Great Salt Lake from: Utah Place Names
GREAT SALT LAKE was first discovered by a white man in 1824. The credit although contested by some is given to Jim Bridger, the well-known guide and mountain man, who acted as a scout in this area for William H. Ashley. The early explorers originally thought the lake was an arm of the Pacific Ocean because of the high salt content. Captain Bonneville gave the lake his own name on subsequent maps but the name did not hold. The lake was also previously named Lake Timpanogo and still earlier, Thoago. The present name was given by Captain J. C. Fremont. The lake's mysterious background and atmosphere has been the source of legends from both Indians and whites and serious stories of giant whirlpools and water monsters have existed throughout Utah's history. The name of the lake indicates its high salt content along with other commercial minerals. Bibliography: Bancroft, Hubert Howe. History of Utah, 1540-1886. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964. (1st ed. 1889). Creer, Leland Hargrave. The Founding of an Empire: The Exploration and Colonization of Utah, 1776 -1856. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1947. Dellenbaugh, Frederick S. A Canyon Voyage. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1908. Layton, Stanford J. "Fort Rawlins, Utah: A Question of Mission and Means." Utah Historical Quarterly 42 (Winter 1974): 68-83. The Great Salt Lake. Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico, 1947. Jedediah Smith. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, 1953. Russell, Osborne. Journal of a Trapper, 1834-1843. Edited by Aubrey L. Haines. 5th Bison Book Printing. Lincoln, NB: University of Nebraska Press, October 1970. Steel, William Gladstone. "A Story of Names." Typescript. Washington, DC: United States Board on Geographic Names Library, 1956. Utah, A Guide to the State. Work Projects Administration. Comp. by Utah State Institute of Fine Arts, Salt Lake County Commission. New York: Hastings House, 1941. Utah Historical Quarterly. Salt Lake City: Utah State Historical Society. (v9).
EXPLANATION OF SYMBOLS... 1. An asterisk (*) following a place name indicates past or present inhabitation. 2. When a series of letters and numbers are present towards the end of an entry after the ">" symbol, the first group indicates section/township/range as closely as can be pinpointed (i.e., S12,T3S,R4W,SLM, or USM). A section equals approximately one square mile, reflecting U.S. Geological Survey topographic map sections. Because Utah is not completely mapped, some entries are incomplete. In this case, whatever information is available will be provided. The second group, when present, is altitude in feet followed by meters in parentheses [i.e., 6,000' (1,829m)]. Altitude is not included with canyons or deserts with varying altitudes.
______SOURCE... Utah Place Names. Salt Lake City, Utah : University of Utah. University of Utah Press, 1990.
AUTHOR... Van Cott, John W.
USE RESTRICTIONS... The contents of this article may be repurposed for non-commercial, non-profit, educational use.
______Distributed by the Utah Education Network eMedia service: http://www.uen.org/emedia Original digital conversion by UCME: Utah Collections Multimedia Encyclopedia project: http://www.uen.org/ucme File ID = t_002783 A softbound copy of the original book may be purchased online from the University of Utah Press at: http://www.uofupress.com
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