1906: When Salt Lake City renamed more than 100 streets

                                Salt Lake City, as seen from the University of Utah. 

SALT Lake City made some sweeping changes in street names back in 1906, to avoid confusion and foster consistency.

“There are nearly 100 duplicatines (sic) or repetitions of names of different streets in this city,” the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper of June 24, 1905 reported. “This is a reproach for a city of this size and would be in any of less than five times the population of Salt Lake.”

The story also mentioned that the Salt Lake City fire chief believes he cannot provide adequate fire protection given the name duplications and hence confusion over location.

Mail carriers and merchants have also complained about the repetition of names, the Telegram story stated.

It noted that there were three different “A” streets at the time; three Garfield Avenues; a pair of Central Avenues; two Curtis Streets; two Davis Streets; four Lincoln Avenues; two Grand Avenues; two Garfield Avenues; and two Glen Street; three Park Avenues; three Poplar Streets; two Union Avenues; and five Washington Streets, to list a sampling of the problem.

More than 18 months later, in November of 1906, the Salt Lake City Council was ready to vote on street name changes. According to the Telegram of Nov. 16, 1906, Salt Lake City Engineer Kelsey had reviewed the street names of the entire City.

“All streets less than 132 feet wide and running east and west are called avenues,” the Telegram reported. “All duplicate names of streets are abolished.”

 Here’s a sampling of some of the sweeping name changes:

Logan Avenue was renamed Fourth Avenue.

Fort Douglas Avenue was retitled Third Avenue.

Military Avenue became Second Avenue.

West Street switched to Virginia Street.

Young Street was renamed Harrison Avenue.

Market Street became Postoffice Place.

Commercial Avenue was retitled Orpheum Avenue.

Grape Street became Almond Street.

Strawberry Street was now Wall Street.

Lynn Street switch to Sixth West.

May Street was renamed Eleventh North.

Kimball Street was retitled Third North Street.

Twelfth South and California Street became one in California Avenue.

Jordon Avenue became Eleventh West Street.

More history:

-Baseball was not yet a common or household word back in the Utah of the year 1872. A Deseret News story of June 5 that year simply referred to “a game similar to cricket.” This referenced a fatal accident that happened in Tooele on May 28 of that year when Thomas E. Tanner, 13, was killed when a fellow played accidentally struck him in the head with a bat.

The story also noted that this was one of six recent deaths in Tooele, include three by scarlet fever and two by other diseases.

       The causeway leading from the northeast edge of Antelope Island, to the mainland.

-“Stay away from Antelope Island” was a July 5, 1968 headline in the Davis County Clipper. Although there was a dirt road causeway to the Great Salt Lake Isle in place – and 2,000 acres of leased state land there – State Officials were urging the public to stay away, because there were not adequate facilities there yet.

-The Clipper of Nov. 8 that year noted that a control gate had been added at the entrance to the causeway to help deter vandalism on the Island. The gate was only to be open during daylight hours. Facilities at Bridger Bay Beach were then being constructed.

-The Clipper of Jan. 10, 1969 reported that the official grand opening of Antelope Island to the public would be Jan. 15 of that year. Water had to still be hauled to the Isle then, as no planned wells had yet been dug.

-For more than 25 years, until the mid-1990s, the causeway to Antelope Island had a stormy history, with numerous washouts and rebuilding down at higher elevations.

When the Great Salt Lake was proposed as a National Park; Plus, more history

                      A view of the Great Salt Lake from Buffalo Point on Antelope Island.                                                                                                       -Photo by Roger Arave

THE Great Salt Lake is one of Utah's most well-known assets. However, few seem to be aware that in 1960 the briny body of water was proposed as a national park.
Of course, that status was never awarded, but Utah Senator Frank Moss did seek it, according to the Weekly Reflex newspaper of March 24, 1960.
Moss explained in the newspaper article that he never wanted the entire lake to be a national park, just a portion of the lake's shore.
He realized even in 1960, that industrial uses were impairing the lake and that developments also threatened it. While he didn't want to restrict any of the economic value of the lake, he was open to studying fresh water bay possibilities and more.

-MORE HISTORY: "Six stranded on Antelope Island get back safely," was an Oct. 27, 1932 headline in the Weekly Reflex newspaper. The men, Nephi Ross, Earl Stoddard, Paul and Francis Fowers -- all from Hooper, plus Frank and Charles Stoddard from West Point.
The men took a motor boat from the West Point Gun Club in hopes of rescuing a boat that was beached off the edge of Antelope Island a week earlier. That task was too difficult and their food supply ran out. They spent a night on the Isle and lit a fire to show relatives they were OK.
A Utah Pacific Airways plane was chartered and flew over Antelope Island in search of the. The pilot never found them, just a herd of about 25 buffalo.
The men finally freed the boat, but a storm preventing them from leaving the island until later in the day.

