ITD Summer Institute
Western Component

Field Trips

• July 16
• July 18
• July 20
• July 21

July 16

Liberty Park

The largest and most central property of the city's public park system, this 80-acre playground offers recreational activities for all:  the Children's Garden and boating pond, playground, amusement park and snack bar, swimming pool and a tennis park with 16 lighted courts. Recent developments have added a system of interactive  pools and fountains to depict the topography of the Salt Lake Valley.

Chase Museum of Utah Folks Arts

Picnic Dinner

• Chicken Pasta Salad
• Potato Salad (with eggs)
• Corn Relish
• Melons
• Challah Rolls
• Lemonade

July 18

Jordanelle Reservoir

Dams in Utah: http://www.usbr.gov/dataweb/html/utdams.html

Jordanelle was last major dam to be built  in Utah. As part of the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project it was proposed as an alternative to other storage dams on the Provo River, and was selected as the most economically feasible. When filled, waters impounded from the Jordanelle Dam  inundated the two small hamlets of Hailstone and Keetley.

The Jordanelle Dam site was challenged by various interests. One concern was that the site was geologically flawed. This argument was strengthened following the Teton Dam failure in 1976. There was concern from Park City mining interests that construction of the Jordanelle would flood sections of the Ontario Mine, prohibiting future mining there. Within Salt Lake County there was opposition to the Jordanelle and the whole Central Utah Project. A Salt Lake County Attorney's report suggested that backers of the CUP artificially created the need for the very expensive reclamation project. The report added that more efficient use of available water and increased development of ground water would solve the water crisis in Salt Lake and Utah counties. Other concerned citizens questioned the constitutionality of the CUP as well as the high cost of the Bonneville Unit.

Uintah Ouray Reservation

The intrusion of Mormon settlers onto Utah Indian lands in 1847 touched off an extended period of conflict between Mormons and several Ute (Nuciu) bands in particular. By 1860, Ute Indian agents suggested removing these Indians to the Uintah Basin. Brigham Young agreed to the proposal after satisfying himself that the isolated area was "one vast contiguity of waste," fit only for "nomadic purposes, hunting grounds for Indians and to hold the world together." In 1861, Abraham Lincoln set aside the Uintah Valley Reservation, comprising 2,039,400 acres in the Uintah Basin. By 1870 most members of the Tumpanuwac, San Pitch, Pahvant, Sheberetch, Cumumba, and Uinta-at bands of Utah Utes (collectively called the Uintah Band) resided on the Uintah Reservation.

In 1888 Congress removed a triangular "strip" of 7,004 acres containing valuable Gilsonite deposits from the eastern end of the Uintah Reservation, and in 1897 mining interests influenced Congress to begin allotment of the Ouray Reservation. In 1904, Congress approved 80-acre individual allotments for the Uintah and White River Utes of the Uintah Reservation. The Uintah-Ouray Reservation shrank from nearly four million acres in 1882 to a jointly owned 250,000-acre grazing reserve and 1,283 individual allotments totaling 103,265 acres by 1909. In 1905 the federal government withdrew over 1,100,000 acres for the Uinta National Forest and 56,000 acres in 1909 for the Strawberry Valley Reclamation project, throwing the remaining reservation land open for public sale. Sales of individual allotments further reduced Northern Ute holdings.

(See: http://www.onlineutah.com/uintah-ourayreservationhistory.shtml. Also: Donald Callaway, Joel Janetski, and Omer C. Stewart, "Ute," in Great Basin, edited by Warren L. D'Azevedo, vol. 11 of Handbook of North American Indians (1986); Fred A. Conetah, A History of the Northern Ute People (1982); Joseph G. Jorgensen, The Sun Dance Religion: Power for the Powerless (1972); Kathryn L. MacKay, "The Strawberry Valley Reclamation Project and the Opening of the Uintah Indian Reservation," Utah Historical Quarterly, 50 (Winter 1982); Floyd A. O'Neil, "Reluctant Suzerainty: The Uintah and Ouray Reservation," Utah Historical Quarterly, 39 (Spring 1971); Floyd A. O'Neil and Kathryn L. MacKay, A History of the Uintah-Ouray Ute Lands, American West Occasional Papers no. 10 (1979).)

