Watering Our Inland Sea

View of Antelope Island from the short of the Great Salt Lake

Regarding this adaptation

I have added a horizontal rule to indicate which photos were paired across verso and recto pages in the printed version. I have also increased the width of photos that spanned both pages across the gutter.

Introduction to the second edition

While preparing this new edition, I have continued to reference Our Inland Sea by Alfred Lambourne, the work from 1909 that this zine’s title references. Even being written over 100 years ago, I’m surprised by how prescient the writing continues to be.

An impressive and well-traveled artist of the West, Alfred attempted to homestead the remote and barren Gunnison Island in 1895. An island that, if recent satellite images are to be believed, is no longer an island due to the lake’s low water levels. While he talked about the various ships that visited during his time there, one would now be required to travel solely by land to reach this island.

“Another quarter of a century, it has been predicted, and the Inland Sea will be no more. Obit.” writes Lambourne. It’s surprising to me that someone would attempt homesteading on Gunnison Island—even trying to grow a vineyard for wine—while accepting the near death of the Great Salt Lake.

In the year that has passed since the first edition of my zine, much has changed which makes saving the Great Salt Lake feel even more daunting. However, I’m inspired by the naivete and bullheadedness of Alfred Lambourne to put in the work to attempt making their dream a reality even in the face of likely failure.

Although I thought I was done with this work, it seems that this work is not done with me. I continue to be pulled to photograph Antelope Island and the surrounding areas. This new edition includes much of this work and hopefully creates a more complete documentation of the delicate balance of beauty and despair that is present.

Perhaps also naive, I am still convinced that we can save the Great Salt Lake if we share the strange beauty which this place presents.

Alfred Lambourne’s attempted homesteading of Gunnison Island only lasted until winter 1986, a year after starting.

April 22, 2025

Introduction to the first edition

For the past 15 years, Utah has been my home. Although I grew up surrounded by the Great Lakes, I have been amazed by the surreal beauty of the Great Salt Lake.

During the winter, I spend many weekends at Antelope Island. A special state park in the Great Salt Lake whose calm waters reflect the colorful evening sunsets. Unfortunately, every year the beaches grow bigger and the water further away.

While I have seen many accept the death of the Great Salt Lake as forgone, I feel there’s plenty we can still do.

In Utah, our National Parks are a worldwide destination and a multi-billion dollar engine for our economy. While much smaller in scale, the same can be true of the handful of state parks and recreation areas alongside our Great Salt Lake.

If we continue to visit these places, it will show our state representatives that tourism is a more reliable income generator than any business that wants to exploit our lake’s limited resources.

While it may sound trite, we need to voice how important water conservation is when it comes to voting for representatives.

I look forward with optimism for when Antelope Island can be an island once again.

May 23, 2024

Photo of a trailer that says Great Salt Lake Boat Tours

Photo of people in Great Salt Lake State Park

Located in Utah, near Salt Lake City, the Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere. Due to being a terminal lake, with no outlet except evaporation, it’s an indicator of how humans affect the environment, such as water overuse from irrigation and climate change. Without intervention, it is estimated that the Great Salt Lake will dry up by 2028.

The Great Salt Lake gets almost all of its water from multiple reservoirs in the nearby mountains. The journey from these reservoirs to the Great Salt Lake is far, with many people and businesses taking more water before it can reach the Great Salt Lake every year.

Once the Inland Sea was described as a sullen, listless, deadly sheet of water. Such it is not. On the contrary, however, one must receive with caution, the statements of later writers. Alternately one is captivated by the strange beauty which the place presents, or repelled by the ugliness that is seen along its shores.

Alfred Lambourne 1909

View of Great Salt Lake Marina empty of boats due to low water level Great Salt Lake State Park 2023