The Great Salt Lake is declining. Between recent droughts and less river water reaching the lake, its level is not far above its historic low.
Ironically, in the early 20th century, this possibility was not only recognized, a solution was offered.
“Water for the lake. Marcus E. Jones has a plan to present. Would use Snake River …” was a Dec. 27, 1903, headline in The Salt Lake Tribune.
Jones, a civil and mining engineer and geologist, proposed creating a canal that would bring the flood waters from the Snake River and its tributaries to the Great Salt Lake and Utah. He said this would restore the GSL to its former normal levels and excess water from the canal could be used in other ways, as needed.
He estimated the cost then for such a canal to be $2 million (that’s more than $50 million in today’s dollar value).
His plan was to take the water out of the Snake River at St. Anthony, Idaho, and take the canal through Red Rock Pass at the north end of the Cache Valley. There the canal could dump into the Bear River, or a canal could shadow the river to the Wasatch Front. He said there is always excess Snake water — especially during the months of April, May and June.
Jones’ vision involved more than just raising the Great Salt Lake level. His own studies concluded that the rainfall in the Salt Lake Valley is greater when the GSL is higher.
Of course, this canal never happened.
Some two decades later, newspaper headlines were prophetic on the lake. “America’s famous ‘Dead Sea’ soon to be dry land.” That was a Feb. 3, 1924, headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.
“Within a century the Great Salt Lake, in Utah, will have dried up,” the story stated. It then likened the GSL’s reduction to that of its predecessor, Lake Bonneville.
The GSL fell 10 feet, from 1900-1915, until some exceptional wet years had recently gained most of that loss back.
“Were it to disappear, Salt Lake City would lose its principal attraction,” the story stated.
Left would be an immense sink, a giant salty plain, impossible to use for anything constructive.
During the same time period, Antelope Island was no longer an isle. “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.
The story continued: “Great Salt Lake has been known as the ‘Dead Sea of America.’ If it is not dead, it certainly gives every evidence of being in the throes of dissolution.”
The story stated how there was nothing but 4 miles of glistening salt between what used to be the eastern shoreline of the lake and Antelope Island. A Tribune representative made the trip to the island by wagon and horses in 35 minutes, “without urging the horses to any great extent.”
One man told the Tribune that he wagered he could travel by land from the ranch house on the south end of Antelope Island to Saltair, 10 miles away, “with perfect safety.”
Cattle were reported as still doing well on Antelope Island, though not much wheat has been raised there, due to extra-dry conditions.
Further north, the water conditions of the Great Salt Lake were reported as more favorable. Still, the hunks of decaying boats and other wreckage along the former lakebed were reported as not being very inviting in appearance.
Another historical tidbit: According to The Salt Lake Tribune of May 28, 1916, Brigham Young came up with an idea in 1857 to tunnel through the ridge on the Mountain Road northeast of Layton and carry Weber River water to the benches of what is now Layton, Kaysville and Fruit Heights.
Considerable work was done on this project by Davis County residents. Lumber was hauled from Salt Lake by oxen to line the tunnel. However, a large amount of quicksand was encountered. It could not be controlled and undermined the tunnel project.
Ditches were then envisioned to carry water from Kays and Holmes creeks instead, but the Utah War of 1857-1858 started and most residents moved southward to avoid Johnston’s Army and that alternate project never happened.
Lynn Arave worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 40 years. He is a retired Deseret News reporter/editor, from 1979-2011. His email is lra503777@gmail.com. His Mystery of Utah History blog is at http://mysteryofutahhistory.blogspot.com.