The Black Rock on

Great Salt Lake The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particula ...

near

Lake Point, Utah Lake Point is a city on the eastern edge of northern Tooele County, Utah, United States. It is located 17 miles southwest of Salt Lake City International Airport and 11 miles north of Tooele, Utah. At its location on the south shore of the Great ...

is a historic landmark. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2021 as part of the Black Rock Site. The site includes Black Rock and foundation ruins of the former Black Rock Resort. The site was the location, in 1847, of "the first recreational bathing in the Great Salt Lake in recorded history." The ill-fated

Donner Party The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in th ...

, taking the

Hastings Cutoff The Hastings Cutoff was an alternative route for westward emigrants to travel to California, as proposed by Lansford Hastings in ''The Emigrant's Guide to Oregon and California''. The ill-fated Donner Party infamously took the route in 1846. Des ...

alternative route to California, came by in 1846. Journal entries and interviews describe the Donner Party meeting the "Hastings Trail" on the south side of the Great Salt Lake in August 1846. In later interviews Donner Party member, Reed, was quoted multiple times saying that they had met Lansford Hastings near the landmark (on the eastern border of Lake Point) known as Black Rock and that they were the ones who had given the rock its name. The rock was described in 1870 by travel guide writer Fitz Ludlow as grim and ugly, yet part of a charming scene:

"A fifteen minute orseride, and Black Rock rose grim and ugly, like the foundation of some ruined tower...we had expected a grim and desolate landscape; a sullen waste of brine, stagnating along low ready shores, black as
Acheron The Acheron (; grc, Ἀχέρων ''Acheron'' or Ἀχερούσιος ''Acherousios''; ell, Αχέροντας ''Acherontas'') is a river located in the Epirus region of northwest Greece. It is long, and its drainage area is . Its source is ...
, gloomy as the sepulcher of Sodom. Never had
Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
a greater surprise for us. The view is one of the most charming which could be imagined." (Ludlow 1870:385)

It has been depicted in landscape paintings and lithographs of many artists including

Alfred Lambourne Alfred Lambourne (February 2, 1850 – June 6, 1926) is an English-born American artist and author. In the 1860s, he and his family moved to the American West with the Mormon pioneers. He is best remembered for his paintings, but he also wrote ...

, George M. Ottinger, Waldo Midgley, James Taylor Harwood, and

Albert Tissandier Albert Tissandier (1839 – 5 September 1906) was a French architect, aviator, illustrator, editing, editor and archaeologist. He was the brother of adventurer Gaston Tissandier with whom he collaborated in writing the magazine ''La Nature'' ...

. The Black Rock itself measures approximately tall upon an approximate base. Over the years, it has been an isolated rock out in the lake, or upon a peninsula into the lake. While the Black Rock is entirely in

Tooele County Tooele County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 58,218. Its county seat and largest city is Tooele. The county was created in 1850 and organized the following year. Tooele County ...

, the entire site listed is an area about and spans into

Salt Lake County Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The coun ...

References

External links

National Register of Historic Places in Tooele County, Utah National Register of Historic Places in Salt Lake County, Utah Individual rocks Great Salt Lake {{Utah-NRHP-stub

See also

References

External links