document_title: List of To Kill a Mockingbird characters

question_text: in to kill a mockingbird what is scouts real name

text: Primary characters[edit]

text: Atticus Finch[edit]

text: Atticus Finch is the middle-aged father of Jem and Scout Finch. He is a lawyer and was once known as "the deadliest shot in Maycomb County". Although he was a good shot, he does not like to mention the fact as he does not like the thought of having an advantage over people. He appears to support racial equality and was appointed to represent Tom Robinson, a black man who has been accused of raping a young white woman, Mayella Ewell. The town disapproves of him defending Tom especially when he makes clear his intent to defend Tom Robinson to the best of his abilities. He is portrayed by Gregory Peck in the film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird.

text: "Scout" Finch[edit]

text: Jean Louise "Scout" Finch is the narrator and To Kill a Mockingbird is told by an adult Scout who often comments on how she could not understand something at the time but now can appreciate it. She gets in trouble with her teacher Miss Caroline because Miss Caroline expects Scout to learn reading and writing her way. She is a tomboy and spends the most of her time with her brother Jem and best friend Dill. To Jem's advice to pretend to be a lady and start sewing or something, she answers 'Hell no.' The rare hints the narrator gives us about her grown-up life reveal that she ultimately hasn't changed herself for others.[2]

text: She matures from age 6 to age 9 as the novel progresses but remains naive and idealistic, despite an increased understanding of human nature and racism in her town. At the beginning of the book, Scout is confused by some of the words and names she hears people directing towards her father, such as "nigger-lover". Being only six, Scout does not know how to handle such situations so she tries to resolve her problems by fighting, or by talking to Atticus about what she has heard. By the end of the book, Scout realizes that racism does exist and comes to terms with its presence in her town. Scout also learns how to deal with others, including the Finch family housekeeper, Calpurnia, and her aunt, Alexandra. Scout is the only one of the novel's primary three children (Dill, Jem, and herself) to see and speak to Boo Radley during the course of the novel and realize that he is harmless, despite her initial fear of him. She also stops a mob that is trying to lynch Tom Robinson by talking to the mob leader, Mr. Cunningham, about inviting his son, Walter, over for dinner. Mr. Cunningham then tells the other mob members to get back in their cars and leave them alone. The members listen, and Scout unintentionally saves Tom Robinson's life. She is portrayed by Mary Badham in the film adaption of To Kill a Mockingbird.

text: Notable quote: "Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing." [3]

text: "Jem" Finch[edit]

text: Jeremy Atticus "Jem" Finch is Atticus' son and Scout's older brother by four years. Jem matures greatly throughout the course of the novel, much more affected by events than Scout seems to be. Being four years Scout's senior, Jem is seen to have a greater understanding of - and therefore greater difficulty in navigating - the obstacles thrown their way. Jem is seen explaining many things to Scout throughout the novel. Bob Ewell breaks Jem's arm during his assault on the Finch children, subsequently resulting in it being shorter than it had been, in an attempt to protect his sister. He is portrayed by Phillip Alford in the film adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird.

text: Dill Harris[edit]

text: Charles Baker "Dill" Harris is a short, smart boy who visits Maycomb every summer from Meridian, Mississippi, and stays with his Aunt Rachel (Aunt Stephanie in the film). Dill is the best friend of both Jem and Scout, and his goal throughout the novel is to get Boo Radley to come out of his house. The children concoct many plans to lure Boo Radley out of his house for a few summers until Atticus tells them to stop. In chapter 5 of the novel, Dill promises to marry Scout and they become "engaged". One night Dill runs away from his home in Meridian, arriving in Maycomb County where he hides under Scout's bed. When she finds Dill, he tells both Scout and Atticus that he was chained to a wall in his father's basement; later, he confesses he actually ran away because he felt he was being replaced by his stepfather. Before Dill returned to Meridian after the summer, he went swimming with Jem at the Barker's Eddy creek. Scout, unfortunately, was unable to participate, because both boys were swimming naked.

text: Unlike Scout and Jem, Dill lacks the security of family support. He is unwanted and unloved by his mother and stepfather: "They do get on a lot better without me, I cannot help them any." As Francis (a cousin of Jem and Scout) says, "He hasn't got a home, he just gets passed around from relative to relative." Dill maintains he has no father; he doesn't know where his father might live, or if he will ever come back. He is played by John Megna in the film adaption of To Kill a Mockingbird.

text: This character is believed to be based on author Truman Capote, a childhood friend of Harper Lee.[4]

text: Calpurnia[edit]

text: Calpurnia, nicknamed Cal, is the Finch family's African-American housekeeper, whom the children love and Atticus deeply respects (he remarks in her defense that she "never indulged [the children] like most colored nurses"). She is highly regarded by Atticus. She is an important figure in Scout's life, providing discipline, instruction, and love. She also fills the maternal role for the children after their mother's death. Calpurnia is a mother herself and raised her son, Zeebo, to adulthood. Calpurnia is one of the few black characters in the novel who is able to read and write, and it is she who taught Scout to write. She learned how to read from Miss Maudie's aunt, Miss Buford, who taught her how to read out of Blackstone's Commentaries, a book given to her. Aunt Alexandra despised Calpurnia because Alexandra believed that Calpurnia was not a "maternal figure" for Jem and Scout, especially for Scout.

text: Calpurnia is a member of the First Purchase M.E. African Church in Maycomb. While Scout always hears her speak proper English, she is surprised to learn that Calpurnia does not do so at church, especially with the uneducated members of the congregation.

text: While everyone in the novel is filtered through Scout's perception, Calpurnia in particular appears for a long time more as Scout's idea of her than as a real person. At the beginning of the novel, Scout appears to think of Calpurnia as the wicked stepmother to Scout's own Cinderella. However, towards the end of the book, Scout views Calpurnia as someone she can look up to, and realizes Calpurnia has only protected her over the years. She is played by Estelle Evans in the film.

text: Arthur "Boo" Radley[edit]

text: Arthur "Boo" Radley is a recluse in To Kill a Mockingbird.

