Salt Lake City is the capital of Utah and was founded in 1847 as Great Salt Lake City by a group of Mormon pioneers led by their prophet, Brigham Young.   They extensively irrigated and cultivated the arid valley.  Today, Salt Lake City is still home to the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, also known as the Mormon Church).  Salt Lake City has developed a strong outdoor recreation tourist industry based primarily on skiing.  Our tour of the city hosted by an LDS member proved to be interesting.  The Capital Building may be the finest that I have visited.   The city as well as the county is laid out on a grid plan which to outsiders doesn’t make much sense and it confuses most GPS navigation systems but the local swear by it.  The grid origin is the southeast corner of Temple Square.  I don’t even begin to understand it but if it works for them, then so be it.  The streets are relatively wide, at the direction of Brigham Young, who wanted them wide enough that a wagon team could turn around without “resorting to profanity”.  These wide streets and grid pattern are typical of other Mormon towns of the pioneer era throughout the West.  We found the city to be charming for a large city and our interaction with the locals was a pleasant experience.

Some highlights of the city tour

Our tour concluded with a dinner at one of Brigham Young’s many homes.  This facility is near  Temple Square.  After dinner we took a leisurely tour of Temple Square, listened to the Tabernacle Choir practice in the new facility, visited the old Tabernacle and experienced the acoustics, viewed the famous organ, and enjoyed a beautiful evening promenade.  Course only LDS members in good standing are ever allowed to enter the Temple.  This was our last evening in Salt Lake City and it brought back many memories from my last visit in 1965.  If I wait as long again to visit the city I’ll be 104 years old.  Now that would be something to look forward to.

Photos of the Mormon Temple and surrounding grounds

We had a little time to kill before our 2 tours today so we decided to take a short drive to the Salt Lake City downtown area.  It almost started on the wrong foot.  I was driving up this one street about 25 to 30 mph when I noticed a car was tailgating me like there was no tomorrow.  Not being in a hurry I proceeded to pull over and motioned the car to go ahead since he obviously was in a bigger hurry than I was.  The car pulls even with me and then stops.  Not knowing what the hay was going on I pull out in front cause I figure this critter might be a bit nuts or something.  That’s when I notice in my rear view mirror that there are red and blue flashing lights on this car and I figure it must be an undercover cop car.  I proceed to pull over but I chose to keep my foot on the brake instead of putting the truck into park just in case.  I see the guy get out of his car and he has a gun and a badge hanging there but I’m still a little skeptical from having seen too many episodes of Law and Order.  I roll down the window as he walks up to me and he asked me if I was using five fingers when I motioned him to go around me (I actually did use my hand and not the Hawaiian Peace Sign) and I told him that I had.  Before I could tell him that I abhor tailgaters he informed me that the speed limit is 35 mph and if I don’t know where I’m going then I should pull over.  Unlike that professor in Cambridge, I kept my cool and was smart enough not to mouth off to someone with a gun …  Kind of rattled me a bit but we continued on our short view of the city none the less.

See a brief view of the Salt Lake City downtown area

Our first sightseeing tour was The Great Salt Lake and there is a good reason why it’s “The Great”.  This baby is over 75 miles long and 35 miles wide which makes it the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River.  Great Salt Lake is the remnant of Lake Bonneville; a great ice age lake that rose dramatically from a small saline lake 30,000 years ago.  Great Salt Lake is too saline to support fish and most other aquatic species.  Several types of algae live in the lake and only Brine shrimp and Brine flies can tolerate the high salt content and feed on the algae.  We didn’t swim in the lake but Karen did walk down to the shores and touch the salty water.  Course everyone knows that the lake is six times saltier than the ocean and this prevents anyone from going underwater which means that no one has ever drowned in the lake.  The seagulls actually feed on the brine flies by running down the beach with their mouths open.  Kind of like riding a motorcycle with your mouth open.  Bugs galore …  There’s also these big ugly spiders all over the place who everyday build their webs to capture brine flies and then at night they eat their own webs.  Sounds yummy!!

Here are some shots of Karen and I enjoying the sights and sounds of The Great Salt Lake

We then toured the Kennecott Copper Mine and I must admit that it is awe inspiring what man has done in 103 years.  The amount of rocks and minerals removed boggles the imagination.  It is the world’s largest man-made excavation.  It’s 2 3/4 miles across and 3/4 mile deep.  It’s so big that it can be seen by space shuttle astronauts as they pass over from outer space.  you could stack two Sears Towers on top of each other and still not reach to top of the mine.  I’ve visited the Nevada Test Site where nuclear devices were tested above and under ground and there is no crater there that compares to this excavation.  Kennecott produces approximately 300,000 tons of refined copper each year.  In addition to copper, the mine also produces about 400,000 ounces of gold, 4 million ounces of silver and 20 million pounds of molybdenum.  The mine is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.  Kennecott Bingham Canyon Mine has produced more copper than any mine in history – about 18.1 million tons.

See photos of the Kennecott Bingham Canyon Copper Mine and judge for yourself