We will be eating Indian tacos at the Ute Education Center. And a picnic lunch later in Heber or Park City:

• Southwestern Rice and Black Bean Salad
• Pasta Salad
• Spinach Dip with Baguettes
• Raw Vegetables

Park City

Precious metals in the mountains around Salt Lake City were first mined commercially in  the early 1860s. Colonel Patrick E. Connor of Fort Douglas iencouraged his men to prospect with the purpose of bringing non-Mormons into the Utah Territory. The first recorded claim of the Park City Mining District was the Young American lode in December 1869. Clearly by the 1870s, production in that area had begun, perpetuated by the discovery of a large vein of silver ore in what would become the Ontario Mine. In its heyday, it was considered the greatest silver mine in the world.

In May 1872, George Snyder and his family arrived in the mountain valley. Awed by the lush grasses and blazing wildflowers he christened the area, "...Park City, for it is a veritable park." In 1884, Park City incorporated. Prospectors found that silver proved to be abundant and dozens of mines in the Park City Mining District actively made shipments by the 1880s. The Daly Mining Company and Anchor Mining Company were two of the first major producers doing so well that even the national financial panic of 1893 had a marginal impact.

The mining boom of Park City brought hundreds of prospectors into the area. They set up camps along the hillsides near the mines, bringing with them diverse religions and ethnic traditions. Between 1870 and 1900, Park City's population increased by 40 percent. Originally, the town consisted of boarding houses, mills, stores, saloons, prostitute "cribs," theaters, and mine buildings. But by the 1880s, many prospectors had either sent for their families or were bringing them along, building houses and establishing schools. The first school in Park City was St. Mary's School operated by the Sisters of the Parish of St. Mary of the Assumption. City officials also organized sanitary committees and established a water system, telephone service, and chartered a fire company.

A number of spectacular fires mark Park City's history. Built primarily of wooden structures, the town experienced its worst destruction in June 1898. Canyon winds fanned the flames of an early morning fire. Within seven hours three-quarters of the town had burned causing over one million dollars in damage. The blaze was the greatest in Utah history. It left Main Street in ruins with only a few gaunt walls remaining of the 200 businesses, houses, and dwellings. Front-page newspaper headings put the fire alongside stories of the Spanish-American War. In the residents' haste to rebuild their town, they again built wooden structures in very close proximity, leaving the town vulnerable to future fires.

By the turn of the century, Park City mines had made such men as David Keith, Thomas Kearns, John Daly, John Judge, and Ezra Thompson, very wealthy. Class differences in Park City were instant and complex. Miners came from such places as the depleted mines in Nevada, Scotland, Ireland, and Scandinavia. Many of the Chinese who had worked on the transcontinental railroad came only to suffer severe bigotry. Societal status depended on one's economic holdings, occupation, ethnicity, religious affiliation, and membership in fraternal organizations. In Park City, success was enjoyed by a few, but produced by many; fortunes were made and lost, ultimately making millionaires of twenty-three men and women.  

The mining industry had a large impact on the economy of Utah, accounting for 78 percent of the state's total exports in 1882. Mines stayed healthy initially by merging or buying out weaker competitors. In 1925 the Park Consolidated Mining Company formed by merging Park City Mining and Smelting Company with the Park Utah and the Ontario Silver Mining Company. The new company discovered a gigantic body of ore and by 1928 emerged as the largest single silver producer in the United States.

 Shortly after World War I the mines experienced serious labor unrest. The only strike in Utah led by International Workers of the World (IWW) was in 1919, but lasted only one month. Other strikes persisted and the economy faced further crippling by the Great Depression. Oddly, the great demand for metals during World War II actually caused Park City mines to experience further suffering. By the 1950s, fewer than 200 men worked in the mines and Park City became distinguished as a "ghost town."

The late 20th century Park City transformed into a recreational facility. The Park City Ski Area was opened and the old mines were open to tourists. In a 1990 poll, it ranked second among North American ski resorts, leaving a legacy that had produced by the early 1960s, a total value of $500 million in silver, gold, lead, and zinc.

(See: http://historytogo.utah.gov/places/olympic_locations/historyofparkcity.html; David Hampshire, Martha Sonntag Bradley and Allen Roberts, The History of Summit County )

July 20

Kennecott Copper Pit

Important in the formation of the Utah copper industry in the late nineteenth century were Enos A. Wall, Samuel Newhouse, Daniel C. Jackling, and the Guggenheim family. Wall appreciated the potential of low-grade porphyry copper deposits and acquired important claims in Bingham Canyon in 1887. By 1890 underground copper mining had begun in the area. Daniel C. Jackling, a metallurgical engineer, and Robert C. Gemmell, a mining engineer, examined Wall's properties for Captain Joseph R. DeLamar's mining interests. They proposed mining these low-grade ores from the surface, a practice today called open-pit mining. They believed that the mass mining and production of low-grade copper ores was not only possible but also could be profitable. In 1898 Samuel Newhouse and Thomas Weir formed the Boston Consolidated Mining Company.