text: Maycomb children believe he is a horrible person, due to the rumors spread about him and a trial he underwent as a teenager. It is implied during the story that Boo is a very lonely man who attempts to reach out to Jem and Scout for love and friendship, such as leaving them small gifts and figures in a tree knothole. Scout finally meets him at the very end of the book, when he saves the children's lives from Bob Ewell. Scout describes him as being sickly white, with a thin mouth, thin and feathery hair, and grey eyes, almost as if he were blind. During the same night, when Boo whispers to Scout to walk him back to the Radley house, Scout takes a moment to picture what it would be like to be Boo Radley. While standing on his porch, she realizes his "exile" inside his house is really not that lonely.

text: Boo Radley's heroics in protecting the children from Bob Ewell are covered up by Atticus, Sheriff Tate, and Scout. This can be read as a wise refusal of fame. As Tate notes, if word got out that Boo killed Ewell, Boo would be inundated with gifts and visits, calamitous for him due to his reclusive personality. The precocious Scout recognizes the danger: renown would "kill the mockingbird". Boo Radley is a ghost who haunts the book yet manifests himself at just the right moments in just the right way. He is, arguably, the most potent character in the whole book and as such, inspires the other key characters to save him when he needs saving.

text: After the Tom Robinson trial, Jem and Scout have a different understanding of Boo Radley. "Scout, I think I'm beginning to understand something. I think I'm beginning to understand why Boo Radley's stayed shut up in the house all this time… it's because he wants to stay inside." (23.117)  Having seen a sample of the horrible things their fellow townspeople can do, choosing to stay out of the mess of humanity doesn't seem like such a strange choice.[5]

text: When Boo finally does come out, he has a good reason: Bob Ewell is trying to murder the Finch children. No one sees what happens in the scuffle, but at the end of it, Ewell is dead and Boo carries an unconscious Jem to the Finch house. Finally faced with Boo, Scout doesn't recognize him at first, but suddenly realizes who he is.   Boo Radley is played by Robert Duvall in the film.

text: Judge John Taylor[edit]

text: Judge John Taylor is a white-haired old man with a reputation for running his court in an informal fashion and an enjoyment of singing and dipping tobacco. He is unimportant to the children until he presides over the Tom Robinson trial, in which he shows great distaste for the Ewells and great respect for Atticus. Because of the judge's sympathies for Tom, Bob Ewell breaks into the judge's house while the judge's wife is at church. After the trial, Miss Maudie points out to the children that the judge had tried to help Tom by appointing Atticus to the case instead of Maxwell Green, the new, untried lawyer who usually received court-appointed cases. Judge Taylor knew that Atticus was the only man who would stand a chance at acquitting Tom, or at least would be able to keep the jury thinking for more than just a few minutes. By doing this, Judge Taylor was not giving in or supporting racism. He is portrayed in the film by Paul Fix.

text: Miss Maudie Atkinson[edit]

text: Miss Maude "Maudie" Atkinson lives across the street from the Finch family. She had known the Finches for many years, having been brought up on the Buford place, which was near the Finches' ancestral home, Finch's Landing. She is described as a woman of about 50 who enjoys baking and gardening; her cakes are especially held in high regard. However, she is frequently harassed by devout "Foot-Washing Baptists", who tell her that her enjoyment of gardening is a sin. The Foot-Washing Baptists also believe that women are a sin as well. Miss Maudie befriends Scout and Jem and tells them stories about Atticus as a boy. It is strongly implied that she and Atticus have a more than platonic relationship. Also, she is one of the few adults that Jem and Scout hold in high regard and respect. She does not act condescendingly towards them, even though they are young children. During the course of the novel, her house burns down; however, she shows remarkable courage throughout this (even saying that she wanted to burn it down herself to make more room for her flowers). She is not prejudiced, though she talks caustically to Miss Stephanie Crawford, unlike many of her Southern neighbors, and teaches Scout important lessons about racism and human nature. It is important to note that Miss Maudie fully explains that "it is a sin to kill a mockingbird", whereas Atticus Finch initially brings up the subject but doesn't go into depth. When Jem gets older, and doesn't want to be bothered by Scout, Miss Maudie keeps her from getting angry.  Maudie is played by Rosemary Murphy in the film.

text: Robert E. Lee "Bob" Ewell[edit]

text: Robert E. Lee "Bob" Ewell is the main antagonist of To Kill a Mockingbird. He has a daughter named Mayella and a younger son named Burris, as well as six other unnamed children. He is an alcoholic, poaching game to feed his family because he spends whatever money they legally gain via government "relief checks" on alcohol. It is implied, and evidence suggests, that he was the one who abused his daughter Mayella, not Tom Robinson (the African American man accused of doing so). Although most everybody in town knows that the Ewells are a disgrace and not to be trusted, it is made clear that Tom Robinson was convicted because he is a Negro whose accuser is white. Upon hearing of Tom's death, Bob is absolutely gleeful, gloating about his success. After being humiliated at the trial, however, he goes on a quest for revenge, becoming increasingly violent. He begins by spitting in Atticus' face, followed by a failed attempt to break into the home of Judge Taylor, then finally menacing Helen, the poor widow of Tom Robinson. Ewell later attempts to murder Jem and Scout Finch with a knife to complete his revenge. Boo Radley saves Jem and Scout and it is believed that he kills Ewell with the knife. Heck Tate, the sheriff, puts in the official report that Bob Ewell fell on his own knife and died after lying under a tree for 45 minutes. Ewell is played by James Anderson in the film.

text: Mayella Ewell[edit]

text: Mayella Violet Ewell, 19, is the oldest of the eight Ewell children. Before the trial, Mayella is noted for growing red geraniums outside her otherwise dirty home in order to bring some beauty into her life. Due to her family's living situation, Mayella has no opportunity for human contact or love. She eventually gets so desperate that she attempts to seduce a black man, Tom Robinson, by saving up nickels to send her siblings to go get ice cream so that Mayella can be alone with Tom. Her father sees this through a window and in punishment he beats her. Ewell then finds the sheriff, Heck Tate, and tells him that his daughter has been raped and beaten by Tom. At the trial, Atticus points out that only the right side of Mayella's face is injured, suggesting a left-handed assailant; Tom's left arm is mangled and useless, but Bob Ewell is left-handed. When Atticus asks her if she has any friends, she becomes confused because she does not know what a friend is. During her testimony she is confused by Atticus' polite speech and thinks that his use of "Miss Mayella" is meant to mock her. She testifies against Tom Robinson. Mayella is played by Collin Wilcox in the film.

