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Storm exposes shipwreck in the Great Salt Lake

(Photo courtesy Utah State Parks) Utah State Parks says a recent storm exposed this shipwreck on the Great Salt Lake. It is a steel boat that probably dates back to the turn of the 20th century, according to a post from Utah State Parks.

A recent storm has exposed a shipwreck in the Great Salt Lake that could be more than 100 years old.

Utah State Parks on Monday posted a photo of the wreck — a tangle of brown beams protruding from the water — on its Facebook page. Dave Shearer, park manager at Great Salt Lake State Park, said a recent storm blowing waves to the south eroded a beach and exposed the wreckage.

Shearer said it’s a steel hold boat with wooden planking. That dates the boat to the start of the 20th century. The boat could have been one used by the Southern Pacific Railroad to build the causeway across the lake in 1902 or to maintain the causeway in the years after, Shearer said.

“It looks like this is about a 30- to 40-foot-long boat," Shearer said, "which matches the description of the boats the Southern Pacific was using.”