                                                                  Pineview Dam.                           Photo by Whitney Arave


-FACTS about a proposed Pineview Reservoir: 
Cost: $3 million.
Shoreline: 17.5 miles
Maximum depth: 56 feet in front of the dam.
Highways to Huntsville and Eden rerouted on the sides.
Source: Ogden Standard Examiner of Sept. 28, 1934.

-THERE was an obscure development while constructing Pineview Reservoir: For more than 40 years, the Utah Power and Light Company operated a small reservoir below Wheeler Canyon and found west of the new Pineview Dam. This old reservoir had to be drained and discarded and the old highway rerouted through it.
In addition trucks with water tanks hauled fish away as the reservoir was drained.
The Standard-Examiner of Oct. 7, 1934 chronicled some of this prep work and that a Civilian Conservation Corps camp was being erected near Huntsville.

-WHEN the Utah State Prison in Sugarhouse was slated for replacement, it eventually ended up in Draper, near Point of the Mountain. Another explored possibility was Antelope Island. However, another proposal is much more obscure -- west of Bountiful, near the Great Salt Lake.
According to the Weekly Reflex newspaper of Jan. 24, 1929, Salt Lake County was pushing for the prison to be moved northwest of the Cudahy Packing Plant (near today's Cudahy Lane).
A key problem with that proposal was that the Utah State Constitution required that the prison be located in Salt Lake County. So, Davis County would have to give the land to Salt Lake County for that to have ever happened. This proposal never took place and since Davis County is by far the smallest county of the 29 in Utah, it turned out well.

Is Antelope Island misnamed? Back when transplanted Antelope refused to stay there

                        The upper reaches of Antelope Island, looking northeast.

ANTELOPE Island is by far the largest and most popular isle in the Great Salt Lake. With Utah State Park status, the island is visited by thousands annually. However, is the island technically misnamed?

“Island offers nature study. Antelopes refused to remain. Bathing beaches unsurpassed” was a July 2, 1922 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper.

The Isle was originally titled “Church Island,” because The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints originally owned it and early pioneers vacationed there.

The Telegram story states, “The name ‘Antelope Island’ became the name in common use after an attempt was made to range a herd of antelope placed upon its hills. The conditions were suited to these animals and their efforts to escape is one of the most tragic stories of animal life.”

The dissatisfied leader of the Antelope jumped in the briny waters and was willing to try and swim up to 16 miles to the enticing green fields of the mainland of Davis County. The other antelope followed. Only one antelope reached the shore and died from exhaustion. The others drowned in the lake.

This extinction apparently happened some years before 1922. And, soon after, a herd of buffalo were placed on the island. They flourished and did not attempt to flee the isle.

                                                   Buffalo on Antelope Island.

In fact, the Davis County Clipper of Sept. 12, 1924 stated, “… for the last thirty years, the name Buffalo Island has been used interchangeable with the other two names (Church and Antelope),” because one of the nation’s largest surviving herds of Buffalo reside there.

Notwithstanding, it must be mentioned that some of the earliest of pioneer visitors to the Island had reported seeing a herd of antelope there.

The Davis County Clipper of Nov. 17, 1933 reported: “Late in the fall of 1848 while riding at the north end of the Island, Lot Smith, Fielding Garr and Heber P. Kimball came unexpectedly upon a herd of antelope …”

 (Heber P. Kimball was a son of Heber C. Kimball.)

Thus, antelope may have naturally lived on the Island in the mid-19^th Century. Perhaps, they were hunted out and later some antelope transplanted there hated the conditions there then. (There may likely still be some antelope living on the isle today, but buffalo far outnumber them.)

So, “Buffalo Island,” instead of “Antelope Island” could have become its official moniker.

MORE HISTORY:

                                                That's not water, it's the Salt Flats.

-“Legislators visit Great Salt Beds” was a March 3, 1909 headline in the Deseret Evening News. The Western Pacific Railroad was showcasing its new train line to Wendover and for many this was the first time they had seen the immense natural feature we call today, “The Bonneville Salt Flats.”

The story mentioned how the railroad had to use dynamite to make deep holes in the gleaming white salt flats to erect telegraph poles. It also mentioned that the salt flats could be of immense value – even to the University of Utah – once the U.S. Supreme Court decided on their ownership. The immense salt could provide the salt needs of the world for a number of years.

It was not until several years later that the salt flats were envisoned as a speedway.

                                                      Visitors walking on the Salt Flats.

-“Expect to break world records … Trial runs are made. Salt beds make ideal racing course; Fast time marked up” was an Aug. 12, 1914 headline in the Salt Lake Tribune.

While they were still called “salt beds,” instead of “salt flats,” and the location of them was given as “Salduro,” a 10-mile course was set up and 141-mile-per-hour speeds were initially recorded there.

That first year of operation, cars often also raced against trains.