text: Tom Robinson[edit]

text: Thomas "Tom" Robinson is an African-American who is put on trial for the rape of a white woman, Mayella Ewell. Atticus is assigned to defend him, and stands up to a lynch mob intent on exacting their own justice against him before the trial begins. Tom's left arm is crippled and useless, the result of an accident with a cotton gin when he was a child. Atticus uses this fact as the cornerstone of his defense strategy, pointing out that the nature of Mayella's facial injuries strongly suggest a left-handed assailant. Tom testifies that he had frequently helped Mayella with household chores because he felt sorry for her and the family's difficult life - a statement that shocks the all-white, male jury. Despite Atticus' skilled defense, the jury's racial prejudices lead them to find Tom guilty. Atticus plans to appeal the verdict, but before he can do so, Tom is shot and killed while trying to escape the prison where he is being held. Tom Robinson is played by Brock Peters.

text: Aunt Alexandra[edit]

text: Alexandra Hancock (née Finch) is Atticus' and Jack's sister, married to James "Uncle Jimmy" Hancock. She has a son named Henry and a very spoiled grandson named Francis. Around the middle of the book, Aunt Alexandra decides to leave her husband at Finch's Landing, the Finch family homestead to come stay with the Finches. Aunt Alexandra doesn't consider the black Calpurnia to be a very good motherly figure for Jem and Scout; she disapproves of Scout being a tomboy and wants to make Scout into a southern belle (encouraging her to act more 'lady like').[6] This is the cause of many conflicts between Scout and Alexandra throughout the course of the novel. However, as the trial progresses, Scout comes to see how much her aunt cares for her father and what a strong woman she is. This is especially evidenced by a tea party when Scout is horrified by the racism displayed, and her aunt and Miss Maudie help her deal with her feelings. By the end of the book, it's clear that Alexandra cares very much for her niece and nephew, though she and Scout will probably never really get along.

text: Minor characters[edit]

text: Jack Finch[edit]

text: John Hale "Jack" Finch is Atticus' and Alexandra's younger brother. (He is about 40, which is 10 years younger than Atticus.) Jack smells like alcohol and something sweet, and is said that he and Alexandra have similar features. Jack is a childless doctor who can always make Scout and Jem laugh, and they adore him. He and Miss Maudie are close to the same age; he frequently teases her with marriage proposals, which she always declines. Jack also has a pet cat named Rose Aylmer, who is mentioned during the Christmas visit.

text: Francis Hancock[edit]

text: Francis Hancock is the spoiled grandson of Aunt Alexandra. (The son of her son, Henry Hancock.) Every Christmas, Henry and his wife drop Francis at Finch's Landing, which is the only time Scout and Jem see him. Francis lives in Mobile, Alabama, and is a bit of a tattle-tale. He gets along well with Jem, but often spars with Scout. One Christmas, Francis calls Atticus a "nigger-lover," as well as insisting that he was ruining the family and the likes, which infuriates Scout and causes them to get into a fight. Francis lies about his role in it, telling Uncle Jack that Scout started it by calling him a "whore lady", and Jack therefore punishes Scout. However, she explains the full story and charitably persuades her uncle not to punish Francis about it, but to let Atticus think they had been fighting about something else (although Atticus later discovers the truth).

text: Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose[edit]

text: Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose is an elderly woman who lives near the Finches. She is hated by the children, who run by her house to avoid her. Scout describes Mrs. Dubose as "plain hell." A virulent racist, she calls Atticus a "nigger-lover" to his children's faces, and Jem flies into a rage and ravages Mrs. Dubose's camellia bushes. As a punishment, Jem is required to read to Mrs. Dubose each day for a month. As Jem reads, she experiences a fit of drooling and twitching and does not seem to pay any attention to the words. When an alarm rings, Jem is allowed to leave for the day. She extends the punishment for one extra week and dies shortly after letting Jem go for the last time. Atticus informs him that Mrs. Dubose was terminally ill and had become addicted to morphine. By reading to her, Jem had distracted her so that she could break the addiction. In thanks, she leaves him a candy box with a camellia flower in it; Jem burns the box in anger, but is later seen by Scout admiring the flower. Atticus tells Jem that Mrs. Dubose was the bravest person he ever knew, and she was trying to teach Jem the importance of bravery and true courage to endure anything when the situation is hopeless, as in her morphine addiction.

text: Mr. Heck Tate[edit]

text: Mr. Heck Tate is a friend of Atticus and also the sheriff of Maycomb County. He believes in protecting the innocent although he doesn't usually show it. At the end of the book, the Atticus and Heck argue over whether Jem or Boo Radley should be held responsible for the death of Bob Ewell. Heck eventually persuades Atticus to accept the theory that Ewell accidentally fell on his own knife, thus saving the harmless, reclusive Boo from the public exposure of a criminal trial.

text: Mr. Braxton Underwood[edit]

text: Mr. Braxton Bragg Underwood is a news reporter and a friend of Atticus. He owns and also publishes The Maycomb Tribune. Being a racist, he disagrees with Atticus on principle. He also has a strong belief in justice, as exemplified when he defends Atticus from the Cunningham mob by having his double barrel shotgun loaded and ready to shoot them. He also demonstrates some humanity when he publishes a scathing editorial comparing the killing of Tom Robinson (a cripple) to "the senseless slaughter of songbirds by hunters and children".

