The Bonneville Salt Flats hosts the annual US Flight Archery Championships. Furthermore, the Pontiac Bonneville (former flagship sedan of the Pontiac motor division), the Triumph Bonneville motorcycle, and the Bonneville International media company are all named for the Flats. Įntertainment filmed at the Flats include portions of Walking with Dinosaurs Special - The Ballad of Big Al, Knight Rider, Warlock, Independence Day (1996) and its sequel, SLC Punk, Cremaster 2 from Cremaster Cycle, The Brown Bunny, The World's Fastest Indian, Gerry, The Tree of Life, Top Gear and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. The first land speed record was set there in 1914 by Teddy Tetzlaff.

Ī railway line across the Flats was completed in 1910, marking the first permanent crossing. In 1907, Bill Rishel and two local businessmen tested the suitability of the salt for driving by taking a Pierce-Arrow onto its surface. Army officer who explored the Intermountain West in the 1830s. Geologist Grove Karl Gilbert named the area after Benjamin Bonneville, a U.S. History Bonneville Salt Flats during the winter has about 1 inch of water on it. It is estimated to hold 147 million tons of salt, approximately 90% of which is common table salt. The Flats are about 12 miles (19 km) long and 5 miles (8 km) wide, with a crust almost 5 ft (1.5m) thick at the center and less than one inch (2.5 cm) towards the edges.

Access to the Flats is open to the public. It is public land managed by the Bureau of Land Management and is known for land speed records at the Bonneville Speedway. A remnant of the Pleistocene Lake Bonneville, it is the largest of many salt flats west of the Great Salt Lake. The Bonneville Salt Flats are a densely packed salt pan in Tooele County in northwestern Utah, United States.

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