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
Salt Lake and Utah Railroad shared with the Bamberger Railroad, and was located at the current site of Abravanel Hall. The railroad stopped service in 1946. Salt Lake and Utah Railroad The Salt Lake and Utah Railroad, also known as the Orem Line or Orem Interurban, was an electric railroad which operated between downtown Salt Lake City and Payson, Utah,United States. Construction of the main line begun in 1913. The railroad was financed by A. J. Orem & Company, with Walter C. Orem as president. The railroad opened in 1914 with stops in both Utah and Salt Lake counties. The railroad also operated a branch