Photograph: Copyright © 1986 Roy D. Tea

Made 1986, Great Salt Desert, Utah.

Prior to portions of the trail being flooded by the Great Salt Lake pumping project of the late 1980s archeological investigations were undertaken by the Utah State Historical Society to explore the remains of wagons and other artifacts left on the desert. The study was called the Silver Island Expedition. One of several, this is the major study site. Results were published in: Bruce R. Hawkins and David B. Madsen, Excavation of the Donner-Reed Wagons: Historic Archeology along the Hastings Cutoff, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1990.