Great Salt Lake Desert The 1846 Donner Party's difficulties in making the crossing contributed to their becoming snowbound in the Sierra Nevada. Howard Stansbury explored the desert in 1849. In 1956, I-80 replaced the Wendover Cut-off across the desert, including a straight east-west section for ~ between the Cedar Mountains to the east and Wendover on the Utah/Nevada border. Following a railway completed across the desert's Bonneville Salt Flats in 1910, the flats were first used as a speedway in 1914. The world records for highest land speeds are regularly broken here. The Great Salt Lake Desert experiences a desert climate with hot summers
Miss Utah USA pageant Miss Utah USA The Miss Utah USA competition is the pageant who selects the representative for the state of Utah in the Miss USA pageant. Utah has been quite successful at Miss USA, with 20 placements as of 2009. Their most consistent period was in the 1950s and 1960s. Utah has produced one Miss USA in 1960 (Linda Bement, who went on to win the Miss Universe 1960 title). Miss Utah USA 1957, Charlotte Sheffield, also won the Miss USA 1957 crown after the original titleholder (Leona Gage of Maryland) was dethroned. Utah has a strong recent record, having