text: Mr. Horace Gilmer[edit]

text: Mr. Horace Gilmer is a lawyer from Abbottsville, and is the prosecuting attorney in the Tom Robinson case. Mr. Gilmer is between the ages of forty and sixty. Mr. Gilmer has a slight cast with one eye, which he uses to his advantage in trial. Mr. Gilmer appeared to be racist in his harsh cross-examination of Tom Robinson, but it is hinted at that he is in fact going easy on Tom. He and Atticus are not rivals and talk to each other during recesses during the case.

text: Dr. Reynolds[edit]

text: Dr. Reynolds is the Maycomb doctor. He is well known to Scout and Jem. Scout says that he "had brought Jem and me into the world, had led us through every childhood disease known to man including the time Jem fell out of the tree house, and he had never lost our friendship. Dr. Reynolds said that if we were boil-prone things would have been different..." (ch. 28). He inspects Jem's broken arm and Scout's minor bruises after the attack from Bob Ewell under the tree.

text: Dolphus Raymond[edit]

text: Dolphus Raymond is a white landowner who is jaded by the hypocrisy of the white society and prefers to live among black folks. In fact, he has children with a black woman. Dolphus pretends he is an alcoholic so that the people of Maycomb will have an excuse for his behavior, but in fact he only drinks Coca Cola out of a paper bag to try to hide it. When Dill and Scout discover that he is not a drunk, they are amazed. He shows Scout how sometimes you can pretend to be someone you're not so people will be more understanding of you.

text: Link Deas[edit]

text: Link Deas owns cotton fields and a store in Maycomb who employs Tom and later Helen because she does not get accepted by any other employers in the county due to Tom Robinson's legal troubles. He announces to the court (in defense of Tom) at one point in the trial that he hadn't "had a speck o' trouble outta him" in the eight years Tom had been working for him, and gets sent out by Judge John Taylor for doing so. When Bob Ewell starts threatening Helen after the trial, Mr. Deas fiercely defends her and threatens to have Mr. Ewell arrested if he keeps bothering her. He is on Tom Robinson's side during the trial and remains loyal to the family afterward.

text: Miss Caroline Fisher[edit]

text: Miss Caroline Fisher is Scout's first grade teacher and is new to Maycomb, Alabama and its ways. She attempts to teach the first grade class using a new system which she learned from taking certain college courses (Jem mistakenly refers to it as the "Dewey Decimal System", which is really how library books are organized.). She is upset by Scout's advanced reading capabilities and believes that Scout is receiving lessons from Atticus. She feels as though Scout is trying to outsmart and mock her. In an effort to standardize the class, she forbids Scout from reading with her father. Atticus asks Scout to step into Miss Caroline's skin.  However, he continues to allow Scout to read with him at night so long as she continues to go to school.  Miss Caroline has good intentions but proves quite incompetent as a teacher. When Scout tells Miss Fisher that she shamed a student (Walter Cunningham, Jr.) by giving him lunch money, she raps Scout's palms with a ruler (a punishment unheard of in Maycomb). She is also very sensitive and gets emotionally hurt quite easily, as seen when she cries after Burris Ewell yells at her, "Report and be damned to ye! Ain't no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher ever born c'n make me do nothin'! You ain't makin' me go nowhere, missus. You just remember that, you ain't makin' me go nowhere!"  After the Burris Ewell incident, Miss Caroline is seldom seen and soon forgotten.

text: Reverend Sykes[edit]

text: Reverend Sykes is the reverend of the First Purchase M.E. African Church in Maycomb County, where most if not all of the African-American characters go to church. Reverend Sykes forces the congregation to donate 10 dollars for Tom Robinson's family since at the time, Tom's wife, Helen, was having trouble finding work. During the trial, when the courtroom was too packed for the children to find seats, Reverend Sykes lets the kids sit with him up in the colored balcony and even saves their seats for them.

text: Miss Stephanie Crawford[edit]

text: Stephanie Crawford is the neighborhood gossip who claimed that she saw Boo Radley from her bedroom standing outside of her cleaned window one night. Crawford is one of the first on the scene after a loud gunshot is heard behind the Radley house. Because she is the neighborhood gossip, it is unwise to think of anything that she says as true, because most of the time it is not true at all. She is a friend of Alexandra Hancock. She lets Miss Maudie live with her when Miss Maudie's house burns down, supposedly in order to steal Miss Maudie's Lane cake recipe. She is thrilled to pass on gossip to the kids about Boo Radley. She claimed to have witnessed Bob Ewell's threatening Atticus at the Post Office corner as she was returning from the local Jitney Jungle grocery store.

text: In the film, she takes the place of Rachel Haverford and is now Dill's aunt.

text: Miss Rachel Haverford[edit]

text: Miss Rachel Haverford is Dill's aunt and the Finches' next door neighbor. She drank neat whiskey heavily after seeing a rattlesnake coiled in her closet, on her washing, when she hung her negligee up. Even though she can be very hard to deal with, she truly does love her nephew.  Her family name, in the legends of Maycomb County, is synonymous with jackass. She is also a Southern Belle.

text: In the film, she is not a character and Miss Stephanie takes her place as Dill's aunt.

text: Helen Robinson[edit]

text: Helen Robinson is the wife of Tom Robinson. She is spoken about a few times. She has three children. Employed by Link Deas following the death of her husband, she is repeatedly harassed by Bob Ewell when traveling to work. Upon learning of this, Deas threatens Ewell, forcing him to stop. She is an example of how one person's actions can have an effect on a lot of people and she elucidates the hardships that surround the Tom Robinson case.

text: Nathan Radley[edit]

text: Nathan Radley is the brother of Arthur "Boo" Radley and another difficult character to understand in To Kill a Mockingbird. When the children try to catch a view of "Boo" late one night through a window, he shoots over their heads with a shotgun (albeit thinking he was aiming at a black person). Nathan also cements up the knothole in which Arthur leaves little gifts for the children. On the other hand, he helps Miss Maudie by saving some of her belongings when her house is on fire. He is more present than his brother, but equally mysterious.

