The Road Less Travelled

There are 2 aspects of my genetic code that you can count on...I will ALWAYS choose a spontaneous adventure over even the best laid plans and I will ALWAYS choose the road less travelled. (Literally...not figuratively...) A couple of years ago I heard about a place in Salt Lake City called Saltair that used to sit out on the edge of the Great Salt Lake. I started to do a little research and was completely spell bound by this little piece of history that I found. I became a little obsessed.

Here is what the Salt Flats at the edge of the Great Salt Lake look like today:

But if you had walked out this path a hundred years ago, here is what you would have seen:

It was Salt Lake City's western version of the famed "Coney Island" in New York. I quickly ordered myself a book about the resort on Amazon and have longed to go on an adventure to see the old site all summer. Finally, on Labor Day, all my Saltair dreams came true! It was fascinating and intriguing and an absolutel marvel to me. I love history. I love historical sites and stories. I love standing in the actual spot and reading accounts and looking at pictures of what was once there. You can still feel the spirit of a place or time period even if nothing tangible is standing there. It is such an interesting story and such a forgotten piece of Utah history. I'm not going to do it justice...but I'm going to call on help from a blogger that shares my passion and has done a fantastic job recalling and recording Saltair memories. Please take a minute and click on over ...

Bonneville Mariner (scroll down the page for lots of pictures and history!)

The following excerpts are from the excellent historical account of Saltair found in the book "Saltair" written by Nancy D. McCormick and John S. McCormick, 1995 (University of Utah Press)

The Mormon church established Saltair in an effort to provide a wholesome place of recreation under church control for Mormons, particularly families and young people. For the previous ten years or so church officials had been concerned about "pleasure resorts" and their harmful influence on members of the Mormon church, especially young men and women (20). Construction on Saltair began in January 1893. It was built on a platform over the water held up by twenty-five-hundred ten-foot pilings of native pine. (23)

Saltair opened to the public on Memorial Day 1893 and was officially dedicated on June 8 (32).

Saltair was extremely popular from the first. People flocked there, making Saltair their summer outing place. Sometimes they made a day of it. They rode the train out early in the morning, bringing picnic lunches and dinners, changes of clothing and swimming paraphernalia; then, weary but exhilarated after a day of swimming, dancing picnicking, and rides, they climbed aboard the midnight train back to Salt Lake (35).

 When it opened Saltair's main attractions were swimming and dancing. Swimming at Saltair was an event--people loved bobbing around like a cork and having their pictures taken with their feet out of the water. On ordinary days hundreds of people, and on weekends and special occasions thousands, swam at Saltair (41).

People also loved to dance. Saltair's dance floor was advertised as the largest in the world, and it may have been though Coney Island's Dreamland also advertised it ballroom as the world's largest. On special occasions two bands played, one at each end of the floor, one picking up when the other stopped so that dancing was continuous (42).

Picnic and luncheon areas, a restaurant, snack bars, and restrooms were on the first floor of the pavilion. The grand staircases rose to a "large and magnificent dancing hall, dressing rooms, clubrooms, and ladies and gents parlors" on the second level.

Early in the spring of 1925 Saltair caught on fire. It took 26 hours for firemen to put out every ember. Whe nit was all over, only the bathing pier, beach office, merry-go-round, pilings, and giant racer rollercoaster were still standing. Everything else was destroyed. (54)

On May 29, 1926 a newly reconstructed and rebuilt Saltair was opened. While it maintained its popularity throughout the next decade, by the end of the 1930's the resort was experiencing major difficulties because of the Great Depression, the harsh climate out on the Great Salt Lake, fluctuating water levels, the emergence of the silver screen as a major source of entertainment, and the opening of Lagoon, a new amusement park located several miles from Saltair. It continued operation for several more years but finally closed its doors for good on January 9, 1959. Saltair spanned an era of sixty-four years.

Saltair sat empty and abandoned for many years until a fire in November 1970 completely destroyed what was left of the grand, old amusement park.

 On the left, you can see Saltair in its prime...on the right is what remains of it today.

In the mid 80's, a team of 4 Utah businessmen tried to recapture the spirit of Saltair by building what they called "Saltair III" located 2 miles from the original site. It never took off and today the building is old, decrepit, and downright scary.

We started the day at the current Saltair III site where you can also see the 4th largest something tall in the world. It is late at night and I can't remember what it is...I'll think about that one.

Despite the dead seagulls and enormous amounts of sand flies, we waded out to the water.

 I have a strict policy about not walking into "natural" bodies of water where I can't see the bottom and don't have a clear idea about what lives there. I have had this policy since I was a little girl. So the rest of the family waded on in and I stood on the side as official "photographer".

It takes .2 seconds for my kid's shoes to come off when they see open water. They didn't get that impulse from me...or my sister Abby...or my mom.

This is the creepy Saltair III that stands today. It looks  like a factory building with onions on top. I'm not a very clever business person but I could have told you this idea wasn't very good from the beginning. And it was weird and creepy inside.

In the gift shop you could buy really, really old stale pieces of salt water taffy, some magnets, and look at a model of the original Saltair.

But my favorite was driving out to the original Saltair site and following the pilings down to the water where the resort once stood. It was a long, long walk but completely fascinating to me as I looked at pictures in my book and contemplated the current landscape. It is unbelievable to me what once stood there. It is so barren and empty today.

The water levels are actually quite high right now so we weren't able to see some of what is normally there.

"Significant remains still lie along the overgrown trestle that leads to the pavilion site. I followed it, stopping periodically to examine the original salt-crusted pilings that supported the boardwalk. Pilings marking the Giant Racer’s route also remain along with half-buried strips of metal that the bulldozers missed. The site of the old Ship Café is littered with ceramic fragments of plates, cups, and saucers. Anything completely intact was scavenged long ago.
As I traced the outline of the pavilion, I pondered the strange dichotomy this site presents. Here, two mindsets have always coexisted at odds with each other: the easy-going beach groove that Saltair attempted to harness, and the harsh desert environment that eventually did it in." (copied from Bonnevillemariner.com).

It was such an interesting experience! Another Utah treasure that I will cherish having had the chance to explore. I loved it!

My camera battery died as we were visiting the site so I didn't capture the events of the rest of the fun day. We visited the Gilgal Sculpture garden, a very unique garden of sculptures done by one artist in the backyard of his Salt Lake home. You would never, ever know it was there unless you knew where to look. It was bizarre and completely fascinating. I'll take you there next time you come to visit...

And then because we were concerned that we hadn't tortured our children enough, we stopped at Red Butte Gardens, one of our favorite garden places in Utah! They have an amazing children's garden and herb garden. And to top it all off, it was free admission on Labor Day. Doesn't get better than that!

As we were walking the gardens, JC was looking a little tired. When I asked him if he was ready for a nap he said, "Yes! Can't you see the sacks of eggs under my eyes?" I was a little perplexed. It took me a minute to realize he was talking about the "bags" you get under your eyes. Sacks of eggs....

We ended the day with hot dogs and corn off the cob at Jane & Thomas' house! Thank you cousins for hosting dinner!

Are you still reading? Good grief. Go to bed. But thanks for sticking around so long!