-Mount Olympus (elevation 9,026 feet) was a first-rate challenge for climbers in the early 20^th Century. One of the earliest recorded accounts of hiking Olympus was in the Utah Daily Chronicle newspaper of May 21, 1924.  The University’s Hiking Club scaled the peak, despite the presence of large drifts of snow along the way. In fact, the hikers slid down some of the snowdrifts en route off the mountain top.

       The steep climb just below the summit of the southern peak of Mount Olympus.

-Mount Olympus itself was also a haven for moonshine stills during the alcohol prohibition era. The Salt Lake Telegram of Jan. 27, 1926 reported that a peak known for its quality spring water, had been found to house two illegal stills, 1,700 gallons of mesh and 300 gallons of the finished product. Federal authorities seized it all and the alleged operator was out on a $1,000 bond.

-Mount Olympus was also the site of a few accidents in the early 20^thCentury. “Injured S.L. Peak climber” was a July 15, 1936 Salt Lake Telegram headline. Roger Carney, 24, of Salt Lake, fell on the mountain, broke and ankle and lay for 18 hours on a ledge before being rescued.

-The Telegram of Sept. 19, 1949 stated that Ronald Davis, 17 and Deaune Satterfield (no age given), both of S.L., were stranded on Mount Olympus when darkness set in and they were unable to safely climb down. A few short falls in the darkness proved to the young man and woman how dangerous a nighttime descent was. They were able to start a fire with the few matches they had, but still had a chilly night. A Search party, climbing a different side of the mountain, missed them the next day on the way down.

(-Originally published in the Deseret News on December 16, 2020, by Lynn Arave.)

1900: When you could walk to Antelope Island; Plus, when a sandbar helped build a causeway

YOU could walk to Antelope Island in the year 1990, thanks to a low level of the Great Salt Lake. Yes, lakeside resorts were struggling in mud to keep patrons happy, but access to the former "Church Island" was easier.
"To Island by land. Trip can be made practically dry shod. Road of Salt and Sand" was a Sept. 24, 1900 headline in the Salt Lake Tribune.
"Great Salt Lake has been known as the 'Dead Sea of America.' If it is not dead, it certainly gives every evidence being in the throes of dissolution," the Tribune stated.
The four-mile stretch from the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake to Antelope Island was a glistening stretch of sand that year. And, some sand had been used to create a small bar to reach the isle, without a boat.
The Tribune reported that most were using horses and wagons to cross the lakebed to the Island. One man said it required just 35 minutes to cross from the former Jeremy Salt Works to reach Antelope.

                                                 The eastern bay of Antelope Island.

Further north, there were more uneven and muddy conditions and even some small pools of stagnant water.
The receding lake also does not create a pretty scene, the Tribune reported.
"The space left dry by the receding waters is anything but inviting in its appearance. Here and there are decaying hulks of rowboats and sailboats, several of which were once in use at Garfield beach years ago and there is also a vast quantity of other wreckage," the Tribune story stated.
The Tribune also mentioned a special tree, now a landmark, from which hunters surprised and killed a "ferocious buffalo," a few years ago who roamed the Island. 
Little amounts of wheat had been raised on Antelope Island in 1900, because of the dry climate. However, the isle had apparently had some successful farming performed on it in previous years.

                The causeway as viewed from the northeast tip of Antelope Island to the mainland.

-JUMP FORWARD almost seventy years and the newly opened official causeway road  from Syracuse to Antelope Island was in use. And, surprisingly, it was sand from the natural sandbar that runs to Fremont Island that helped construct that original causeway. (It washed out multiple times from the 1970s and into the mid-1980s.)

The sandbar (left side of photograph) from Fremont Island (foreground) to the causeway road. Antelope Island is in the distance on the right side of the picture.

"Gravel for the roadbed was obtained through a trade between the county and state," the Davis County Clipper of April 28, 1967 reported. "The State brought out 200 loads of gravel to the sire in return for an equal amount of salted sand scooped from a sandbar which leads to Fremont Island and connects to the new road."
At the time, in 1967, the road was still a dirt one and was not paved until the early 1970s.

                The sandbar to Fremont Island, as seen from the Antelope Island Causeway.

-THAT SAME SANDBAR to Fremont Island has also been a boating hazard at times. The Clipper of Jan. 22, 1987 reported that four men were stranded for 14 hours in the Great Salt Lake after running aground on the sandbar.
The men were headed to the privately owned Fremont Island to hunt sheep when they became stranded, just west of Howard Slough. They were spotted by helicopter and another boat was launched to rescue them. Whether the men had permission to hunt on the private island was unknown.

At least 6 men were living in the territory when the Mormon Pioneers arrived

The Miles Goodyear Cabin, oldest structure in Utah, in a Utah State Historical photograph.

                                              The Miles Goodyear Cabin today.


