Antelope Island
| Antelope Island | |
| Protected Area | |
 View from Buffalo Point, Antelope Island
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | Utah |
| County | Davis County, Utah |
| Coordinates | 40°57′00″N 112°12′36″W / 40.95000°N 112.21000°WCoordinates: 40°57′00″N 112°12′36″W / 40.95000°N 112.21000°W |
| Highest point | |
| - location | Frary Peak |
| - elevation | 2,010 m (6,594 ft) |
| Lowest point | |
| - location | Great Salt Lake |
| - elevation | 1,279 m (4,196 ft) |
| Length | 24 km (15 mi) |
| Width | 7.8 km (5 mi) |
| Area | 109 km2 (42 sq mi) |
| Founded | 1969 |
| Management | Utah State Parks |
| Visitation | 273,618 (2009) |
 Map of Antelope Island State Park
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| Website: Utah State Parks: Antelope Island | |
Antelope Island, with an area of 42 square miles (109 km2), is the largest of 10 islands located within the Great Salt Lake, Utah, United States. The island lies in the southeastern portion of the lake, near Salt Lake City and Davis County, and becomes a peninsula when the lake is at extremely low levels.
The first known non-natives to visit the island were John C. Fremont and Kit Carson during exploration of the Great Salt Lake in 1845, who "rode on horseback over salt from the thickness of a wafer to twelve inches" and "were informed by the Indians that there was an abundance of fresh water on it and plenty of antelope". It is said they shot a pronghorn antelope on the island and in gratitude for the meat they named it Antelope Island.
Antelope Island has natural scenic beauty and holds populations of pronghorn, bighorn sheep, American bison, porcupine, badger, coyote, bobcat, and millions of waterfowl. The bison were introduced to the island in 1893, and Antelope Island Bison Herd has proven to be a valuable genetic pool for bison breeding and conservation purposes. The bison do well because much of the island is covered by dry, native grassland.
The geology of Antelope Island consists mostly of alluvial plains with prairie grassland on the north, east and south of the island, along with a mountainous central area of older Precambrian metamorphic and igneous rocks and late Precambrian to Paleozoic sedimentary rocks, covered by a thin layer of Quaternary lake deposits, colluvium and alluvium. The Precambrian deposits on Antelope Island are some of the oldest rocks in the United States, older even than the Precambrian rocks at the bottom of the Grand Canyon.
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Wikipedia