A CRUISE ON GREAT SALT LAKE 
It is uncertain who was the first white visitor to 
Great Salt Lake. Probably the honour belongs to 
that adventurous Canadian, James Bridger, but 
possibly to early trappers. Too much reliance can- 
not be placed in the statements of some trappers, as 
the line between what they have actually seen, and 
what they have heard, is sometimes ill-defined, and 
the temptation to round the story out is often irre- 
sistible—their knowledge of the local languages 
again, and their familiarity with local traditions, 
giving them the whip hand. Beyond the shadow of 
a doubt the first white man to enter the valley was 
an exploring priest called Escalante. This man, in 
1776, made his way down what is now called Span- 
ish Fork Canyon, and from the Indians he met, 
heard of the wonderful body of water a few leagues 
farther north. Escalante was not sufficiently curi- 
ous to visit its shores, but skirting the south of 
Utah Lake went on his way. From this padre, 
we first hear of the water fowl found on Utah 
Lake, and his Reverence, I am sure, was sportsman 
enough to try his hand at the canvasbacks and 
redheads. As there were no restricting laws in 
those days he probably did pretty well, but he 
wisely left no record of his bag lest the perusal 
of it might shake the confidence of the public in 
his other statements. 
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