Best Things to Do in Salt Lake City

IMPORTANT TO KNOW:

• Where is it? Bingham Canyon Copper Mine is a 50-minute drive southwest of downtown Salt Lake City.

• What is there to do? A gift shop is found at the base of the mountain, with an observation deck located high inside the open pit at about 6500 ft elevation. At the observation deck you’ll find various mining equipment on display such as the truck bed from one of the largest trucks in the world and a 13-foot truck tire that provides an awesome photo opportunity.

• Who is this attraction suitable for? The copper mine is interesting for all ages. It is an open-pit mine so you won’t need to go down any elevator shafts or enter any tunnels. The mountain scenery and views of the valley are beautiful, the 3-mile wide hole is a marvel to behold, the active mining operations with trucks the size of a two-story house are mind boggling…yes, it’s interesting for all ages. You may even be able to see a blast/explosion, they do it twice a day at random times.

  How do I visit the copper mine? Sightseeing bus tours departing from downtown Salt Lake City are available May through October. The tours are fully-narrated by an entertaining and knowledgable guide. Reservations are required and seating is limited so book as soon as possible.

The Bingham Canyon Mine is the world’s largest man-made hole! Where there once was a mountain, it now measures close to 3 miles wide and is approaching 1 mile in depth. It’s so large that it is visible from the astronauts in space.

Visit this active mine that has produced more copper than any other in world history during the last 115 years of operation. Gold, silver and other valuable minerals are extracted, making it one of the richest mines in history. Of the sightseeing attractions for visitors outside of downtown Salt Lake City, this is one of the most popular.

In 1848 gold was discovered here by the early settlers Thomas and Sanford Bingham that had just arrived, led by Brigham Young, but he told the Bingham brothers to leave it alone. Brigham Young organized America’s largest westward migration and oversaw 70,000 people coming to Utah in the mid 1800’s. But he said they came to Utah for God, not Gold. Decades later the U.S. Army came to Utah and soldiers of Colonel Patrick Connor, who established Fort Douglas above downtown Salt Lake City, were on a picnic with their wives up this Bingham Canyon and found valuable minerals so they began Utah’s first mining district here. By 1906 the underground mining had transitioned to open-pit mining. The gold and silver had become too scarce, all that seemed available was a lot of low grade (2%) copper ore. But mining 2% copper ore wasn’t something that would’ve been profitable at the time…until Daniel Jackling came along. He was an engineer who came up with the idea to use “open cut” or open pit mining techniques on the copper, proposing that they could make it profitable by mining huge quantities. Dig up the entire mountain rather than dig individual tunnels. So in 1906 the Utah Copper Company was formed. Fellow miners and engineers said it was foolish, that it could never be profitable…yet the Utah Copper Company turned a profit in their very first year! Now it’s earned the nickname “the Richest Hole on Earth!”

Today the mine is operated by the second largest mining company in the world, Rio Tinto (based out of London). It operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (even on Christmas morning!). The copper mine employees over 2,000 workers (though a hundred years ago before our great technological advances, over 20,000 men worked in this mine).

IMPORTANT TO KNOW:

• Where is it? Great Salt Lake State Park is located 20 miles west of downtown Salt Lake City. Utah State Park fees are charged at a toll booth ($5 for small passenger car)

• What is there to do? A small visitor’s center (open daily 11am to 7pm), observation deck, beach access, a marina of sailboats. Due to drought, water levels dropped to historic lows in 2022, limiting boat access which is mostly sailboats. Swimming is possible but not popular, most will just dip their feet in the water.

• How long should I plan for a visit? Average time that most tourists visit for is 30-45 minutes. 10-15 minutes for the small visitor’s center and gift shop, 15-20 minutes for enjoying the view

The Great Salt Lake is a fascinating sightseeing attraction for visitors traveling through Utah; even still, it falls far short of the number of tourists who visit other attractions in Utah, such as Temple Square in Salt Lake City and Utah's five national parks in the southern region of the state (Zion, Bryce Canyon, Arches, Capitol Reef, and Canyonlands National Parks). So what is so fascinating about a lake in the middle of the desert? Well, it is the saltiest lake in the western hemisphere and nicknamed America's Dead Sea!

The Great Salt Lake is the biggest lake west of the Mississippi River, stretching 70 miles in length and 30 miles in width. Though a little known secret is that this massive lake has an average depth of just 12 feet! In the beginning, it was over 1,000 feet deep, so what happened?! Great Salt Lake is the saltiest lake in the western hemisphere, but it wasn't always that way. Today it can reach a salinity of up to 30% salt in the northern region by the end of the summer, which is nearly ten times as salty as the oceans. 10,000 years ago it was a freshwater lake that was ten times as large as Great Salt Lake is today. We call this prehistoric lake, Lake Bonneville (perhaps you've heard of the famous Bonneville Salt Flats where land speed records have been set for decades, or even the Pontiac Bonneville car). Over time Lake Bonneville began to evaporate and 90% of the water disappeared, with all of the salt staying behind it then became the salty lake we know today as Great Salt Lake.

Today Great Salt Lake is so salty that you simply cannot sink in it! A century ago, it was a popular swimming destination, with beach resorts dotting the shores, including Saltair - "the Coney Island of the West." It has been several decades since the lake was known as a desirable destination to most locals, but it has a rich history and a fascinating science to it that many tourists and visitors will find worth the time to discover.