MOST HISTORIES of early Utah would have you believe that Miles Goodyear was the lone non-Native America living in Utah territory when the Mormon Pioneers arrived in 1847.
However, there may have been at least FIVE others living in the region before the pioneers, bringing the total to 6.
Details on these 5 men are sketchy, but according to a Deseret News article from Dec. 15, 1906, under the headline of: "Utah Legends, Indians, Trappers and Pioneers," ...

-1. A mountain man, Peg Leg Smith was living in the Bear Lake Valley before the pioneers arrived there. He told the settlers many Native American tales about Bear Lake and also operated a trading post at Dingle (Idaho), on the north end of the valley.

-2-3. Two brothers, by the last name of Goodall operated a horse and goat ranch in the Ogden "Flats" area and had to be bought out too, like Goodyear did.
William H. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball's oldest son, was sent by Brigham Young in 1848 to buy out the Goodall's. They apparently had 750 horses grazing on 10 square miles. Kimball moved the horses to Antelope Island ("Church Island"). Although no purchase price to the Goodall's was recorded, they told Kimball that they had secured the land from Mexicans, who had started a mission there.

-4. Barney Ward was also mentioned as another mountaineer who was living in the Ogden area when the pioneers arrived. He dealt in tobacco and liquor sales, products not much in demand by Mormon settlers.

(-In addition, Ogden Canyon supposedly originally contained a dugout and a cabin that was reputed to have been built by Peter Skene Ogden.)

-5. Finally, "Daddy Stump," another non-Indian, was living on Antelope Island when the Mormon Pioneers started exploring the Isle in 1848. That’s also the first mention of the man. Stump, believed to be a mountain man and perhaps also known as a bear killer, had built a small cabin and had a small orchard of peaches on Antelope Island. (from the LDS Improvement Era Magazine of 1907.) 

Daddy Stump has other historical references, as does Peg Leg Smith, but the other three men remain mysterious, with the single mention in history. Sadly, the 1906 Deseret News article did not list its source or sources on the men's existence. But assuming there is some accuracy to the account, then the area was certainly not deserted when the pioneers arrived, as is so often envisioned.

(-Previously published in the Deseret News on July 21, 2018.)

Antelope Island in 1882 -- No Buffalo and Different Geographical Names

                            The Frary Peak summit, highest point, looking south on Antelope Island.

By Lynn Arave

IMAGINE Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake with no buffalo, only wild horses and cattle, plus with only boat access and even some different names in use. Plus, there’s also the tale of a mysterious early settler on the Island.

-Miles Goodyear wasn’t the only white settler who lived in Northern Utah when the Mormon Pioneers arrived in 1847. There was another, far lesser known man.

Daddy Stump was living on Antelope Island when the Mormon Pioneers started exploring the Isle in 1848. That’s also the first mention of the man.

                     A pair of dead trees serve as sentinels on the east side of the Isle.

Stump, believed to be a mountain man and perhaps also known as a bear killer, had built a small cabin and had a small orchard of peaches on Antelope Island.

The LDS Improvement Era Magazine from 1907 mentions Stump twice in its volume 10 contents. First, he is called an old mountain man. Secondly, several Mormon Pioneers reported that Stump’s rustic camp was located in a little canyon near a spring of water on the south end of the Island. Stump is referred to as an “old trapper.”

The somewhat mysterious Stump was not mentioned by government explorer John C. Fremont and crew during their expedition of the Island in 1843. Thus, Stump may have only been in Utah a few years before the Pioneers.

A history of Fielding Garr (first Mormon settler on Antelope Island in 1849) on WikiTree.com quotes a visit to Daddy Stump’s camp by Brigham Young on Antelope Island:

“In 1856 Brigham Young visited Antelope island. ‘The time was pleasantly spent in driving over the Island and in visiting places of interest-bathing, boating and inspecting their horses and sheep. Old Daddy Stump's mountain home was visited. They drove their carriage as near to it as possible and walked the remainder of the way. Everything was found just as the old man had left it …”

                                  The central east side of Antelope Island.

Some sources indicate that Stump, a solitary man, may have left Antelope Island by 1849, after the Fielding Garr Ranch was established there by the Mormon Pioneers.

It is also generally accepted that he is believed to have disappeared six years later, in 1856 – with the assumption that he was killed by Indians that year in Cache Valley.

The book, “History of Utah,” by Orson F. Whitney, also very briefly mentions Stump as taking cattle to Cache Valley and that most of his herd died there (presumably from a harsh winter). Whitney mentions that others also lost most of their cattle there too that same winter.

                 Fourth-graders playing in the Great Salt Lake at Antelope Island.

Today, Stump is forgotten by most history books – except for perhaps a mention in a single line. His only remaining legacy is that a ridge on the south end of Antelope Island is honored with his name and that Antelope Island State Park periodically hosts a seasonal hike, called the “Daddy Stump History Tour.”

