv- e year plan subsequently produced by that commission called for extensive diking programs to create fresh and salt water lakes, continued development of lake resorts on the south shore as well as Great Salt Lake State Park on Antelope Island, and encouragement to private companies for the extraction of various minerals from the briny lake and flafiands. Moves are also afoot, according to Utah State Division of Parks and Recreation Director, Harold J. Tippets, to merge the famous Bonneville Speedway with newly-create- d Danger Cave State Park located near Wendover. Tippets department will assume control of speedway leases during 1970 and, he says, plans are being prepared to expand facilities for public usage. Tippets added that the present Bonneville Speedway leaseholdside-by-si- de er, the nonprofit Bonneville Speedway Corporation, will probably be the concessionaire for the speedway. . James D. Moyle, chairman of the State Parks and Recreation Board, noted recently that a study of the potential of the area is now being made. He admitted that, We are talking about a faces of today s youth. Mrs. Toni Hunt of Salt Lake City exhibits this emotion as she pauses a moment to gaze across the great expanse of salt. Its her hope that the nation will protect and develop this natural wonder given to us by God. Make the LEWIS'BROS. PATIO MOTELS WENDOVER, UTAH your first or last stop through Utah. SWIMMING POOLS AIR CONDITIONING MODERN ROOMS We add the family touch 24 hours a day. Honoring all major Bankcards. Write P. 0. Box 295, Wendoyer, or Telephone for information campground on the west end of the speedway, near Danger Cave. The campground, he added, if it goes in, will be almost five miles from the speedway. Most observers agree that the future of the lake area is rosy. As mineral extraction becomes more and more sophisticated, greater amounts of development will spring up around the lake. These - (801 ) Utah 665-226- 1 facilities will employ Utah labor, and will add substantially to the economy of the state.' Recreation, too, will boom as more of Americas families obtain the necessary discretionary income level to be able to come to Utah to see if they can really ratch the sleek racers float, o' flash aero Jie smooth surface of the Salt Flats. |