Volume Overview: I always lay out a proposed route for each journey before leaving my home base in Billings, Montana. Part of the fun is the months of research and planning prior to departure! This spring’s trip is a bit abbreviated, but the plan is to dash west from Billings to Portland, Oregon, for some business; head down the west side of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada to Yosemite National Park in California; cross the mountains heading east to Reno/Sparks, Nevada; trek through the northern deserts of Nevada up to Twin Falls, Idaho; explore the Jackson Hole area of Wyoming; and then head back to Billings through Yellowstone National Park and Cody, Wyoming. Let’s get rolling! The joy of being retired and travelling in your own house is flexibility! The weather is forecast to turn stormy and cold for the foreseeable future so the plan has changed. Now the plan is to head from Sparks to Salt Lake City, then north to Yellowstone Park, and then, if the roads are still open, across to Cody, Wyoming and then to Billings. We’ll see if the new plan works out!
Sparks, NV to Salt Lake City, UT (I-80)
Repeatedly throughout Volume 5 I have talked about the importance of water in the story of the west and that is never more appropriate than when crossing northern Nevada. This rugged, arid land is repeatedly sliced by the peaks and crags of mountain ranges running north/south and presented an arduous journey to pioneers passing through the area. None of the rivers in northern Nevada actually reach the ocean as the few land-locked Great Basin rivers drain into lakes or “sinks”. Fortunately for those on foot or in a wagon, one of nature’s super highways transgresses most of the distance, the Humboldt River Valley. Heading east out of Reno/Sparks I-80 follows the Truckee River as it exits the meadows and heads towards its’ terminus in Pyramid Lake to the northeast Approximately 40 miles east of Reno the Truckee turns north and I-80 climbs sharply up and over a mountain range and down into the Humboldt River Valley. The Humboldt River runs for nearly 300 miles from east to west across northern Nevada in three broad valleys divided by narrow canyons where the river cuts through mountain ranges. Frankly, I use the term “river” loosely as this slow moving shallow stream meanders across the treeless landscape in a languid fashion. Augie the doggie took a leak on the banks of the stream and caused a flash-flood that went for miles down the river…. (not really, but you get the idea!)
This is not a typical scenic wonderland – the miles go by quickly as the cruise control is set at 70mph (which is fast for the Lunch Box) and a series of rather listless small towns pass by about every 50-60 miles. This is a tough country and the towns are weathered and used, with little new construction apparent. The exception is Elko, the largest town along the way, which is clearly “the” stop between Salt Lake City and Reno and is full of hotels and a couple of large casinos. Otherwise the landscape as a certain spiritual sparseness as the rugged mountains reign over the quiet valley from the horizons. A late season snow storm as left the top of the tallest peaks frosted with snow. Each of these pictures was taken about 100 miles apart.
After a long drive the interstate crests the last rise and we are looking down upon West Wendover, Nevada and Wendover, UT, sister cities that are only divided by a line across the road. Wendover is a bit of civilization on the edge of the desert and today exists as the gambling mecca closest to the Salt Lake City metroplex. All of the tall buildings that you see are casinos, built right up to the state line.
In the distance is the Utah desert. Wendover’s historic claim to fame is that it was one of the top-secret test sites during World War II during the development of the atomic bomb. Just past Wendover the Bonneville Salt Flats extend north and south of the incredibly flat interstate, framed on the north by mountain ranges and fading away to the horizon to the south.
Remnants of an ancient lake, the salt flats have been the site of land-speed races since 1914 at the famed Bonneville Speedway. The salt flats usually glisten white under the desert sun, but a series of thunderstorms the previous evening dumped prodigious amounts of rain on the area and now the interstate runs straight and true in the middle of an enormous lake.
For 40 miles the road runs straight and driver boredom is clearly a problem as warning signs continually flash by about the need to take a break if you are sleepy. Finally a mountain range appears in the distance marking the eastern edge of the salt flats.
After crossing the low range of mountains the interstate begins to skirt the southern fringe of the Great Salt Lake. Several salt companies mine for salt along the way with the Wasatch Front looming in the background.
Salt Lake City rises in the distance, again under the ever-present guardians of the Wasatch Mountain range to the east.