-The Salt Lake Herald newspaper of July 30, 1882 carried a report on a group of Salt Lake residents who spent a week vacationing on Antelope Island that summer.

The story stated that the group had to board the "yacht Maud" to reach the island, which had a dual name back then, also being often called "Church Island," since The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints held ownership of it then.
In fact, at one time in the 19th Century, the LDS Church had some 70,000 sheep grazing on the Island.

                          Buffalo in an early spring on Antelope Island.

And, even on the island itself, a reference was made to "Alma Peak," a point on the island that obviously eventually gained a different permanent title. (Alma was the name of a prophet in the Book of Mormon.)

"There surely is something in the air on the island, which makes the flintiest heart soften ..." the article reported on an almost magical quality to the place.

The group of Salt Lake residents spent their week horseback riding all over the island; reading, sun bathing, swimming in the Great Salt Lake -- and even singing at night.

"But someday in the near future, it will become one of Utah's attractions," the article proclaimed of Antelope Island.

                           A solitary buffalo on Antelope Island.

-Buffalo first came to Antelope Island in 1923 for a movie set.

-Some 87 years after the Salt Lake Herald story on Antelope Island, in 1969, the State of Utah opened a portion of Antelope Island (the north end) as a state park after a seven-mile causeway was constructed across the Great Salt Lake to the Island. In 1981, the State of Utah purchased the entire island for a state park.

       The landscape on the west side of Antelope Island is even more rugged than the east side.

The mystery man of Antelope Island -- 'Daddy Stump'

                  A remote section of Antelope Island's ridgeline, looking east.

By Lynn Arave

MILES GOODYEAR WASN’T the only white settler who lived in Northern Utah when the Mormon Pioneers arrived in 1847. There was another, far lesser known man.

Daddy Stump was living on Antelope Island (originally called “Church Island”) when the Mormon started exploring the Isle in 1848. That’s also the first mention of the man.

Stump, believed to be a mountain man and perhaps also known as a bear killer, had built a small cabin and had a small orchard of peaches on Antelope Island in 1848.

You could easily call Stump the mystery man of Antelope Island. 

The LDS Improvement Era Magazine from 1907 mentions Stump twice in its volume 10 contents. First, he is called an old mountain man. Secondly, several Mormon Pioneers reported that Stump’s rustic camp was located in a little canyon near a spring of water on the south end of the Island. Stump is referred to as an “old trapper.”

The somewhat mysterious Stump was not mentioned by government explorer John C. Fremont and crew during their expedition of the Island in 1843. Thus, Stump may have only been in Utah a few years before the Pioneers.

Most history books do not even mention Stump, though they often cite Miles Goodyear (who lived in West Ogden).

Having “Daddy” as a first name was perhaps a nickname, that stuck with this solitary mountain man – and coincided with his advanced age.

                                    Fielding Garr Ranch sign on Antelope Island.

A history of Fielding Garr (first Mormon settler in Antelope Island in 1849) on WikiTree.com quotes a visit to Daddy Stump’s camp by Brigham Young on Antelope Island:

“In 1856 Brigham Young visited Antelope island. ‘The time was pleasantly spent in driving over the Island and in visiting places of interest-bathing, boating and inspecting their horses and sheep. Old Daddy Stump's mountain home was visited. They drove their carriage as near to it as possible and walked the remainder of the way. Everything was found just as the old man had left it. It was located at the head of a small, open canyon against a steep mountain. The house was made of cedar posts set upright and covered with a dirt roof. Close to it was a good spring of water....’"

       The rugged view atop Frary Peak, looking south toward "Daddy Stump Ridge." 

Some sources indicate that Stump, a solitary man, may have left Antelope Island by 1849, after the Fielding Garr Ranch was established there by the Mormon Pioneers.

It is also generally accepted that he is believed to have disappeared six years later, in 1856 – with the assumption that he was killed by Indians that year in Cache Valley.

The book, “History of Utah,” by Orson F. Whitney, also very briefly mentions Stump as taking cattle to Cache Valley and that most of his herd died there (presumably from a harsh winter). Whitney mentions that others also lost most of their cattle there too.

 Today, Stump is forgotten by most history books – except for perhaps a mention in a single line.

His only remaining legacy is that a ridge on the south end of Antelope Island is honored with his name.

Daddy Stump Ridge rises about 1,200 feet above the level of the Great Salt Lake. It is located along the main ridge line, about half-way to the south between Frary Peak and the southern tip of the Island.

-Also, Antelope Island State Park periodically hosts a seasonal hike, called the “Daddy Stump History Tour.” It visits the site where Stump homesteaded and offers an overview of the Island’s history.

Note too that buffalo were not native to Antelope Island and were first added in the early 1890s.

              The Fielding Garr Ranch on Antelope Island.

The not so great Great Salt Lake

            

                        The dry docks at Antelope Island State Park.

