Black Rock, a limestone and quartzite rock formation on the edge of the Tooele-Salt Lake counties’ border, is one of the first places pioneer settlers explored after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.
It got its name from the Donner Party, which passed by the valley a year before that, and it would also become an unofficial measuring tool of Great Salt Lake water levels, before landing in the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
Now, the iconic rock formation is at the center of a bizarre land vandalism mystery. Utah land managers say they’re trying to figure out who installed a flagpole on it and started waving an American flag without authorization.
“It is illegal to construct structures on state land without a permit or to alter any historical resource,” Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands officials said in a statement on Monday.
It’s unclear when the flag was installed or why, but division officials first reported the flagpole issue on Friday.
The site is managed by the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands. State code bars people from constructing “improvements or structures on state lands,” such as a flagpole, without “written authorization from the division.” A violation is considered a class B misdemeanor.
“The issue is not about the flag but the flagpole that was installed into Black Rock. The division respects the desire to display the flag but needs to ensure it is done so in a proper and legal manner,” the agency added, noting that the rock formation is a “distinctive feature” with a long history that the division is “tasked with protecting.”
The division is currently exploring what to do with the flagpole as it reviews the matter. Its statement sparked a large online debate, where some people flocked to social media to support the flag’s placement, calling it a patriotic measure, while others expressed concerns that it could create a precedent at other unique or historically significant geographic locations in the state.
Those viewpoints are part of the ongoing review, division officials said.
“This flag has generated a lot of public interest, and we appreciate the dialogue around it,” the agency added. “We are working to find an appropriate solution while protecting the historical importance of the site.”