Saltair Archaeology and Stewardship

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An old iron skeleton key, discovered during an archaeological dig at Saltair, 2018. What secrets did this get used to keep?

Since the tragic fire of 1970 that destroyed what still remained of the once-great Saltair II pavilion, the site has been left to be slowly reclaimed by the natural forces of the Great Salt Lake. The location of the first two Saltair resorts is now managed by the State of Utah under the authority of the Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands (FFSL). FFSL manages all the sovereign lands in Utah, or those lands that were navigable at the time of statehood such as Utah Lake, Jordan River, Bear River, and of course the Great Salt Lake. As Saltair sits on state lands, the archaeological legacy of this important part of Utah’s history is a protected resource under Utah State Code 9-8-305, which states it is illegal for anyone to remove artifacts from State Lands.

Drone footage of the boiler and foundation of the boiler house, with archaeologists documenting the site. The boiler is dated circa 1888, and was originally designed to provide power for the salt works to the east. This would have provided electricity to power pumps that pulled salt water out of the Great Salt Lake through wood barrel pipelines. The boiler is connected to the power lines running to Saltair, so it likely provided power to both locations after 1893.