THE Great Salt Lake isn't what it used to be.
In the mid-1980s, the GSL was a monster, out of control and threatening to flood the Salt Lake International Airport and I-80.
Now some 3 decades later, the lake is far smaller and the opposite is true -- what will low lake levels do to human health and wildlife?
Scientists of the late 19th Century really believed the Great Salt Lake was shrinking and would one day vanish. Several cycles over the next century proved they were wrong, or so it seemed.
With more and more lake inflow being diverted for irrigation and a historic drought in progress, those scientists might be more right than not.

                                       Antelope Island Boat Docks.

The lake's elevation as of this writing, on Oct. 13, 2015, is 4,192.6 feet above sea level. That's just 1.3 feet above its all-time measured low of 4,191.3 feet in 1963.
The GSL's all-time high mark was 4,211.6 feet in both 1986 and 1987, when the ballyhooed lake pumps were operating on its western shores.
The "average" elevation has always been considered to be 4,200 feet above sea level. However, now the reality is that average may no longer be valid. Sometime more like 4,194 feet above sea level might be more accurate for the 21st Century.

 One could walk to Fremont Island now, as the lake level is now almost 1.5 feet lower than what it needs to be for a huge natural sandbar, off the Antelope Island Causeway, to be above water.

What does a low lake mean?

-The deepest spot, more like a hole in the Great Salt Lake, is located just northwest of Fremont Island and south of the Lucin Cutoff railroad causeway. This spot is 34 feet deep when the lake is at that "normal" 4,200-foot elevation. Yet, now that deepest spot is just 15 feet.

-Antelope Island and Fremont Island in particular are no longer truly islands and are connected to land. Peninsula would be a more accurate term now -- Antelope Peninsula and the Fremont Peninsula.
A road or solid causeway to Fremont Island, assuming one had the money and state/environmental permission, would be far easier and cheaper to create now.

-The GSL can produce much more blowing dust now. From possible toxic chemicals to rumors of "pickled" sewage in the lakebed from before sewage treatment plans are possibilities.

                    The almost dry Farmington Bay from Frary Peak ridge.

-The dreaded "Lake effect" of winter snow storms is likely tuned down now. This effect could have less than half the punch it did 30 years ago.

-Less bird habitat is now available with less lake water and less inflow.

-The Great Salt Lake pumps are really relics now and have no need.

-The manmade causeway to Antelope Island and the Lucin Cutoff causeway will face far less erosion in the future.

-Boating on the GSL is more questionable now. Some marinas may be high and dry. Since the deepest lake spot is now just 15 feet, the average depth for boats may be closer to less than 10 feet and some too shallow for boats spots may exist here and there.

                Desolate salt flats around the Great Salt Lake are no mirages these days.

 Any upside to a lower GSL?

-Now might be a good time to explore the feasibility of another "Willard Bay" -- a diked off fresh water reservoir on the lake's former eastern shore. Perhaps one at Farnington Bay and another at the Salt Lake County end of the lake's footprint, would be possible ways to store excess runoff in the spring (assuming there is enough of that). 

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net

1922: When Antelope Island was in the running for a Utah State Prison

                              The north shore of Antelope Island.

“State prison may be moved. Committee named to consider Antelope Island proposition” was a Sept. 28, 1922 headline in the Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner.

In 2015 there was a lot of controversy about relocating the Utah State Prison from Draper. Eventually the green light was given to move the Prison to west of the Salt Lake Airport – despite protests from Salt Lake City leaders.

Back in 1922, the State Prison was still in its original location – where Sugar House Park is today, 2100 South and about 1700 East. However, an expanding Sugar House residential neighborhood was not deemed as be compatible with a prison.

                   Sugar House Park looking west across its lake.

Antelope Island, an undeveloped island except for one ranch, was considered a possible prison site. Of course, this move never took place. Decades later, the  prison moved to Draper, then in the wide open spaces.

Still, if Antelope Island had been chosen as a prison site back then, it is a surety that Antelope Island State Park would not exist and that some kind of permanent road – likely to the southern tip of Antelope Island – would have been constructed from the S.L. side.

In the 1950s, Fremont Island was also talked about as a future state prison site and that didn’t happen either, likely because of its isolation and high road building costs.

-There was a big fire on Antelope Island in early September of 1917. According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of Sept. 5 that year, lightning started a big blaze on the dry isle and it could be seen from both S.L. and Ogden. Back in that era, Antelope Island support not only a large herd of buffalo, but had 400 head of U.S. Army horses stationed there for training purposes, as well as some 1000 head of cattle.

-“Antelope Island’s coyotes wiped out” was a Feb. 3, 1924 Ogden Standard-Examiner headline. Because of the island’s importance as a cattle range, poison and some hunters was used starting in 1921 and by 1924  had wiped out all the coyotes living on the island. Now sheep could be safely ranged there too.

