Antelope Island Adventures with Kids: Bison, Beaches, and Our Family’s Wild Buffalo Tale
Oh, give me a home where the Buffalo roam
Where the Deer and the Antelope play;
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,
And the sky is not cloudy all day.
That is mostly true of Antelope Island sitting in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. There are no longer antelope on the island, but it was once populated by them, See more history here.
My great-grandfather, William Walker, was the ranch foreman when the buffalo were introduced to the island. But how did they get there? Here is excerpt from an article from the Deseret News about the arrival of the buffalo: “In the year 1891, Bill Glassman bought 12 head of buffalo and unloaded them at E.T. Two years later he sold them to White & Sons Co. There were 17 now. In the contract drawn up, Mr. Glassman agreed to deliver them to Lake Park, Farmington. White & Sons Co. had charge of the Island at that time, and Mr. Wm. Walker, an expert stockman, was their foreman. The company owned a large, fiat boat, which they had used for several years to transport their cattle to and from the Island. Mr. Walker, knowing the prowess of the buffalo, reinforced this boat by making it higher and putting a top over it with poles. It was then tied firmly to the loading place at Lake Park.
All arrangements having been completed, they were ready for the buffalo. Mr. Glassman enlisted the service of Wm. Walker, M.C. Udy and Perry Potter, all expert horsemen. After a long day’s ride, this quartet arrived at E.T. The next morning they were in their saddles early, and armed with double-barreled shotguns, started out on their arduous task.
The buffalo were grazing quietly in the fields; when the horsemen rode up they started off helter-skelter across the prairie in the wrong direction. There is no turning a herd of buffalo. When stampeded, they put their heads close to the ground, and shoulder to shoulder they rush blindly and madly onward. There is only one course left for the horsemen to pursue, and that is let them go until they exhaust themselves. Mr. Glassman, knowing this, led his riders in a roundabout way for about 10 miles. When the buffalo finally stopped, they rode up from the opposite side, and with heir shotguns turned them back in the direction of the ranch. It was night before they corralled them, and so they rested until morning. It was a different herd that started out the next morning.”
I have been here many times in my life, I once even rode the Salt Lake century which takes you to the island. This was the first time I had brough my kids here, shame on me for taking so long to do it. Just inside the park we encountered our first buffalo. The Great Salt Lake is super low right now and that leaves a lot of shoreline covered in salt, if you look at the picture of the girls above you can see the “white beach” behind them on the shores below. There were several buffalo down on that particular shoreline and the one in the pictures below. Please never approach buffalo, they are not domesticated cattle.
There are several hikes throughout the island but we only did one of them because of time constraints. We did the Buffalo Point Trail which is really quite steep, but it is barely a half mile hike, so really it isn’t too bad. The view is absolutely stunning and worth ever drop of sweat, so if you only get a little time on the island do this hike.
On our way out we had stop and get in the water at least for a little bit. The Great Salt Lake is fairly shallow and is only 33 feet at it’s deepest point. The lake is super low right now and so the walk from the parking lot to the edge of the water was close to a quarter of a mile. There was also a long line of birds that died from the bird flu, it was a lot of birds and a little smelly.
Antelope Island was a fun stop in our foray into Northern Utah. There is some awesome family history there for us and some amazing wildlife. Next time we’ll spend more time on the island. Take care and let’s Roam and Grow together.
