Antelope Island
Antelope Iceland is the largest island in the Great Salt Lake ( Great Salt Lake ) in the U.S. state of Utah. Administratively, the island is part of the Davis County.
Geography
Antelope Iceland is located in the southeast of the lake and is connected by a 11 km causeway to the mainland towards Syracuse. The island is located in North-South direction 24 km long in east-west direction up to 7.8 km wide and has an area of 109 km ². The highest point of the island is the Frary Peak at 2011 meters above sea level, which corresponds to an altitude of 762 m above the Seelevel. The height of the coastline of the island is approximately at 1250 m above sea level, which occur by several meters over the years, the lake water level fluctuations.
History
Archaeological finds on the island suggest that the island was visited years ago, about 6000 people. The first evidence of white explorers come from the trapper Jim Bridger and the researcher Etienne Provost, who described the area around 1820, but the island gave no white name. It was not until 1845 that John Charles Frémont pioneers and Kit Carson dared at low water with their horses on the island and named it after occurring there Pronghorn antelope.
"There is at this southern end of the lake a large peninsular Iceland Which the Indians informed me Could at this low stage of the water be reached on horseback. Accordingly ... I took with me ( Kit) Carson and a few men and rode across the shallows. On the Iceland we found grass and water and several bands of antelope. Some of synthesis were killed, and in memory of the grateful supply of food They furnished, I gave their name to the Iceland. "
In 1969, the first 2000 acres acquired (809 ha ) in the north of the island because of the potential as a recreational area by the State. In 1981, the entire remaining area were almost acquired and declared to Antelope Iceland State Park. In 2005, each 200 Pronghorn antelope and bighorn sheep, 250 mule deer and 300,000 human visitors have been counted on the island.