Utah Lake Research

File — Carton: 300, Folder: 11-13

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the File: In 1997 Hart was hired by Stephen G. Boyden, Assistant Attorney General of Utah, to work on a project to determine the boundaries of Utah Lake. In an earlier case before the United States Supreme Court, the court determined that the State of Utah owned the submerged lands beneath the navigable waters of Utah Lake. Utah now had to determine where the boundary of the submerged lands was located. Normally ordinary high water mark determines the demarcation of submerged lands, but in the 1850s the outlet to Utah Lake, the Jordan River, was dammed, which led to the destruction of the usual evidence used for determining the ordinary high water mark. Hart was hired to study the history of the lake, analyze the first surveys of the lake, and produce a report.

Dates

1850s-2000

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.