Save
The Salt, a brief history:
During the (1930-1940) era the Bonneville Salt Flats
was able to support the
weight of 10-ton twin-engine streamliners that roared down the 13.5-mile
long Race Courses.
The Hot Rods roared onto the salt flats in 1949 with the first Speed
Week event and have run every year since.
Of course a few years were missed due to weather.
By the early 1960's the pioneers of
Land Speed Racing began to notice
subtle changes in the surface of the raceway.
There were discussions of why the surface seemed to be getting weaker
and that this unique body of land was shrinking.
We were able to get only as much as 7 miles of decent salt for our
courses, if we were lucky.
It wasn't long before fingers were pointed at the mining industry
on the south side of interstate 80.
Owned by Kaiser Chemical, their operations covered some 50 sq. miles
of the salt flats.
Rick Vesco, our first chairman of Save
The Salt, spearheaded the effort to meet with Utah State and Federal
Government officials as well as the Chemical Company to resolve
the problem of salt depletion.
The goal was to return the salt that was accumulating in their settling
ponds at the mining facility to the Raceway.
These early cries for help continued until 1989 when the Save the
Salt
Organization was founded and struggled to achieve recognition as
they began to see the heavy toll the mining industry was taking
on the salt flats.
In the meantime Kaiser Chemical had sold the operation to Reilly
Chemical and a new 20-year lease for mining had been signed.
The once healthy 18 plus inches of
salt had become so fragile that the Race
Courses had to be moved farther and farther east.
Running on the long International Race Course was no longer possible.
Reilly Industries was forcing water through canals crisscrossing
the flats into their evaporation ponds from which potash was extracted.
It was estimated that the process was taking an estimated 850,000
tons of salt from the flats each year.
The Save the Salt Board has members
from the Southern California
Timing Assn (SCTA) / Bonneville Nationals Inc (BNI). and Utah Salt
Flats Racers Assn (USFRA).
This group was able to negotiate a restoration agreement in 1997.
Working hand in hand with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and
Reilly Chemical Co. they began to work together to return salt from
the ponds.
The Lay down Project was to reverse
the process by pumping brine water back
onto the salt flats at the rate of 1.5 million tons of salt each
year for 5
years. The BLM, Reilly Chemical and the Racers embraced the plan.
It was a
giant step forward with Government and Industry working together.
From the beginning of the pumping project
racers began to notice changes in the surface.
By the end of the 5-year pumping plan the racers were able to get
back to running on the old International Course.
Though not as long, there was a noticeable difference in the hardness
and durability of the racecourses and on a few occasions we were
able to get as much as an 11 mile course.
Once again the Potash Plant has been
sold.
Intrepid Industries is now the owner and has shown an interest in
our quest to have a healthy Bonneville Salt Flats and a strong racecourse
surface.
They showed their support by once again starting the pumping process
the first of February 2005.
We commend them for their efforts.
The Save the Salt Board is committed to working with both the BLM
and Intrepid Industries.
While there is still a lot more to be done, our vigilance appears
to have paid off, not just for the racing competitors but also by
preserving this historical natural treasure, The Bonneville Salt
Flats, for future generations to come.