Nearly a million people live along the western edge of the Wasatch Mountains from Ogden in the north to Provo to the south. Salt Lake City is the queen of the valley and home of the Mormon religion. To escape persecution for their beliefs, Brigham Young led the Mormons west and on July 24, 1847 he looked down upon the valley and declared “This is the place.” Salt Lake City was laid out on the slopes leading down to the Jordan River, which flows north through the valley and enters the Great Salt Lake northwest of the city. Unlike most pioneer cities, spacious streets and avenues are laid out in a grid of large blocks in the center city. Brigham Young decreed that the streets had to be wide enough for a team of oxen to make a U-turn and thus today the Lunch Box benefits from wide streets! State Street runs for miles from the Utah state capitol building high on a hillside to the north overlooking downtown to the flats of the valley floor to the south. This is one of my “pictures from both directions” shots. I was standing in the middle of State Street looking north under the Eagle Gate to the capitol building, and then turned around and gazed south to the horizon.
Temple Square is not only the heart of the Mormon religion but also the center of downtown Salt Lake City. Sprawling across three city blocks, the compound contains both the spiritual and administrative center of the Mormon Church. Three major structures are contained within the walls of the square, situated in the lush landscaping fostered by earlier pioneers and continued to this day. Completed in 1892, the Salt Lake Temple is the centerpiece of Temple Square.
Southwest of the main temple amidst the beautiful grounds of Temple Square sits the Assembly Hall, completed in 1882. The Assembly hall can seat nearly 2,000 people.
Completing the triad of church buildings is the Tabernacle, home to the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The building is enormous, an elongated dome shape, capable of seating nearly 7,000 people, and perhaps most amazing, was completed in 1867. The roof was redone in 1947 with aluminum shingles, which gleam under the May sun.
Just east of the walled Temple Square sits the original home of Brigham Young, the Lion House (below left). A polygamist, Brigham Young built the structure to house his large family in 1856; the basement contains a dining hall that seats 70 people. The main floor had bedrooms and sitting rooms for wives with children, the second floor had 20 rooms, each with a gable window, for wives without children as well as older children. The Beehive House (below right) sits just east of the Lion House and is connected to it with a smaller structure bridging the two. The Beehive House extended the Young residence to include offices and receptions rooms needed for the man who was not only the leader of the Mormon Church but also the governor of Utah Territory.
Here’s a view of the entire Brigham Young holding on the corner of State Street and South Temple.
While common belief sees Utah, and Salt Lake City, as a monolithic symbol of Mormonism, the reality is that while Mormons historically were in the majority, other religions also flourished in the early days of the city. Within easy walking distance of Temple Square (and you know they are close, because it was easy walking distance for ME!) sit incredible monuments built by other religions in the early 1900’s. On the left is the Catholic Cathedral of the Madeleine (built in 1909) and on the right is the First Presbyterian Church (built in 1905).
St. Michael’s Episcopal Church was completed in 1902 (below left); the First United Methodist Church was built in 1905 (below right.)
My visit to the downtown area wraps up with one of the neatest examples of urban planning that I’ve seen in some time. Just south of Temple Square sits City Creek Center, two city blocks on either side of Main Street connected with a sky bridge and bisected by a light rail stop. Opened in 2012, the mall preserves many of the original store fronts along the street but the interior is new, open, spacious; stores connected with glass covered walkways that border a small creek that flows (complete with rainbow trout!) through the mall. The architecture and design is really impressive, the stores are pretty much what you see in any upscale mall throughout the west. This picture looks north towards Temple Square with both sides of the street the mall connected by the sky bridge in the middle.
Finally, as I ride the light rail back to the RV Park I notice an anomaly west of Temple Square. The great churches and mansions of the wealthy primarily lie the other side of Temple Square to the east on South Temple as it stretches towards the University of Utah and the mountains. All of sudden, here to the west of Temple Square near the historic train station, sits a Victorian mansion. Turns out that this is Deveraux House, the first mansion built in Salt Lake City and home to the first millionaire in the valley, William Jennings.
The original building began construction in 1855 by William Staines, an English horticulturist who arrived in Salt Lake City in 1847 with the mission to “beautify Zion”. His legacy can be seen to this day in the lush parks and public spaces throughout the city. William Jennings bought the property in 1867 and expanded the mansion to its’ current state in the 1870’s. It now sits on the western fringe of the downtown area and near the restored train depot and train tracks. A fitting end to my visit to downtown Salt Lake City, nestled under the Wasatch Front.
Next up: Nature in the desert!
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