The Great Salt Lake Whales

The story of whales in the Great Salt Lake is a 19th-century hoax and urban legend, not a factual event. While tales from the 1870s claimed a British scientist, James Wickham, introduced two 35-foot Australian whales for a tourist attraction, it is biologically impossible for them to survive due to the lake’s extreme salinity (far higher than the ocean) and shallow depth.

• The Legend: The story, often appearing in newspapers around 1890, claimed whales were brought by rail from San Francisco and released into the lake.
• The Reality: The Great Salt Lake is a terminal lake with no outlet, and its salinity is generally much higher than ocean water, making it inhabitable for marine mammals. The lake’s depth is also too shallow, often averaging around 15–30 feet.
• Wildlife: The only, and primary, animals that live in the Great Salt Lake are brine shrimp, algae, and bacteria.
• Legacy: The story is a well-known piece of local folklore often used to highlight the imaginative history of Utah.