Delicate Beauty
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by Marden Pond
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Introduction:
Covering an average of 1,700 square miles, Utah’s Great Salt Lake is the largest salt lake in the Western Hemisphere. Bordered on the west by arid desert, barren hills, ridges, and vast salt flats, and on the east by the majestic Wasatch Mountains, the lake has no outlet besides evaporation.
Driftwood Pylons
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by Marden Pond
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Its shores and islands provide a habitat for millions of migratory birds, including various species of pelican, seagulls, avocets, and numerous others. Far saltier than ocean water, the lake is rich in minerals that account for its varied colored waters.
Enchanter's Wand
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by Marden Pond
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Alfred Lambourne – artist, author, and musician:
The salty water is also the home for numerous nearly-microscopic brine shrimp. The "lonely solemnity" (Lambourne) of the lake and its surroundings are a source of wonder and intrigue for those who visit this remarkable place.
Lambourne Bay Lion Cub
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by Marden Pond
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Born in England in 1850, Alfred Lambourne migrated to Utah with his parents in 1866. A gifted, mostly self-taught artist, he became fascinated with the scenery of the American West, sketching and painting scenes from many of the places he visited. In Utah, Lambourne was especially drawn to the stark and other-worldly quality of the Great Salt Lake and its environs.
Gunnison Island on the Horizon
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by Marden Pond
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In 1895-1896 Lambourne spent a year in solitude, living on the lake’s Gunnison Island. His hope was, as a homesteader and “permanent” resident, to claim ownership of the island, but he was unsuccessful in his attempts to initiate the raising of grapes. He planted 1,000 plants, but could find no fresh-water source on the island. (His drinking water was “captured” through condensation basins.)
Gunnison Island Salt Tablets
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by Marden Pond
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Lambourne wrote a series of newspaper articles about his time on the island, which were later published as a book,
Our Inland Sea: The Story of a Homestead.
Guano Sifter Hut
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by Marden Pond
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His writing is vivid and deeply moving; his experiences on the island providing a colorful and engaging narrative of his island cabin, his loneliness, and his interaction with the birds and visiting guano harvesters (who sifted the bird droppings and sold them in Salt Lake City for fertilizer).
Noonday Mirage
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by Marden Pond
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Lambourne’s love for the Lake can be seen in the remarkable drawings and paintings he created of its water-and-rock vistas, languid mirage-like images, and dramatically changing weather.
Lambourne Bay Looking South
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by Marden Pond
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Into his island cabin, Lambourne had brought an expansive library of revered classic literary masterworks, and even a piano. He died in 1926. Owing to his writings and deep connection to the Great Salt Lake, Lambourne has been called "Utah’s answer to Henry David Thoreau."
Rock Hill Rock Wall Jetty
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by Marden Pond
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Alfred Lambourne wrote: "Under certain conditions, a place becomes a part of us; we own it. We absorb it into our lives. It cannot be taken from us. It is ours, and without title or deed. We are associated with a certain spot of earth, we have our lives shaped by it, or, if that be not the case, we stamp the place with our individuality. THIS PLACE IS MINE."
Shoreline Rocks and Blossoms
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by Marden Pond
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The Remnants on Gunnison Island:
Gunnison Island is an isolated one-mile-long island in the northwest arm of the Great Salt Lake. Near it rises its tiny island companion, Cub Island. Today, access to the island is restricted, being an important sanctuary for pelicans, seagulls, and other migratory birds. (There are no natural predators on the island.)
Trestlewood
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by Marden Pond
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All that remains of man-made structures on the island today are the triangulation tower (or "crows nest") built by Captain Howard Stansbury’s 1850 expedition, and the wood-frame remnants of one of the guano sifters shacks. Some driftwood from the early-1900s Great Salt Lake railroad trestle also dot the beach.