Spiral Jetty
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| The Spiral Jetty is a basalt spiral 1500 feet long, and 15 feet wide, which protrudes from the shore of the Great Salt Lake, on submerged land leased from the government. Given his preoccupation with entropy, it is fitting that each of the three existing earthworks designed by the artist Robert Smithson in the United States are severely degraded, and each in a different way. The Spiral Jetty is usually invisible, lying a few feet under the fluctuating surface level of the lake. Smithson built the piece in 1970 at a time when the lake was at a particularly low level. As a result the piece only occasionally rises to the levels of perceptibility, within the visual conundrum that is the Great Salt Lake. In 2004, regional drought led to the emergence of the Jetty for over a year, a period that conveniently corresponded with a major traveling retrospective of the artist's work. Smithson had also conceived of a museum for the jetty, to be located near Golden Spike Monument. The Dia Art Foundation of New York acquired the piece from Smithson's estate in 1999. |
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On Rozel Point in the Great Salt Lake, 15 miles SW of Promontory
(POINT(-112.6673698425 41.4381122589))
(show on map)
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UT
Box Elder County |
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| The Jetty is on Rozel Point in the Great Salt Lake, 12 miles S of the Golden Spike National Historic Site, about 2 hours from Salt Lake City. The 12 mile dirt portion of the road is mostly good, and usually, but not always, passable by a normal sedan, unless there is snow and mud. Find your way to the Golden Spike Monument Visitor Center (on most maps, and signs lead you to it, starting off Interstate 15, near Brigham City). Continue on the paved road past the visitor center. At the cattleguard just after the visitor center, the road turns to dirt. Reset your odometer here. After 5.5 miles, there is a fork: go left. After another mile, turn right (just before the corral). Stay on this road all the way to the Great Salt Lake, noting the following: After 5.3 miles, you enter Rafter S Ranch. After another 2.7 miles, you will approach the oil jetty area. bear right (left leads downslope to the oil tanks and oil jetty, a noteworthy site in itself). 0.4 miles to the Spiral Jetty site (indicated by the foundation of a small hut up the hill a bit, if the Jetty is totally under water). Directions can also be obtained from the staff at the Golden Spike monument visitor's center, open during regular hours, most days. Check the water level link below to see how far the jetty is under water. It was built when the lake surface was at 4195 feet above sea level. If the level is over 4198, the Jetty is totally under water, though its outline may be visible from the hill, or when waves break on it. |
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http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ut/nwis/uv/?site_no=10010100&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060,00010,72020
http://www.robertsmithson.com/earthworks/spiral_jetty.htm
http://www.spiraljetty.org/
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Cultural, Land Art
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