It was a party!

An old pic of the resort. All pics from Jacob's site.

Just off of I-80, west of Salt Lake City on a very well traveled part of the freeway before getting to the Toole exit, is an often passed by and forgotten marker that denotes the first major American Independence day celebrations in Utah.  I in fact passed by it roughly a dozen times before even realizing it was even there. 

The marker was Placed by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and it denotes the place of the first Independence day celebrations in Utah. As the plaque states, in 1851, 150 vehicles with 60 horsemen came here with a homemade flag for the celebration. In later years, a boardwalk was constructed as well as a rock home, over 100 bath houses, and steamboats for sailing the lake were based there for some years and it was known as a popular resort for some time.

Of course, Jacob Barlow has a far more detailed write up on it at his site with some excellent pictures of the site, marker and surrounding area. 

An old picture of the rock house that was already in a state of disrepair.