Time was when the Great Salt Lake was Utah’s premier tourist attraction. In particular, the lakeside amusement park called Saltair, where bathers could “bob like a cork” while being pickled in brine. I came along too late to join my parents, aunts and uncle Ross at the beach—shown here in a photo taken circa 1939. That’s my father in the middle, holding my eldest brother Jim. At his side is my mother, pregnant with my other brother Chuck.
At the time, Saltair included a midway with games and a number of rides, including a roller coaster, about which all I know is a story my mother told me about another mother who became so excited on the ride that she tossed her infant from the coaster. After which, I presume the resort undertook safety measures, such as posting warning signs advising sunbathers and brine bobbers to be on the lookout for falling babies.
I’m pretty sure Mom’s story is fiction, same as the B-grade horror film “Carnival of Souls.” Filmed in black and white and released in 1962, it stars Candace Hillgloss, who is alternately menaced by undead residents haunting an abandoned Saltair and the equally creepy citizens of Salt Lake City.
Sadly, Saltair burned to the ground (for the second time!) in 1970, and was subsequently replaced by a plywood replica that has since fallen into disrepair. Meantime, the Great Salt Lake shoreline continues to recede, leaving behind naught but salt-encrusted pilings and pickled memories of years gone by.
