A Brief History of the Great Salt Lake

By Richard Markosian

The Great Salt Lake was born Lake Bonneville — the massive inland sea that covered the entire area that is now the Salt Lake Valley, Provo/Orem Valley, and well north of Ogden. The sea extended as far North as Idaho and South to Nevada. It was 150 miles from east to west and 250 miles from north to south.

Its shores extended high on the east “benches” and its waves lapped against the rocky shores of Mount Olympus Cove. In the late Pleistocene era, megafauna such as the wooly mammoth, mastodon and giant sloth roamed the area drinking from it’s fresh water. Giant turtles and alligators fed on the millions of shad and bass. Sea Lilies and scalloped-shaped brachiopods and even coral reefs made this a true inland sea teaming with life 20,000 years ago.

The ice-age lake was fed by permanent glaciers, which resided in the Wasatch Mountains. The glaciers in Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons were hundreds of feet thick. As the weight and pressure of these glaciers slowly moved and melted, they carved granite canyons, leaving massive granite boulders in their path.

Snow in the Wasatch Range was abundant for at least eight months per year due to the massive sea acting as a sink for lowpressure weather to draw and evaporate lake water and to feed clouds that would subsequently dump plentiful snow. This has been a fundamental weather cycle that provides such abundant streams, which have helped to carve out dozens of canyons along

Saltair: Circa 1930, when the Great Salt Lake was great for swimming

the Wasatch Range: City Creek, Red Butte, Emmigration, Parley’s, Millcreek and Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons being the most well-known near Salt Lake City.

As the global climate has warmed over the past 14,000 years, the waters of Lake Bonneville receded and formed Utah Lake in the South and The Great Salt Lake in the North. The Great Salt Lake still greatly impacts the Wasatch Front’s weather pattern. It feeds clouds. When there is high-pressure and warmer water on the lake, low-pressure clouds and storm systems stall in the valley and draw moisture from the lake. This can result in five or or even six feet of powder dumping in the canyons from a single “lake effect” storm.

Today, the lake is at record low levels. Sailboats that were wet docked in the GSL marina (aka: yacht club) for the past 25 years all now need to be removed as they are now resting on just a few inches of water. This is mostly due to our current 10-year drought conditions, but it’s also due to the lack of any system or plan to restrict any water usage or conserve water when drought conditions arise. The vast majority of the water that flows from the canyons is used for drinking, 85% for irrigation and our ubiquitous green laws and grass found in front of homes along the Wasatch Front.

As our population continues to swell, more of this mountain run-off water is required. Utah’s per-capita domestic water consumption is the second highest of all Great Basin states. Cheap, abundant water is something we could once boast about, but it’s now causing the Great Salt Lake to recede. As the surface area recedes and becomes dry ground, the evaporation and lake effect storms will cease to be as impactful. As a result, our $1 billion ski industry will suffer as well.

From the 1880s to the 1950s, visitors and residents floated and swam in the Great Salt Lake. But due to years of dumping untreated sewage and waste water into the lake, only brine shrimp consistently swim there today. Occasionally, the brave swimmer will test their buoyancy and float like a cork (I’ve done it twice in my life), but it’s a shame that it hasn’t been a priority to treat waste water better and maintain a nice swimming area for our Great Lake of the West.

The question remains now: will we allow the lake to evaporate and die? Or will we take measures to restrict water consumption and allow much more water to flow into the Great Salt Lake to restore its historic levels?

Ogden Buildings Stand The Test Of Time

Historic preservation creates continuity of culture

By Deann Armes

“Who doesn’t like to go back and see the place where they grew up?” said Ogden social entrepreneur and developer Thaine Fischer. “If it’s relatively unchanged and beautiful it gives us a sense of pride and security.”

Vacant, demolished or neglected old buildings with boarded up windows will quickly crumble. And nobody wants blight in their city. Thankfully, some key developers with a passion for honoring the city’s early builders and entrepreneurial spirit are currently undergoing thoughtful renovations in three of Ogden’s up-and-

coming areas: Windsor Hotel on Historic 25th Street, C.W. Cross building in the Ogden Central Business District, and the old Brown Ice Cream building in the soon-to-be Wonder Block are all getting a new lease on life.