text: Jessie[edit]

text: Jessie is Mrs. Dubose's black nurse. She is the woman who shoos the children out when Mrs. Dubose has her fits, and she seems to care enormously for Mrs. Dubose. When Jem is forced to stay reading to Mrs. Dubose, Jessie kindly leads Jem and Scout to the door when Mrs. Dubose's alarm goes off. The rumors about Mrs. Dubose concealing a gun about her person involves Jessie; the book says "and even if Mrs. Dubose missed, her girl Jessie wouldn't".

text: Burris Ewell[edit]

text: Burris Ewell is a son of Bob Ewell and a younger sibling of Mayella Ewell as well as the first antagonist of the novel.  Burris is described as being chiefly antagonistic of Little Chuck Little and his teacher Miss Caroline Fisher. He comes to the first day of school, but departs just as everyone else in his family does. Burris is also poor. He has live lice in his hair. Burris also scared his teacher Caroline Fisher. He behaves rudely when she tells him to go home, wash his hair, and come back clean the next day. He refuses, and a student explains to Miss Caroline that Ewell children don't attend school. All they do is show up for the first day, get marked down on the register, and then they miss the entire school year until the first day of the next year. His famous quote was, "Report and be damned to ye! Ain't no snot-nosed slut of a schoolteacher ever born c'n make me do nothin'! You ain't makin' me go nowhere, missus. You just remember that, you ain't makin' me go nowhere!" As of Scout's first year of school (the first grade), Burris has repeated the first grade three times. Burris is also like his father and is very belligerent.

text: Lula[edit]

text: Lula is an African-American woman with a dislike for white people.  She doesn't like the idea of Calpurnia bringing Atticus Finch's children, Jem and Scout, with her to church and tells her so but is overruled by the other congregants. According to James Zeebo, Calpurnia's son, Lula's said to be, "a troublemaker from way back, with fancy ideas and haughty ways." She's threatened with being "churched" (subjected to church discipline) by Reverend Sykes.

text: Mrs. Grace Merriweather[edit]

text: Mrs. Grace Merriweather is the producer of the play in which Scout plays as a ham. She tells Everett that "the ladies of the South Maycomb Alabama Methodist Episcopal Church are behind him one hundred percent." She is mostly known for her devotion to the church and is widely held as the most devout lady in Maycomb; however, like many of her peers, she is very hypocritical and loves to gossip with all the other women.

text: Walter Cunningham, Jr.[edit]

text: Walter Cunningham, Jr. is a child who is almost as old as Jem but is in Scout's class. He lives on a farm. He is too poor to even pay off a 25-cent debt because the Great Depression hit his poor family hard. He doesn't take money because his family can't pay people back in cash.  His father paid Atticus for his service for something a while back with some goods.  Walter is invited over to the Finches' house once, after engaging in a fight with Scout, where he covers up all of his dinner with molasses, much to Scout's vocal dismay. This teaches Scout a lesson in humility and compassion.

text: Walter Cunningham, Sr.[edit]

text: Walter Cunningham, Sr. is Walter Cunningham Jr.'s father. He appears only twice, once at the beginning of the story when he has to pay off the debt to Atticus (Walter Cunningham Sr. was his client) by giving him firewood, vegetables and other supplies. He also leads the mob that comes to lynch Tom Robinson the night before the trial. Only when Scout talks to him about his son and how much he owes to Atticus does he reconsider and call off the mob. Scout innocently shames him because Scout reminds him of all the things that Atticus has done for him and for Maycomb County. After the verdict is given in the trial, Atticus tells Jem that one of the Cunninghams had changed his thoughts about Tom and pleaded that Tom was not guilty to the jury.

text: Little Chuck Little[edit]

text: Little Chuck Little is a student in Scout's first-grade class who has the mindset of an adult. His real name is Charles. He is depicted as chiefly antagonistic of Burris Ewell. He is presented in the novel when Miss Caroline is frightened by Burris' lice. He warned Miss Caroline that if Burris wasn't released from class, he might try something that would put their classmates at risk. When Burris starts advancing on Little Chuck after his warning/veiled insult, Little Chuck's hand moved to his pocket (implying that he was going to pull out a knife) while saying, "Watch your step, Burris. I'd soon's kill you as look at you. Now go home." Scared by Little Chuck's bravery and his implied knife, Burris retreats. From this we see, through the narrative view of Scout, his gentlemanly attitude and how it calms Miss Caroline down. Little Chuck may be even more intelligent than originally meets the eye, as he easily could have been bluffing about the aforementioned implied knife to scare Burris into retreating.

text: Mr. Dick Avery[edit]

text: Mr. Dick Avery is an overweight neighbor who tells Jem and Scout that dramatic changes in the weather are caused by disobedient and misbehaving children. After it snows, they build a snowman that resembles him. Mr. Avery can also be seen in the story pushing a mattress out of a window when Miss Maudie's house catches fire. The kids, including Jem and Scout, always waited for him to do something interesting. For instance, Jem claims that one night he urinated from his front porch in an impressive arc.

text: Miss Gates[edit]

text: Miss Gates is a third grade teacher at Scout's school who insists that America isn't prejudiced like Hitler's Germany. Despite this, Scout has heard her say that the blacks need to be taught a lesson after Tom's trial.

text: Eula May[edit]

text: Eula May is Maycomb's most prominent telephone operator. She sends out public announcements, invitations, and activates the fire alarm. She announced the closing of schools when it snowed and announced the rabid dog that entered Maycomb. Also, Eula May knows everybody in the town because of her unique job.

text: Cecil Jacobs[edit]

text: Cecil Jacobs teases Scout and Jem at school. Scout almost gets into a fight with Cecil over the trial of Tom Robinson. Scout beats up Cecil Jacobs because he says Atticus is a "Nigger Lover." He gives a current event on Adolf Hitler and later frightens Scout and Jem on their way to the Halloween pageant. He and Scout then pair up at the carnival. At the Halloween pageant afterwards, Cecil was a cow. He hints that black people are not as good as white people while talking about Hitler during current events. He also tends to take jokes too far. However importantly he shows how prejudice is passed on from parent to child.

