Facts

Fun Facts

• GSL is the fourth largest salt lake in the world (the Dead Sea in Israel being the largest).
• The North Arm is currently so salty that only two known types of bacteria can live in it—Halobacterium and Halococcus, which are extreme salt-lovers (halophiles). There are about 1,000,000 to 100,000,000 bacteria per milliliter! These bacteria have a unique pigment that gives the water a purple or red hue.
• Swimming in the lake is popular and considered highly curative—one company even sells GSL water to drink everyday for good health (Inland Sea Company).
• There are dozens of freshwater streams on Antelope Island.
• You can hike, bike, ride horses, swim, hunt, bird-watch and boat on and around GSL.
• You probably eat GSL salt every day! One of Morton Salts biggest plants is right here in Salt Lake City.
• Brine shrimp at a certain life stage are used as feed for table shrimp—next time you order a shrimp cocktail, you just might be eating GSL brine shrimp, too!.
• The lake's south arm is 3 to 5 times saltier than the ocean.
• We boast some of the world's largest populations of birds! Our GSL is a regionally, nationally and hemispherically important ecosystem for migratory birds.
• There are NO FISH that persist in the north or south arms of GSL—the largest aquatic animals are brine shrimp and brine fly larvae! There are larger invertebrates and some fish in Farmington and Bear River Bays.
• Brine fly larvae have been known to reach numbers of 370 million/mile of shoreline in the summer—luckily they don't bite! If you do get bitten out there, it's the gnats or no-seeums.
• The transcontinental railroad was finished 35 miles north of Promontory Point in 1869. The spot is now commemorated at Golden Spike National Historic Site.
• Lake Bonneville was up to 1,000 feet deep and covered about one quarter of the state of Utah as well as parts of Idaho and Nevada!