| Description |
April-June 1850 Saturday May 4 After walking some two miles across the sandy bed of the lake I came to a spot where sage & grease bush were thickly scattered over the surface; forcing my way through this vegetation I came suddenly upon a large lagoon, hidden by a ridge until clear upon its precipitous shore; I then turned in a more southerly direction & ascended an eminence covered with huge blocks of tufa, which were in many places strongly oxidized with Iron, near this spot Mr Carrington also picked up bitumens9 which he supposes to be erratic, being washed on the shore by the waters of the lake. I followed the trail of a wolf"" until I came to, what from the hair & bones scattered about, I judged to be their lair but in the course of my walk I saw nothing alive save lizards & insects. The camp was charmingly situated. The tents were pitched on a bench of the mountain commanding an extensive view of the lake with its numerous Islands, immediately under the descent the cooking fire was lit & from this point the shore covered with the usual vegetation of the country sloped to the waters edge? Sunday May 5. After a long nights repose, we discussed our sub- stantial breakfast, & then I accompanied the Capt. & Mr C. on a s9 The Stansbury party was evidently the first to report the presence of hydro- carbons, "bitumen: or the petroleum that forms it," in the Great Salt Lake area. Several short articles during 1904 and 1905 reported the occurrence of asphalt substances, and in the late 1800s and early part of this century gas was often encountered when water wells were blown out. Just before 1900 two small fields of gas near Farmington, Utah, were put into production from sands ranging 400 to 700 feet in depth. Asphalt seeps near Rozel Point (where Stansbury established his Camp No. 6) has encouraged drilling for oil at shallow depths which has resulted in a cumulative production of 2,896 barrels of oil at the rate of 5 to 10 barrels per day. In November 1977 the Amoco firm began drilling the first of six proposed wells in the north end of the lake expecting to penetrate to a depth of 10,500 feet. By 1980 the company had invested about $50 million in drilling in the north and central sections of the lake. There has been one discovery so far, near Rozel Point at the head of the lake. The crude oil from this well is quite thick and heavily loaded with sulphur. Gwynn, Great Salt Luke, pp. 115-24; Carrington, Journal, 5 May, p. 10. 6o Hudson may have seen the spore of a wolf for predators were fairly numerous in Utah at this time. Bounties were offered for killing wolves and other predatory animals and birds. 61 At this camp the water was deep enough for the yawl to be anchored near the shore, and Stansbury saw the commercial possibilities and speculated that a particularly fine specimen of limestone near at hand could be transported by boat across the lake to Black Rock and from thence by land transportation the remaining twenty miles to Salt Lake City. Stansbury, Journal, vol. 4,4 May. 149 |