text: Tim Johnson[edit]

text: Tim Johnson is a dog belonging to Harry Johnson (a character in the book who is mentioned once but is never seen). He is infected by rabies in chapter 10 and goes mad, putting everyone in the town at risk. Atticus is forced to shoot Tim Johnson before he reaches the Radley House or attacks anyone. When Atticus shoots the dog, his excellent marksmanship is revealed to Scout and Jem (his nickname used to be One-Shot Finch). The dog's body is collected by Zeebo.

text: Simon Finch[edit]

text: Simon Finch is the founder of Finch's Landing. He is referred to in the first chapter of the book, being a direct ancestor of Atticus. He is a Cornish Methodist, and emigrated from England to avoid religious persecution, landing in Philadelphia before settling in Alabama. He was married, with one son, eight daughters. He is also an apothecary.

text: Maxwell Green[edit]

text: Maxwell Green is the new lawyer in town. He is normally the judicially-assigned defense attorney but Judge Taylor assigned Tom Robinson's case to Atticus to give Tom Robinson a better chance.

text: Mr. X Billups[edit]

text: Mr. X Billups who is seen only once in the book, going to the trial, is described as a "funny man".  X is his name, and not his initial.  He was asked repeated times what his name was until he signed it.  X was the name he had been given when he was born because his parents marked his birth certificate with an X instead of a name.

text: The Barber Sisters (Miss "Tutti" and Miss "Frutti")[edit]

text: The Barber Sisters (Miss Sarah, nicknamed "Tutti" and Miss Frances, nicknamed "Frutti") are maiden sisters who live in the only house in Maycomb with a cellar. They were originally from Clanton, Alabama; and are rumored to be Republicans. Besides their Yankee ways, both sisters are deaf (Tutti completely deaf; Frutti uses an ear trumpet), and had a Halloween prank pulled on them by some "wicked" schoolchildren (Scout claims she was not included) who put all of their furniture in their cellar.

text: Mrs. Gertrude Farrow[edit]

text: Mrs. Farrow is a lady in the missionary society who visits the Finch house occasionally.

text: Mr. Conner[edit]

text: Mr. Conner is mentioned early on in the book. He was locked in an outhouse by "Boo" Radley and his friends. After taking the teenagers to court, Mr. Conner accused them of "disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, assault and battery, and using abusive and profane language in the presence and hearing of a female." He added the last charge after claiming that the teens had "cussed so loud he was sure every lady in Maycomb heard them."

text: Zeebo[edit]

text: Calpurnia's eldest son, Zeebo, was taught how to read by Calpurnia. Zeebo is one of just four people in First Purchase Church who can read, so he is the vocal leader, leading hymns in their church by "lining"—reading a line of verse and having the congregation repeat it. He is also the garbage man of Maycomb, and took away the dead rabid dog, Tim Johnson. When Lula, a fellow church member tries to make Scout and Jem feel bad for attending church with Calpurnia, Zeebo welcomes them with open arms.


document_title: The Players Club

question_text: where did the movie players club take place

root

text: The Players Club

text: Plot[edit]

text: The story is presented as a memory of Diana Armstrong (LisaRaye) sparked by her arrival at the scene of the raunchy, dysfunctional Players Club. She explains that she used to work at the club, beginning working there after getting pregnant with her son and getting into a heated argument with her father, prompting her to move out of her parents' home. Initially, Diana ends up working at a shoe store. There she meets Ronnie (Chrystale Wilson) and Tricks (Adele Givens), who work for Dollar Bill (Bernie Mac) at The Players Club. They convince Diana she would make better money stripping, saying, "Use what you got to get what you want."

tag: p

text: Dollar Bill gives Diana a job and the name Diamond. Her job initially goes well. However, four years later her younger cousin Ebony Armstrong (Monica Calhoun) comes to live with her after leaving Ohio. After listening to Dollar's rendition of "The Strippin' Game", she starts working at the club.

text: Ebony is soon out of control - drinking excessively, staying out all night ,and influenced more and more by Ronnie and Tricks, who encourage Ebony to do more out-of-club parties for groups of men. Diana tries to warn Ebony to stay away from Ronnie and Tricks and to quit doing house parties, but Ebony rebels against being told what to do and ignores Diana's advice.

text: After a heated confrontation with Ebony, Diana has a flashback to a time when she was at a private party with Ronnie and Tricks. Diamond passes out on the bed drunk, and the men at the party offer to pay Ronnie to perform cunnilingus on Diamond. Ronnie accepts the offer and proceeds to assault Diamond. The flashback encourages Diana to continue to try to protect Ebony. Clyde (Alex Thomas) and Reggie (Ice Cube) - two watchmen who work for a drug lord named St. Louis - offer Ebony money to come off and have sex with them, but Diana intervenes.

text: Meanwhile, Dollar Bill gets confronted by a man who works for St. Louis, a drug lord to whom Dollar Bill owes $60,000. He warns Dollar Bill if he doesn't make a payment of $10,000 to St. Louis, he will hunt him down. That same night, St. Louis comes to his club to collect. L'il Man, the doorman of the club, tells St. Louis that Dollar Bill is not at the club; St. Louis and his men leave. The next day as Dollar Bill tries to leave the club, St. Louis' men Brooklyn (Charlie Murphy) and KC (Terrence Howard) confront him. They beat him unconscious and throw him into the back of his car. Luckily for him, they are stopped by Freeman (John Amos) and Peters (Faizon Love), two crooked cops. Dollar Bill is found in the trunk and is arrested on warrants; he is later bailed out and returns to the club.

text: The following night rapper Luther "Luke" Campbell comes to the strip club, Reggie and Clyde discuss him. When Dollar Bill is notified that Luke is at his club, he alerts the strippers via a money alarm, believing he will make a fortune. Clyde attempts to meet Luke, but Luke's bodyguard (Michael Clarke Duncan) informs Clyde that Luke is trying to relax and not meet with fans. Clyde insults the bodyguard, causing him to hit Clyde in the back of his head as he starts to walk away. The bodyguard, Luke and the others in the VIP section all laugh. In retaliation, Reggie grabs a chair, smashes it over the bodyguards head and beats down the bodyguard and belligerently fights against Luke and his friends, only for him to be gang-beaten and thrown into a glass window. The dazed Reggie opens fire wildly before being knocked out by the bouncer XL (Tiny Lister). Clyde then gets up and begins throwing punches himself.

