Lake Bonneville (Southbound Rest Area)
N 42° 04.466 W 112° 54.673
12T E 341898 N 4659807
This historical marker about Lake Bonneville is located at the southbound rest area along Interstate 84 in Oneida County, Idaho.
Waymark Code: WM3XE4
Location: Idaho, United States
Date Posted: 05/31/2008
Views: 31
The marker text reads as follows: "20,000 years ago, this land was under water. Not far to the North, you can see the old shore of Lake Bonneville. Formed in a basin, from which no river reached the ocean, this became the largest lake in North America. Finally the lake rose high enough to overflow into the Snake River. Then after the climate got drier, and the great basin of Utah and Nevada became mostly a desert, the lake receded. Salt Lake and two other remnants are all that are left of this 20,000 square mile lake."
Additional information from Wikipedia: "Lake Bonneville was a prehistoric pluvial lake that covered much of North America's Great Basin region. Most of the territory it covered was in present-day Utah, though parts of the lake extended into present-day Idaho and Nevada. Formed about 32,000 years ago, it existed until about 16,800 years ago, when most of the contents of the lake were released through the Red Rock Pass in Idaho. Many of the unique geological characteristics of the Great Basin are due to the effects of the lake."
"At more than 1,000 feet (305 m) deep and more than 19,691 square miles (50 999.5 km²) in area, the lake was nearly as large as Lake Michigan and significantly deeper. With the change in climate, the lake began drying up, leaving Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, Sevier Lake, Rush Lake, and Little Salt Lake as remnants."
"Lake Bonneville was named after Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville (1796–1878), a French-born officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer in the American West. Bonneville was noted for his expeditions to the Oregon Country and the Great Basin."
Visit Instructions:
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