This week I began research for a series of videos that will accompany an art exhibit at the Weber State University Story Telling Festival. 40 years ago a series of about 60 paintings were commissioned that showcased different episodes in the history of Ogden, Utah and its surrounding communities. The exhibit at this year's Story Telling Festival will display many of those paintings and include several videos that explain the history behind them.

"City of Corinne - Paddle Wheeler" by Charles A. Groberg. Courtesy of Weber State University and Bill Child. — "City of Corinne - Paddle Wheeler" by Charles A. Groberg. Courtesy of Weber State University and Bill Child.

I spent today at the Utah State Historical Society gathering archival photographs to include in the videos. Some of my favorite images were of a resort on the shoreline of the Great Salt Lake during the 1880s. The Garfield Resort was about two miles southwest of Black Rock, a large rock you can still reach off of Interstate 80. The resort was actually named after a steam boat, the "General Garfield," which was originally named "The City of Corinne" in 1871 and had been a freight vessel to ship lumber, ore and bullion between Ophir and Corinne, Utah. Over the years the ship was converted into an excursion boat that carried passengers along the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake. Ultimately, the machinery inside the boat was removed in 1892 and it was outfitted as a hotel at the Garfield Resort.

Here are a few photos of the ship, the resort and the painting by Charles A. Groberg.

Images courtesy Utah State Historical Society.