In 1903 Jackling and Wall established the Utah Copper Company. The company immediately constructed a 300-tons-per-day (TPD) gravity pilot mill at Copperton. By 1905 Jackling had persuaded Guggenheim Exploration to underwrite a $3,000,000 bond and purchase $500,000 of Utah Copper stock. This helped to set the stage for the first open-pit mining in Bingham. In 1906 steam-shovel operations began, with steam locomotive trains removing material from the canyon. Also that year, Kennecott Mines Company, named (although with altered spelling) for explorer and naturalist Robert Kennicott, was organized in Alaska by Stephen Birch, and the American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) started the Garfield Smelter to process Bingham ores.

Beginning at the turn of the century, a large influx of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and from Japan arrived in Utah to provide needed labor for the mining industry. In 1912 the Western Federation of Miners sought union recognition and, supported by a large contingent of immigrant laborers, struck Utah Copper Company. The strike did not win union recognition but did oust Leonidas Skliris, the dominant Greek labor agent, from power.

As the worldwide Great Depression hit in 1929, Utah Copper constructed a precipitate plant at the mouth of Bingham Canyon. In 1936 Kennecott acquired all the property and assets of the Utah Copper Company. That same year molybdenum (a metal used to strengthen steel) separation facilities were established at the Magna and Arthur mills. Construction of the central yard for expansion of rail operations began in 1937. Union recognition came in 1938 as Kennecott viewed unions as official employee bargaining representatives.

Wartime copper production pushed Kennecott into the national spotlight. In fact, the Bingham Canyon mine established new world records for copper mining and produced about 30 percent of the copper used by the Allies during World War II. During the war years many women worked in the mine, mills, and smelter. In 1944 the construction of its own power plant rendered Kennecott independent of outside sources for electrical power. That year also produced the first collective bargaining agreement of wages and working conditions.

Kennecott expanded its power plant in 1960 to a 175,000-kilowatt capacity. By 1961 Kennecott's copper mines included four large open pits in the western United States and one underground mine in Chile. In addition to those in Utah, operations existed in New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada. In 1963 the company began a four-year, $100,000,000 expansion of operations. Parts of this program led to the 1965 opening of a cone precipitate plant at Bingham, and the Bonneville concentrator and a molybdenum oxide production plant at the Garfield smelter in 1966.

Further expansion led to the demise of the town of Bingham, which ceased to exist in 1971. Later in that decade, the town of Lark also succumbed to mine expansion. In 1977 construction began at the Garfield smelter to comply with the Clean Air Act. By 1978 the 1,215-foot smokestack at the smelter was completed. The smelter ultimately captured 94 percent of the sulfur contained in the copper concentrates.

The year 1980 marked the beginning of a worldwide copper recession which initiated significant changes for Kennecott. Standard Oil of Ohio (SOHIO) in 1981 acquired Kennecott, including the company's Utah Copper operations which had over 7,500 employees. In 1985 operations ceased at the Bingham Canyon mine. New labor agreements were negotiated in 1986, and resumption of all Kennecott Utah Copper operations occurred in 1987. British Petroleum acquired total control of SOHIO in 1987, with Kennecott becoming part of BP Minerals America. In 1988 Kennecott announced a $400,000,000 modernization program under president Frank Joklik.

A revitalized Kennecott Utah Copper began 1988 with the completion of a peripheral tailing discharge system at the tailings pond near Magna, and the start-up of modernized facilities at Bingham and Copperton.

(See: http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/k/KENNECOTT.html;: T.A. Rickard, The Utah Copper Enterprise (1919); Kennecott Copper Corporation, All About Kennecott: The Story of Kennecott Copper Corporation (1961); Leonard J. Arrington and Gary B. Hansen, The Richest Hole on Earth: A History of the Bingham Copper Mine (1963).)

Antelope Island

Fremont Indians  lived on the island between  700-1300 A.D. when that Indian group ranged throughout Utah and adjacent areas of Idaho, Colorado and Nevada.