text: Further tension develops between Ebony and Diana when Diana returns home one night after fleeing her obsessive customer Myrin, who admitted to stalking her and then tried to force entry to her apartment, to find Ebony in bed with her boyfriend Lance. Diana chases Lance out with her gun, shooting at him several times. Diana threatens and taunts Ebony. When Diana feigns leaving, Ebony is hit when she opens the door and is thrown out the apartment.

text: Diana then begins dating Blue (Jamie Foxx), a DJ at the Player's Club. Meanwhile, Ebony is offered a gig to dance at Ronnie's brother Junior's (Samuel Monroe Jr.) bachelor party, under the pretense from Ronnie that other girls from the club will be dancing there as well (In actuality, Ronnie lied to use her as a way out of stripping for her brother's friends at the party so Ebony can strip for them instead). When Ebony realizes that she will be the only woman in a hotel room full of horny men, she desperately tries calling Diana to come and pick her up, but to no avail.

text: Reggie and Clyde, both feeling insulted by Diana and Ebony from a previous encounter (she tells them she's not interested anymore), tell Junior that Ebony will have sex with him, claiming that they "ran a train" on her. Excited, Junior bursts in on Ebony while she is changing. Ebony resists, prompting Junior to brutally beat and rape her, leaving his friends to listen to it in full disgust and disbelief. Soon, Reggie, Clyde and the other guests leave, wanting no further involvement with Junior. When Ronnie discovers Ebony unconscious, she and Junior flee the hotel room as she scolds him. Later, Diana has a change of heart and she and Blue decide to check up on Ebony at the hotel, only to discover her bloodied and unconscious body on the bed.

text: Furious, Diana grabs her gun and goes to the Players Club, where Ronnie and Tricks are hiding out. After scaring the other strippers away by firing a warning shot, Diana gives the gun to Blue to cover her while she gets into a brutal fistfight with Ronnie, leaving Ronnie badly beaten. She punches Tricks, Dollar Bill fires Diana, She quits and She leaves along with Blue.

text: Ronnie and Tricks are arrested by the police on charges of the rape of Ebony, and Junior had been arrested moments before. Later that night, Diana's timing proves to be perfect when St. Louis, comes to collect. He personally shoots up the club (though he does give warning to the customers beforehand, allowing them to leave). As he desperately tries to escape, Dollar is captured by Reggie, Clyde, and St. Louis' associate, whom Dollar Bill met earlier. Later, one of St. Louis' men Brooklyn destroy the club with a LAW rocket.

text: Ebony, still sporting the bruises from her rape, now has a job working at the shoe store. Having been berated by two strippers who work at a new club, called Club Sugar Daddy's, with the same slogan that influenced her to strip, she firmly stands her ground. In the end, Diamond narrates that Ebony moved back to Tallahassee, FL to be with her mother. Blue is a top DJ at a radio station, and that he and Diamond are moving further in their relationship. Ronnie and Tricks got jobs at Club Sugar Daddy's after their release from jail. Junior is serving time in prison for raping Ebony, and that he never got married. Reggie and Clyde were last seen at the Freaknik in Atlanta. St. Louis is still "running the South" along with his hired guns, Brooklyn and KC. Peters and Freeman are still harassing people all day. Little Man is managing a different strip club in Chicago. Dollar Bill was never heard from again (Notwithstanding, it can be safely assumed that he was murdered by St. Louis' men for his debts as he was last seen being stuffed into the trunk of their car). Diana becomes a successful reporter, having put the past behind her to move on to a new life with her son and boyfriend.

text: Cast[edit]

text:
LisaRaye as Diana "Diamond" Armstrong: a college student and aspiring journalist who is gets a job at The Players Club to raise money for her college tuition. Diana has a rivalry with Ronnie and Tricks; her rivalry is indirectly related to the climax of the film.
Bernie Mac as Dollar Bill: the dim owner of The Players Club who is threatened by a loan shark named St. Louis, as Dollar Bill is deeply in debt to him. At one point earlier in the film, he is captured by Brooklyn and K.C. but escapes death when the two loan sharks are arrested. At the end, he is re-captured by St. Louis' men and is presumed to be murdered after.
Monica Calhoun as Ebony: Diamond's younger cousin who becomes out-of-control after getting a job at The Players Club. She befriends Ronnie and Tricks, who manipulate her throughout. the film. In the end, she begins working at a shoe store after being beaten and raped by Ronnie's younger brother.
Jamie Foxx as Blue: the club's radio disc jockey and Diamond's love interest of the film.
John Amos as Officer Freeman: a crooked police officer who harasses suspects.
Chrystale Wilson as Ronnie: A stripper at The Players Club with a rivalry with Diamond and Ebony. Ronnie is later beaten up by Diamond due to her indirect responsibility for Ebony's beating and rape.
Adele Givens as Tricks: A stripper at The Players Club and a right-hand of Ronnie. She is arrested at the end of the film.
Anthony Johnson as L'il Man: the club's doorman who is frequently taunted and harmed by St. Louis and his crooks when he covers up for Dollar Bill's absences.
Ice Cube as Reggie: A henchman working for St. Louis. Reggie is sent to the Players Club to look over Dollar Bill's business and has affection towards Ebony.
Alex Thomas as Clyde: Reggie's best friend who, like Reggie, has an affection towards Ebony and works for St. Louis.
Tiny Lister as XL the Bouncer: a tall, muscular bouncer of the club.
Larry McCoy as St. Louis: a wheelchair-using gangster to whom Dollar Bill owes money.
Charlie Murphy as Brooklyn: St. Louis' main henchman.
Terrence Howard as K.C.: St. Louis' secondary henchman and Brooklyn's partner in crime.
Faizon Love as Officer Peters: another police officer who harasses suspects.
Samuel Monroe Jr. as Junior: Ronnie's younger brother.
Luther Campbell as Luke: a rapper who visits the club.
Michael Clarke Duncan as Bodyguard: the tall, muscular bodyguard for Luke.
Montae Russell as Lance: Diamond's boyfriend who she ended her relationship with due to his attraction towards Ebony.