-“Fish driven into Great Salt Lake was an Aug. 14, 1911 headline in the Standard-Examiner. It was reported that carp were introduced into Mud Lake, north of an adjacent to Bear Lake, a few years earlier. The carp multiplied exceedingly. However, the electric power company had drained Mud Lake in the early summer of 1911 and that forced all the carp into the Bear River. The carp were reportedly rolling down the Bear River toward Utah and were eventually expected to reach the Great Salt Lake, where they would die in its briny waters.

The same report stated that Bear Lake had known bottom and that 1,000 feet of cable had been used over the lake and still found no bottom below. That myth was prevalent in the early 20^th Century, but Bear Lake was eventually proven to be no more than 209 feet deep.

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net

Utah’s ‘Alcatraz Island’ proposal

                 From the northwest end of Antelope Island, looking back to the Wasatch Mountains.

THERE'S current talk of moving the Utah State Prison.

Ninety-two years ago, there was a proposal to move the prison the first time, from its original location (where Sugar House Park is now), to Antelope Island.

“State prison may be moved” was a Sept. 28, 1922 headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.

Utah Governor Charles R. Mabey appointed a commission to the study that possibility. Of course, it never happened, but even in the 1920s, the prison encircled by residential neighborhoods, was not deemed desirable.

Antelope Island, undeveloped, could have made a kind of “Alcatraz Island” in the Top of Utah.

At about the same time, the mid-1920s, Edward Fenton Colburn, of Salt Lake City, had dreams of turning Antelope Island into a full-scale resort.

                           The northern end of Antelope Island.

He had plans to build a concrete bridge to the Island, install bathing facilities there, cottages, sports grounds and even create a game preserve.

Colburn, a Salt Lake judge, was trying to secure financing for such a resort when he died on Jan. 14, 1926. His dreams apparently died with him.

But Colburn wasn’t the first to envision Antelope Island as a resort. J.E. Dooly, President of the Antelope Island Improvement Company, spoke of possible recreational facilities there in 1910. He even wanted a four-mile-long railroad spur to access to isle – and even a loop of iron rails to encircle Antelope.

Yet, some Utah Methodists, even earlier, in 1888, had dreams of a “Utah Chautauqua”(an adult education movement, featuring entertainment and culture)  on 

            Looking east from Antelope Island, to the causeway, back to civilization.

Antelope Island, also with access to the railroad. However, it was decided there wasn’t a high enough population base in the area to support that idea.

Antelope Island was originally called “Church Island,” starting in 1849, when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints started ranching operations there. The isle was also referred to as “Buffalo Island” in the early 20^th Century, with bison were placed there.

In other historical notes:

-“A wild animal” was an Oct. 28, 1884 Standard headline.

“We have been informed that a large savage pig, with an ugly and menacing tusk, is running at large in Harrisville, and doing considerable damage,” the story reported.

The beast attacked one child and an old gentleman. Area residents were ready to destroy the marauding animal.

-The legendary “Buffalo Bill Show” made several visits to Ogden in the early 20^th Century, performing on Tabernacle Square.

Appearances to Ogden were reported in the Aug. 13, 1902 and the Sept. 10, 1908 Standard.

An estimated 19,000 people were thrilled by Buffalo Bill’s 1902 visit. Almost as many turned out for the show seven years later too.

Trick horse riding and re-enactments of Indian battles were highlights of the show, on national tour, with 550 horses and 800 entertainers. It took 57 rail cars to transport the show to Ogden.

(-Originally published by Lynn Arave in the Ogden Standard-Examiner on Aug. 22, 2014.)

-NOTE: The author, Lynn Arave, is available to speak to groups, clubs, classes or other organizations about Utah history at no charge. He can be contacted by email at: lynnarave@comcast.net  

The Stormy History of The Antelope Island Causeway

THE popular Causeway to Antelope Island slices across the mineral-laden Great Salt Lake like a seven-plus-mile ribbon of asphalt, gravel and rock.

However, we take this wide, smooth highway for granted -- and yet the fickle Great Salt Lake hasn't always permitted the causeway to reside there -- it has been washed out in the past and could also suffer the same fate in the future.

Like the Great Salt Lake, the causeway has stormy history of ups and downs. The rising lake in the early 1980s soon wiped out and covered the roadway. Here are some highlights:

-1964: Much of the road base for the causeway is built early in the year, but the base itself is constructed only 6.25 miles out into the lake, since a 1.25-mile-wide sand bar allows access to the island because of the lake's low level at the time. But the rising lake cuts off part of the roughed-in road to the island by fall.

-1968: In the spring, the causeway is completed as a 7.5-mile dirt road and unofficially opened to the public for a brief time - until the lake washes away a portion of the road a few weeks later. By October, construction on a 70-foot bridge at the causeway's west end is completed, while most of the dead-end causeway remains open 24 hours a day until November, when a control gate is placed on the road's east end (and locked during off-hours) to curb vandalism.

