Antelope Island State Park might never have come into existence had it not been for the vision and determination of a few Davis County men to build what former Utah Governor Calvin Rampton famously called “the road to nowhere.” 

One of those men was Dale T. Smedley, owner of Smedley Construction Company of Syracuse, Utah. Terry Smedley is Dale’s son and is a current member of the Board of Antelope Island Friends along with Tom Winegar and Barbara Holt Stephenson.  All their fathers were driving forces behind the building of the road and the development of Antelope Island State Park.

Dale Smedley was asked by Davis County Commissioner Wayne Winegar and “Antelope Bill” Bill Holt chairman of the Great Salt Lake Authority, if he could build a road from Syracuse across the mud, sand and salty lake the 7-miles to the island.  They were later supported in their efforts by Davis County Commissioners Evan Taylor and Glen Flint, and State Senator Haven J. Barlow.

The road was started in February, 1964.  Senator Barlow, Representative Holt and Commissioner Winegar eventually convinced Governor Rampton and the legislature to fund finishing the road and buying part of the island for a state park. The state bought the northern 2,000 acres of the island, and in January, 1969 with the road finished the new state park was opened. The Island Ranching Company, who owned the island, finally sold the rest of the island, 20,000 acres, to the state, and today the entire 22,000 acres of Antelope Island comprises Antelope Island State Park. Without the “road to nowhere” it would never have happened.

The following is a guest editorial Dale Smedley wrote for the Clearfield Enterprise, in March 26, 1964, just a few weeks after he “started digging”:

“A few months ago, representatives of the Great Salt Lake Authority came to ask my opinion about how to get a road to Antelope Island.  My first reply was “JUST START DIGGING”.  I suggested that Davis and Weber Counties had ample equipment and that if they would just work at the road in slack periods of the year, it could be a reality within two years.

A meeting was arranged with the representatives of both counties.  The Weber County commissioners’ thoughts were that they could acquire Fremont Island, but they would not be interested in having their equipment used on the job until this was accomplished. 

We were planning on crossing to the sand bar at the Jordan River channel while the ice was still strong enough to hold up the machines, so we knew that if the job was to be done this year, it must be started immediately.  This would enable us to complete the wettest area while there was still very little run-off.

There is some water all the time, but this is good, because with the method we are using, which is to work machines on both sides of the road and throw material into the center of our future highway, it brings up the fill in a saturated state, and it sets up like cement, assuring that the material will stay there.

At a meeting with the Davis County Commission, I volunteered the services of Smedley’s large backhoe and operator at $18.00 an hour and because the funds of the county are limited, agreed to take payment in November each year, as funds became available, or from funds that might be generated from a toll road if such a plan should be used.  I also agreed to personally spend time or to send a supervisor along at no additional cost.  I suggested that any equipment that could be put on the job by Weber County, the state, or any agency available would cut down the number of hours my own equipment would be on the job.

At first, we started digging on the east end, or at the end of the Syracuse Road to see what the underground conditions were like, and to see if our own plan was feasible.  We had a partially graveled road out for nearly two miles, which made it possible to get men and fuel to the machines each day.  This gave us opportunity to experiment with different equipment necessary to take men and fuel to the machines which may, at times, be five and one-half miles away.  These machines must be able to travel in ice, mud, or water.  We rented, with option to purchase, amphibious “Sprites” manufactured by the Thiokol Chemical Corp. at Logan, Utah.  We purchased two of these machines because it was felt that they would be of great use in future planning and construction that would have to be done after the first lift of base material was completed to the sand bar.

This is only the first step to a completed road to Antelope Island.  There are about one and one-half miles from the sand bar to the Island with an approximate water depth of five feet.  We feel that this fill can be made with sand from the bar so that material can be brought back from the Island to rip rap the sides of the road where it is subject to wave action from the lake, particularly across the Jordan River channel.  When a dry road is once available to the Island, it will be possible to bring fill from the sand bar or the Island to build the road to any height that might prove necessary if the level of the Great Salt Lake should rise again.

I sent a machine to build a road to Antelope Island for the same price per hour that we work it on dry ground.  Salt conditions ruin equipment worked in it, and fuel and greasing equipment are additional expenses.  We were warned by several interested parties that we might lose a machine worth $30,000 at any time because of conditions of the lake bed.  We didn’t ask the county to guarantee payment for the machine.  I’m certain that an insurance company would not feel responsible when it was evident that the machine was not designed for such work.  I put men and equipment out there, knowing that it would be nearly a year before the first pay day, because Davis, Weber, Salt Lake, and Tooele Counties needed to have the additional revenue generated by tourists staying another day or two in Utah.

For the first time in history, people who have lived here all their lives and haven’t been on any of the islands in the lake, can have that opportunity.  For the first time in many years, when a tourist asks about the Great Salt Lake, famous all over the world, we can tell them where to go to see one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen.  It is the only lake I have ever seen in the middle of January, when other lakes of the area are frozen over, to have such a large body of water with waves lashing the shore air clear and brisk and water such a vivid blue.  The silhouettes of the mountain ranges and islands in the distance are as clear in the water as they are above.  The sun was setting on the lake under these conditions, and I can honestly say that it was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. I don’t want to be one of a very few to have this opportunity.  I want my children, grandchildren, friends and neighbors-and when we include neighbors, we include all-to have this joy time and time again.

I think our men of the Great Salt Lake Authority should be complimented for their untiring efforts without pay, to further the thing close to their hearts.  Efforts made that Utah might be a garden spot of the world and a place where recreation and beautiful scenery might be known the world around.

Our commissioners, service organizations and clubs are continually trying to find ways and means to encourage industry in our state.  This, in my opinion, could do more to bring industry into our area than any other one thing, to say nothing of the millions of dollars that could be left here by tourists.  In fact, we could make tourists our greatest industry, but the first step must be A ROAD TO ANTELOPE ISLAND.”