Inspired by the thread about the sinking of the “Edmund Fitzgerald”, I was wondering if there have been any similar disasters on the Great Salt Lake (Utah).
I don’t know if there is any commercial shipping on this lake-but surely there are storms on it.
Anybody know?
as far as i know the great salt lake is a terminal lake and there isn’t any shipping on it. recreational boating yes, big boats no.
there are lake effect snow storms in the winter. wind driven waves that can cause grief for those not familiar with the lake.
No shipping at all, that I know of. Despite its size, the average depth (according to Wikipedia) is only 33 ft. The shores have a very gentle slope, and the size of the lake changes depending on the water level. There’s even a railroad causeway built across the lake.
Actually, since you’re asking about disasters on the lake, there was a train crash on the Lucin Cutoff in 1944 that killed 48 people.
When you drown in a railroad train you really know it just wasn’t your day.
I went “swimming” in The Great Salt Lake once.
It involved a mile-long hike through gradually damper and damper mud … which at some indeterminate point became a sticky, stinky slurry … which at some other indeterminate point became a warm, brackish shallows teeming with brine shrimp.
When the water finally got up to our knees, we flopped down in the stink and wallowed around for a few minutes before slogging back to the car.
It was true what they say though, we did float REALLY well.
A bunch of poor bastards got washed away in a train in the 1900 Galveston hurricane. A small group had decided to make a break for a nearby lighthouse and made it. I’ve often thought I wouldn’t have had the guts to leave the train and would have died an awful watery death.