Is about 35 by 75 miles in size, averaging 20 to 30 feet deep, from dry to wet periods of weather. The salt content ranging from 15% to 28% by weight. The water contains about six billion tons of salt, enough to load 5 trains of ordinary freight cars reaching tot he moon. First mentioned by Baron La Hontan in 1689, then by Father Escalante in 1776, the lake was first discovered in December 1824, by James Bridger, a 20 year old fur trapper. Other trappers examined it from 1825 to 1835, and many California emigrants skirted it from 1841 to 1855. John C. Fremont made the first scientific investigation and report of the lake in 1843-4-5, and Howard Standsbury made the first survey of the depth outline and islands in 1849-50.
The lake is the residue of prehistoric lake Bonneville, once 1000 feet deep, overspreading northwestern Utah. Its ancient wave-cut shorelines are still plainly visible on the mountains standing near, and in the lake.