-1969: The causeway to Antelope Island officially opens on Jan. 5, 1969. By Feb. 1, high waves force closure of the road and begin to erode it. By late February, a 3,000-foot section of the road is under water. The road remains awash but safe later in the spring, and $100,000 is spent to repair and strengthen the road. (About 124,000 tourists cross the causeway in its first year.)

-1970: Winds and high water threaten the causeway again in the spring. The road is raised 2.5 feet along a two-mile section susceptible to washouts. The dirt road is again soon passable, though bumpy, for the year's 198,000 tourists.

-1972: In late January, 14 cars become stuck in mud on the wet road and it is closed again. A month later, the road is reopened and repaired.

-1973: The road receives its annual spring dunking and is again awash in several places. The lake's spring level reaches 4,200.30 feet. In the fall, high winds wash out a 100-foot section of the road.

-1974: Unexpected wave damage temporarily halts causeway reconstruction intent on raising the road bed 4 to 5 feet.

1975: The causeway hastily reopens in April and then closes again "in the blink of an eye" as construction continues to raise and widen the road. On Oct. 11, the causeway reopens after being closed for nearly two years straight. (It has actually been six years since it was open for any real length of time.)

-1976: The road is closed during February for bridge work. In March, the lake attacks the causeway again, but the road remains undamaged for a change. The road closes on weekdays starting in August until October so it can be completed as a two-lane paved highway.

-1977: The causeway is blamed for increased odors around the lake and also for drastic changes in lake salinity.

-1978: More than 400,000 visitors cross the causeway en route to Antelope Island.

-1979: A $1 per car fee, the first such admission cost ever, is charged at the east end of the causeway.

-1983: The rising lake and spring winds threaten the causeway. By June, portions of the causeway's pavement width have been reduced from 44 to 15 feet. For the first time in seven years of uninterrupted service, the causeway is closed. By fall, the lake level is only about 2 feet below the road.

-1984: The causeway is still closed and now under almost 2 feet of water.

-1985: A ferry system with rubber rafts allows some visitors to cross the lake parallel to the causeway and visit Antelope Island.

-1986: The ferry service ends because of a lack of fresh water on the island. Most of the causeway is almost 5 feet under the lake.

-1989-1991: Some of the causeway, left intact, despite erosion, now rises above the briny waters of the Great Salt Lake and becomes its own tourist stop, as visitors long to return to Antelope Island. By 1991, the Utah Parks services posts no trespassing signs along the eroded causeway to ensure safety.

-By the mid-1990s, the waters of the Great Salt Lake have receded and Davis County decides to rebuild the roadway. This time, they make the causeway significantly higher/wider than before -- and despite windstorms and waves, it has now approaching a 20-year span of uninterrupted travel to the lake's largest island.

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        Lynn Arave in 1991 on what was left of the washed out causeway to Antelope Island.

Lynn Arave's report on the Syracuse/Antelope Island causeway in the spring of 1991, before it was rebuilt:

I was able to take a hike along the battered Syracuse causeway to Antelope Island before a no trespassing sign was posted there.

Deep gravel and sand make any travel on the old roadway difficult. Mountain bikes get bogged down more often than not by the loose terrain, and even walkers struggle with traction.

Even at a brisk walking pace of about 3.5 mph, it takes just over an hour to reach the severed end of the causeway. Still, since all but 400 yards of the old causeway was under water only a year ago, the additional 6,600 yards that have risen since add to the attraction and help compensate for the work of a nearly eight-mile roundtrip walk.

The pungent lake smell doesn't dissipate either, like it used to, after the first quarter-mile. Because of puddles and lake damage, the rotting smell is now widespread along the causeway.

Most of the asphalt portions of the road have eroded and can be spotted in the lake as pulverized, fist-size chunks, attesting to the power of water, wind and waves to undermine and destroy a hard asphalt road. Somehow there are some paved sections (complete with painted lines) as long as 100 feet that are almost completely intact, up to three miles out from the mainland. Generally speaking, though, the causeway surface gets rougher and wetter the further out you go.

The old power cable that supplied electricity to a causeway street light system and to Antelope Island is also exposed and occasionally visible along the way.

It's a long, sometimes boring walk to where the road is severed, but the allure of Antelope Island increases every day the causeway remains out of service

I found that the old road was indeed solid up to 3.5 miles out, where there's a big breach in a curved portion of the road. At the time, it was possible to continue another 600 yards out, but winter storms have obviously now covered that section with water.

At 3.8 miles out I encountered a breach that was about 3 feet deep. End of trip. No wading or swimming for me. The causeway appeared to continue, intermittently, above and below water, for an additional 2.5 miles, but that still leaves about 1.5 miles of almost completely open water before Antelope Island.

SOURCES: Personal journal, various Utah newspaper reports.

(-Updated from reports by Lynn Arave in the Deseret News.)