The Brown Ice Cream Building is all that remains of the Hostess/Wonder Bread factory that operated for years in downtown Ogden. The city purchased the property and demolished the vacant factory in 2018 as part of the downtown revitalization plan. Just prior to the demo, Dan McEntee (The McEntee Group Consulting) says he spotted the historic Brown Ice Cream building and talked to the city about restoring it.

McEntee has completed several projects in Ogden over the last two decades including the Old Steven Henager Building on Grant Avenue, the Berthana Building, the Old Courthouse building, and the buildings that house two of his businesses — Angry Goat Pub and Kitchen and Roosters B Street Brewery.

“I grew up in Ogden and walked those streets my entire life,” said McEntee, who also built what is now Bingham Cyclery and Slackwater Pub & Pizzeria along Ogden River. “When the Mall was built downtown it basically destroyed Ogden’s atmosphere downtown.” But during his first building project, he realized that Ogden was beginning to grow and change.

“I started looking at old buildings and just got excited about trying to bring them back to their original design,” he said. “It’s a look that I really like.” When McEntee built the B Street Brewery, he added pieces of the past, and made the bar out of the old bridge that crossed the canal for the old Purina Dog plant.

Brown Ice Cream Co. founder John E. Brown was a civic leader, industrialist, and “public-spirited citizen” according to a biography found on FamilySearch by Melissa Francis at Weber State Special Collections. The document reads: “He was increasingly prominent in the development of community progress and the welfare of the people, and was one of the outstanding supporters of worthy causes and organizations.”

A Texas native, Brown arrived in Ogden, Utah in 1900 and founded the Brown Ice Cream Co. in 1904, and directed it over the course of four decades until his death in 1944. Mr. Brown, the transcript continues, was affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 719, and the Knights of Pythias, and was a popular figure in the Rotary Club, the Industrial Club of Ogden, and the Ogden Chamber of Commerce. His hobby was his business. “Primarily he had been an important business man, but equally well he had been a conscientious and devoted citizen of Ogden, to which he gave abundantly of his time and energies.”

City documents approving the sale of the building to McEntee state that due to its history and architectural significance, the Brown Ice Cream Building would remain. Since 2016, certain parcels of land had been acquired by the city and demolition of vacant buildings deemed obsolete had been part of pre-development activities for what is now called the Wonder Block, a mixed-use development project on six blocks between the old Wonder Bread factory between Lincoln and Grant and 25th and 26th streets.

McEntee plans to use the restored building as a mix of office and retail and/or a restaurant/bar, and said they would like to begin construction this summer.

Jared Allen (Restoration Realty) wants to buy every old historic building because, he said, “it just looks like fun,” and they’re like big art projects. Allen, real estate developer and founder of the Ogden Twilight Summer Concert Series, has been instrumental in breathing new life into Ogden for more than a decade. He’s made works of art out of sixty-plus historic homes and properties in East Central Ogden, CC Keller Building (Alleged Bar), and the Helena Hotel.

The Windsor Hotel will likely be similar to what Allen has done with Helena Hotel, in which he created a boutique hotel on the second and third floors, with the first floor leased to Lucky Slice and his new bar, Unspoken, out of the basement.

Helena Hotel was home to some folks who were slightly less than law abiding back in Ogden’s wild railroad days during prohibition. On Friday, March 27, 1931, the Ogden Standard-Examiner reported that Jennie Boli, a 36 year-old proprietor of a delicatessen in the Helena hotel block was arrested after police found 28 gallons of wine and a few gallons of whiskey in the corner of a small room — potentially in the basement where Unspoken bar resides now. Manager of the Helena, H. Brummell was arrested on gambling charges in the basement at 2313 Washington Avenue, where he was the dealer, as reported by the Ogden Standard-Examiner on Wednesday, July 4, 1928.

The history of the Windsor Hotel is rather elusive. Allen said, “I know it operated as a bit of a flop house most recently … maybe 15ish years ago before being gutted. We found old glass that had signs for a bar on the first floor.”

A listing in the 1903 Polk Directory for 166 25th Street cites the property as a saloon.

