Utah GeoTour-Utah-Utah Lake State Park Traditional Geocache

Utah Lake State Park

Utah Lake is unique in that it is one of the largest freshwater lakes in the West and yet it lies in an arid area that receives only about 15 inches of rainfall a year. The mouth of the Provo River, where it empties into Utah Lake (the current site of the Utah Lake State Park), was undoubtedly a very popular camping place for the early inhabitants of Utah Valley.

Above: Utah Lake (credit: stateparks.utah.gov)

History

In fall 1776, the Dominguez – Escalante party traversed Spanish Fork Canyon and on September 21, climbed a small hill near its mouth and looked down upon the large lake situated in a vast valley. One member of that party, Bernardo Y. Pacheco, reported to his king, “This place is the most pleasant, beautiful and fertile in all New Spain.” From the time of Escalante’s exploration until the early part of the nineteenth century, no accurate records revealing further European travel to Utah Lake are available.

A thriving market for furs brought another breed of men into Utah Valley, the mountain men. Some who visited near the lake were Peter Skeen Ogden, Osborne Russell, Daniel T. Potts, Jim Bridger and Jedediah Strong Smith. Smith, who in a letter written in 1827, became one of the first men to mention Utah as the name of the lake. In 1844 and 1845, John C. Fremont visited the lake.

From the 1880s to the 1930s, +10 different resorts offering boat rentals, picnic facilities, dance halls, swimming pools, and bath houses served tourists at the lake. The most popular and longest-lived resort was Saratoga Springs, on the north shore. Saratoga Springs was best known for its natural hot springs, but also had waterslides and amusement park rides. It lasted from the 1860s until the floods of 1984 (the town of Saratoga Springs now lies where the old resort once was). 

Right: Leaflet from the Provona Beach Resort, one resort of many on Utah Lake. It was located where the Utah Lake State Park is now (source: utahlake.gov)

Recreation in Recent History

While these resorts were popular, and allowed for summer boating, many locals had been interested in construction of a facility on the lake that would permit them to launch boats year round. In 1933, an application requesting the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps was made and a marina was completed within a few years. Upon completion, Provo City began constructing shoreline picnic and camp facilities. The park opened to the public as a state park in 1967, and has been operated ever since.

Above: The Utah Lake State Park Marina, as seen today (source: Utah.com)

In the summer, fishing, water skiing, boating, camping, and picnicking are the most popular activities. During the winter, ice fishing, ice hockey and ice skating are popular on the lake especially at Utah Lake State Park, and Lincoln Beach. The main marina for Utah Lake is at Utah Lake State Park on the lake's eastern shore. Other popular marinas are at Saratoga Springs, American Fork, Lindon, and Lincoln Beach.

Wildlife & Conservation

Historically, there have been four species of amphibians, twelve species of reptiles, thirteen species of fish, 152 species of birds, and forty-two species of mammals found in the environs of Utah Lake. The dumping of raw sewage, destruction of natural habit, hunting, and the introduction of non-native fish species have sadly taken a toll on the native species in and around the lake. 

Several efforts have been undertaken to fix these issues. Birds were once considered a huge nuisance to game fish, and so many fish-eating birds had bounties placed on them, and their killing was promoted until the early 1900s, with tens of thousands of birds killed at Utah Lake alone. However, more progressive views of wildlife have emerged in the last several decades. A large part of the southern end of Utah Lake is now protected as the Utah Lake Wetland Preserve, meant to protect wetlands and wildlife, including over 200 different bird species that spend some time in the area.

Utah Lake also used to be a world-class fishery, but poor management & decisions decimated the native populations of trophy cutthroat trout, as well as the June Sucker, a fish only found in Utah Lake. The main culprit is carp, which have effectively coopted the entire lake ecosystem, and make up 90% of the lakes biomass. Major efforts are underway to reduce and eliminate the carp, and replace the native species (not without some controversy), but these and other efforts will hopefully in the years to come help the lake return to its former state.

Adapted from info from wikipedia.org, and stateparks.utah.gov by josephaw.

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