The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-02-21

Gunnison Island, in the Great Sal
lake, claimed much attention from tn,
press and the public a year or more
ago on account of the fight between
Salt Lake n Ogden companies. made
over h alleged rich deposits of guanc
there.
1t was said at n time that a sur
vey, made by a competent man, had
shown that there was. in sight, enough
guano, at the hen prevailing prices,
to make several Salt Lakers or Og-
denites, as the case might have been,
multi-millionaires. As a result there
was a great rivalry. A company was
formed in Salt Lake and also one in
Ogden. Behind each, according to the
promoters of each, al unlimited
money and intentions to max the is
land a wealth producer beyond even
the dreams of the widest. There was
to be a fleet of boats put on the lake;
a regular line was to be established;
the wealth of the Ontario and the
DAILY and the Silver King and the
Horn Silver and, in fact, all the great
mines of the west, was to be dwindled
into a mere bagatelle compared with
the riches that were to be hauled from
GunniSon Island.
Time went on. Considerable work
and hard work, too-was done. Much
money was spent; much anxiety fol-
lowed; law suits were frequent on
paper and more frequently in the air.
The Central Pacific, ever anxious as
to its own interests, took a hand n
sent out a surveying party, hoping
that it would find the island was within
its grants from the government. In a
word, excitement reigned supreme for
a time. Then did it die almost as
quickly as it arose.
Gunnison Island was forgotten.
The gulls and the pelicans, whose
home the peaks and cragS and shores
had been for untold years, noticing
the absence of the strange creatures
men-who had invaded their abode for
a time, returned to their old haunts
and took up their vacated quarters.
The old time silence settled down once
again.
The fact that there was such a piece
of land on the face of the earth or ris-
ing out of the Dead Sea of America was
almost forgotten until a few days ago,
when Alfred Lambourne, Salt Lakes
prominent a~rtiSt-author, entered the
land office in this city and announced
his intention of demonstrating" the
greater portion of the island-in fact,
all that is not really held by the Cen
trail Tor Southern) Pacific. The paper
were duly drawn up, the requisite
money paid, and all that Mr.. Lam
bourne now has to do to become the
possessor of the island is to comply
with the requirements of the law,
which he at nee proposes to do.
The island, or at least portions of it,
has beer variously entered as placer"
desert" etc, but such entries have
either been thrown out by the govern
ment or relinquished and it is believed
that Mr.. Lambourne has taken the
right course in the matter this time.
Il know the island" said Mr.. Lam
bourne to a Herald reporter last even
ing, better than any other man living
of Captain D. l.. Davis, who
has been my companion on most of
the tours taken by me. 1 have the
honor of being the only man who has
and photographed it under
various circumstances. 1t is, without
doubt, the most beautiful of all the is
lands in the Great Salt Lake, and has
been visited the least on account of
hard work necessary, at times, to
get there. In a very limited space
its entire shore line cannot exceed
three miles-Gunnison Island exhibits
beetling cliffs, sandy beaches, grot-
and Dinnacles-at times 1t re-
sembles a 'sea-beat Hebrides', at others
lonely rock on the Azores. There
is no more romantic, no more wildly,
wierdly, beautiful spot IN the American
continent"
Yes" sugge- Herald man,
but one canno live on wild and
wierd' things"
NO, and 1 will not have to- said he.
There is no more appropriate place
in Utah for a mammoth vineyard than
certain portions of Gunnison Is
and. The soil is such as would make
he average grape grower wild with
1t is in its virgin state, and
i is enriched every winter by the
countless gulls and pelicans who have
that lonely spot in the Great
Salt Lake for a home. In fact, it will
an ideal vineyard. The portion
hat l have homesteaded also contains
me of the most picturesque and avail
lble beaches ever seen in the world"
And we are to infer, 1 oppose from
Jour action, that o are about to Sc
yourself from you fellow men
go down in history as the Hermit
If the Gunnison?'"
Not at all. But a residence on the
sland will give me an opportunity TO
the
In other words" the reporter inter-
upted. "Gunnison Island will afford
a strange and unique studio, from
which you may watch and record by
PENCIL n pen, the many beautiful
Genes that are to be witnessed only
lpon the bosom of the Dead Sea of
Is that your scheme?"
We'll, partly. But my plans will
'robably be fully matured ere long.
1t present it is sufficient to say that / (
ave homesteaded Gunnison Island"
y
T- T;Ho UY.-4I --