According to Special Collections at Weber State: “In 1913 it was listed as a restaurant operated by Frank Okumura, and the site was first listed as a hotel in 1915 when Alice Chandler, who had operated a rooming house on 24th Street previously, moved there and opened the Weber Hotel. Alice ran the Weber Hotel until her death in 1919. The hotel changed hands a few times after that, and eventually the name was changed to the Windsor Hotel, about 1930. (There had been another Windsor Hotel in Ogden previously on 103 25th Street).”

On August 4, 1906, Dottie Magi, “one of the greatest trance mediums” of the traveling Magi Company, passed through town and delivered a “dead trance” in the window of 166 25th Street.

Allen hopes to have the hotel portion finished by the end of the year, but said it’s tough to give an exact completion date on old buildings. The front of the Windsor Hotel is almost done, and they have plans to change the siding and add balconies to the sides and in the back. The second and third floors will be a boutique hotel, a total of eight rooms, and the first floor and basement likely leased for retail.

“You can’t build buildings like this anymore,” said Allen. “People care about the history of their community and they want to see that preserved. If we bulldoze everything and bring in the same 20 chains you see off every exit in America, then we lose our identity and we send all of our hard earned dollars outside of the community.” “He came to Ogden from England a poor boy, and among strangers, started to build a home and a name, and, before he was called away, he had achieved success in both undertakings beyond the average man.” — Obituary for Charles W. Cross in the Ogden Standard-Examiner, Monday, May 4, 1903.

The Cross building was built in 1883

by Charles W. Cross for his harness and saddles store that carried on through four generations following his untimely death at age 44, including his grandson Ken, and great-grandsons Tony and Craig. The Cross Company became famous for Cross Western Wear running operations continuously until they closed in 2005 after 127 years in business.

Cross built the building at 2246 Washington Boulevard using materials available in the community and surrounding areas. Ogden Standard-Examiner, Sunday, November 23, 1975 reported: “He bought red bricks from a local kiln and roughcut red pine lumber from a sawmill in Ogden Canyon. Building solidly, he made his floor joists from 3x12s and fashioned the ceiling with red pine nailed together with square nails.” The Cross family was deeply involved in the sport of rodeo, said Melissa Francis from Weber State Special Collections. Kenneth Cross, grandson of Charles W. Cross, was frequently on Pioneer Days organizing committees, and the store offered prizes to Miss Ogden Rodeo queens. Kenneth’s sons, Tony and Craig, competed in rodeos and were members of Weber State’s rodeo team.

Thaine Fischer (Fischer-Regan Enterprises, LLC) is a social entrepreneur who has been revitalizing Ogden’s downtown core for over a decade. He has successfully redeveloped over ten historic commercial properties including The Monarch, Peery Lofts, OCA Platforms, The Bonneville, Pig & A Jelly Jar, Even Stevens, Stella’s on 25th, and Executive Suites at 2444 Washington Boulevard. His next endeavor is the C.W. Cross Building and neighboring property on 2242, which he purchased in the last few years.

“It was an amazing piece of architectural legacy with a rich history in our community,” said Fischer, explaining why he was interested in the property. “It also had a beautiful facade with very interesting programming opportunities.” He plans to keep the building name “C.W. Cross” intact to honor the legacy of the building.”

Fischer said detailed plans for the spaces aren’t solid yet, as they are still getting a feel for what is possible based on parking, building code, and programming. “But we have so much to work with and I am excited about its future.” The 2242 building will be completed this year, and the Cross building sometime later.

The building at 2242 was previously owned by Marsha Bosworth, whose family bought it from the Crosses in the 1930’s. Her father-in-law, Curtis Charles Bosworth, ran a furniture store in the space for 60 years, successful, she said, because the people of Ogden were so kind to support him. “He got a reputation for having the best deals and would sell anything for a small profit,” she said.

Her oldest son, Brian Curtis Bosworth, started his mountain living-style furniture from the building after his grandfather became ill, and renovated the upstairs to its original brick and wooden structure. “He helped a gifted carpenter leave the life of drugs, and together, they did the beautiful window trim,” said Bosworth. “Ogden has been a great place to do business for our family.”

“By rehabilitating our historic and iconic buildings, I believe it pays respect to the vision of our industrious, entrepreneurial and visionary business leaders,” said Fischer. “Additionally, it honors all of those who came before me and operated a business which ultimately helped preserve the building, and I get to pass on that baton for another 30-50 years to future generations.”