John C. Fremont and Kit Carson made the first known visit by people of European descent to Antelope Island in 1845. They killed several antelope on the island thus giving Antelope Island its name. By the 1930's the island's namesake had disappeared from Antelope Island. In 1993 a cooperative effort between the Utah divisions of Wildlife Resources and the State Parks and Recreation resulted in the reintroduction of 24 pronghorn antelope. By the 1995 fawning season the population had nearly doubled in size.

Fielding Garr established permanent residency on the island in 1848. He not only tended his own herds, but those of other stockmen as well. In 1849 Brigham Young asked Garr to manage the LDS Church's Tithing Herd, which was kept on the island until 1871. The Tithing Herd was utilized by the Perpetual Emigration Fund which was established to help needy Mormon converts immigrate to Utah. Recipients would reimburse the fund when circumstances would allow them to do so. Reimbursement was made in the form of livestock, which was considered better than cash. During this time the LDS Church also invested thousands of dollars in valuable stallions and brood mares which were turned loose on the island.

Satellite image of Great Salt Lake
 

A timeline of the Great Salt Lake

22,200 B.C.: Lake Bonneville, Stansbury level, 245 feet deep.
16,000 B.C.: Lake Bonneville, Bonneville level, 1,020 feet deep, as the climate becomes wetter.
14,800 B.C.: Lake Bonneville breaks through at Red Rock Pass, Idaho, making an outlet into the Snake Drive Drainage. Its level rapidly decreases.
14,200 B.C.: Lake Bonneville, Provo level, 640 feet deep.
10,800 B.C.: Lake Bonneville, Gilbert level, 75 feet deep, as a drier climage exists.
10,000 B.C.: The first humans may have arrived at the lake.
8,000-10,000 B.C.: The modern Great Salt Lake emerges.
A.D. 1776: Spanish explorers Escalante and Dominguez hear tales of a bitter sea that connects with Utah Lake.
1824: Jim Bridger and Etienne Provost become the first recorded white men to see the lake.
1843: John C. Fremont and Kit Carson explore the lake and visit Fremont and Antelope islands.
1847: First pioneers bathe in the lake.
1870: Lakeside and Lake Shore, the first two bathing resorts on the Great Salt Lake, emerge.
1873: The lake level reaches a historic high of almost 4,212 feet above sea level.
1890: Dropping lake levels decrease crowds to the lakeshore resorts.
1896: State gets ownership of the lake.
1903: Lucin railroad causeway cutoff is built near Promontory.
1963: The lake level drops to 4,191 feet above sea level.
1964: Most of the causeway to Antelope Island is built.
1969: The Antelope Island causeway opens.
1983: Rising lake levels close the Antelope Island causeway. (It was also temporarily washed out during numerous storms from 1969-1983.)
1986-87: Lake level almost reaches 4,212 feet.
1987-89: Pumps operate to lower the level of the lake.
1993: The causeway to Antelope Island reopens after reconstruction.
1997: The lake begins to rise again.
1999: The lake's level rises 1.5 feet since 1998.


"Miners" began extracting common salt from the lake in the mid-1800s. Other minerals like magnesium metal, chlorine gas, sodium and potassium sulfate and magnesium chloride have been extracted since the early 1960s, said J. Wallace Gwynn of the Utah Geological Survey. Today, six mineral extraction companies operate near the lake, using solar evaporation to concentrate the lake waters to glean minerals.

It is thought the Great Salt Lake contains 4.9 billion tons of salt — including deposits in the lake bed and the salty solution in the water. Much salt also remains in the West Pond that was used as a reservoir during the pump years in the 1980s.   

• Sodium chloride, or common salt, is harvested from commercial evaporation ponds, then collected and processed for use in water softeners or formed into salt-lick blocks for cattle.

• And you can thank the lake for ice-free streets on snowy, winter mornings. Most of the salt is used locally on Utah roadways.

•  Table salt is not produced at the lake. It simply costs too much in processing to guarantee purity.

•  Salt byproducts like potassium sulfate and magnesium-chloride brine are used for commercial fertilizers and as dust suppressants.

In 1997, in excess of 31 billion gallons of water was pumped from the Great Salt Lake by mineral harvesting companies. Total mineral extractions from the Great Salt Lake in 1997 were valued at about $230 million.
(See: http://www.davisareacvb.com/attractions/antelopeislandfacts.htm)

Picnic Lunch

• 3 salads

• cookies

Fort Buenaventura