Garfield Beach P.1

Near Black Rock. Was opened on June 28, 1887, and was named for the steamer the "General Garfield", which was anchored nearby. The beach was served by the Utah and Nevada Railroad, (later incorporated into the Los Angeles and Salt Lake, and now the Union Pacific RR). The beach had a bowery, shooting gallery, race track, ball grounds and boating facilities, in addition to 300 houses. This boat was originally to be used as a freighter. It had three decks and was seventy feet long. The redwood from which it was constructed came from California; the engines from Chicago. It was patterned after the Mississippi stern wheel boats. When the railroad came through in 1869 the boat was brought into service to carry passengers and freight to the southeastern shores of Great Salt Lake. The project didn't pay and it was abandoned. For a short time the craft was used as an excursion boat, making short trips from Garfield Beach. When resorts on the beach became popular the old boat was anchored permanently and a bathing resort was built around it. In 1876 a bathing resort was built on the southwest shore of the lake. It was called Lake Point. George O. Chase and Ephraim Garn built a resort between Centerville and Farmington in 1878 and called it Lake Shore Resort. This enterprise had a bicycle track and became famous in the territory for its races. The bicycles used were the "high wheels" with a large front wheel and a small one at the rear. About 1880 Alonzo Hyde and David John Taylor built a fashionable bathing resort at Black Rocks.