Tales of a Technogypsie

Great Salt Lake Desert: Utah

Parallel to the Great Salt Lake of Salt Lake Ciy fame is the Great Salt Lake Desert. This is a large dry lake in Northern Utah that lies between the Great Salt Lake and the Nevada border. It is infamous for its white sand salt deposits from the evaporating Lake Bonneville. It is also the panoramic home to some small mountain ranges such as the Cedar Mountains, Silver Island Mountains, Hogup Mountains, and Lakeside Mountains. The desert holds various plant species adaptable to the terrain that have unique and unusual characteristics. The desert is very cool during the winter and very hot during the summer with less than 8 inches of annual precipitation. The northern edge of the desert is used as a Test and Training Range for the U.S. military, and the lowest part of Juab County is the Dugway Proving Grounds. In 1826, when Jedebiah Smith conducted his expedition through this desert, he lost a team member here named Robert Evans. In the 1840′s when westward emigrants came through this desert with the establishment of the infamous Hastings Cutoff that helped reduce distance to California. In 1846 the infamous Donner Party found difficulty coming through this area which contributed to them becoming snowbound and trapped in the Sierra Nevada that led them to cannibalism. After completion of a railway cutting through this desert with the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1910, the flats were then in 1914 used as a speedway. By 1956 the Wendover Cut-off was replaced by Interstate 80.

Do you enjoy these tales and reviews? Want more? Buy Sir Thomas Leaf a chai tea and he’ll tell you a tale or give you a review …
Any contribution, $1, $5, $10+ will help more than you can believe
and will add more adventures, photos, stories, and reviews for your pleasure …