tag: ul

text: Soundtrack[edit]

text: A successful soundtrack was released on March 17, 1998, peaking at #10 on the Billboard 200 and #2 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. It featured artists such as the film's star, Ice Cube, DMX, Master P and Jay-Z, among others.

text: Box office[edit]

text: The movie debuted at No. 5.[3] It went on to gross $23,047,939 domestically, and $213,546 in foreign markets for a total lifetime gross of $23,261,485.[4]


document_title: Eye (cyclone)

question_text: air flow in the eye of a hurricane

question_tokens: air flow in the eye of a hurricane

text: Eye (cyclone)

text: Structure[edit]

text: A typical tropical cyclone will have an eye of approximately 30–65 km (20–40 mi) across, usually situated at the geometric center of the storm. The eye may be clear or have spotty low clouds (a clear eye), it may be filled with low- and mid-level clouds (a filled eye), or it may be obscured by the central dense overcast. There is, however, very little wind and rain, especially near the center. This is in stark contrast to conditions in the eyewall, which contains the storm's strongest winds.[3] Due to the mechanics of a tropical cyclone, the eye and the air directly above it are warmer than their surroundings.[4]

text: While normally quite symmetric, eyes can be oblong and irregular, especially in weakening storms. A large ragged eye is a non-circular eye which appears fragmented, and is an indicator of a weak or weakening tropical cyclone. An open eye is an eye which can be circular, but the eyewall does not completely encircle the eye, also indicating a weakening, moisture-deprived cyclone. Both of these observations are used to estimate the intensity of tropical cyclones via Dvorak analysis.[5] Eyewalls are typically circular; however, distinctly polygonal shapes ranging from triangles to hexagons occasionally occur.[6]

text: While typical mature storms have eyes that are a few dozen miles across, rapidly intensifying storms can develop an extremely small, clear, and circular eye, sometimes referred to as a pinhole eye. Storms with pinhole eyes are prone to large fluctuations in intensity, and provide difficulties and frustrations for forecasters.[7]

text: Small/minuscule eyes—those less than 10 nmi (19 km, 12 mi) across—often trigger eyewall replacement cycles, where a new eyewall begins to form outside the original eyewall. This can take place anywhere from fifteen to hundreds of kilometers (ten to a few hundred miles) outside the inner eye. The storm then develops two concentric eyewalls, or an "eye within an eye". In most cases, the outer eyewall begins to contract soon after its formation, which chokes off the inner eye and leaves a much larger but more stable eye. While the replacement cycle tends to weaken storms as it occurs, the new eyewall can contract fairly quickly after the old eyewall dissipates, allowing the storm to re-strengthen. This may trigger another re-strengthen cycle of eyewall replacement.[8]

text: Eyes can range in size from 370 km (230 mi) (Typhoon Carmen)[9] to a mere 3.7 km (2.3 mi) (Hurricane Wilma) across.[10] While it is uncommon for storms with large eyes to become very intense, it does occur, especially in annular hurricanes. Hurricane Isabel was the eleventh most powerful North Atlantic hurricane in recorded history, and sustained a large, 65–80 km (40–50 mi)-wide eye for a period of several days.[11]

text: Formation and detection[edit]

text: Tropical cyclones typically form from large, disorganized areas of disturbed weather in tropical regions. As more thunderstorms form and gather, the storm develops rainbands which start rotating around a common center. As the storm gains strength, a ring of stronger convection forms at a certain distance from the rotational center of the developing storm. Since stronger thunderstorms and heavier rain mark areas of stronger updrafts, the barometric pressure at the surface begins to drop, and air begins to build up in the upper levels of the cyclone.[12] This results in the formation of an upper level anticyclone, or an area of high atmospheric pressure above the central dense overcast. Consequently, most of this built up air flows outward anticyclonically above the tropical cyclone. Outside the forming eye, the anticyclone at the upper levels of the atmosphere enhances the flow towards the center of the cyclone, pushing air towards the eyewall and causing a positive feedback loop.[12]

text: However, a small portion of the built-up air, instead of flowing outward, flows inward towards the center of the storm. This causes air pressure to build even further, to the point where the weight of the air counteracts the strength of the updrafts in the center of the storm. Air begins to descend in the center of the storm, creating a mostly rain-free area—a newly formed eye.[12]

text: There are many aspects of this process which remain a mystery. Scientists do not know why a ring of convection forms around the center of circulation instead of on top of it, or why the upper-level anticyclone only ejects a portion of the excess air above the storm. Many theories exist as to the exact process by which the eye forms: all that is known for sure is that the eye is necessary for tropical cyclones to achieve high wind speeds.[12]

text: The formation of an eye is almost always an indicator of increasing tropical cyclone organisation and strength. Because of this, forecasters watch developing storms closely for signs of eye formation.

text: For storms with a clear eye, detection of the eye is as simple as looking at pictures from a weather satellite. However, for storms with a filled eye, or an eye completely covered by the central dense overcast, other detection methods must be used. Observations from ships and Hurricane Hunters can pinpoint an eye visually, by looking for a drop in wind speed or lack of rainfall in the storm's center. In the United States, South Korea, and a few other countries, a network of NEXRAD Doppler weather radar stations can detect eyes near the coast. Weather satellites also carry equipment for measuring atmospheric water vapor and cloud temperatures, which can be used to spot a forming eye. In addition, scientists have recently discovered that the amount of ozone in the eye is much higher than the amount in the eyewall, due to air sinking from the ozone-rich stratosphere. Instruments sensitive to ozone perform measurements, which are used to observe rising and sinking columns of air, and provide indication of the formation of an eye, even before satellite imagery can determine its formation.[13]

text: Associated phenomena[edit]

text: Eyewall replacement cycles[edit]

text: Eyewall replacement cycles, also called concentric eyewall cycles, naturally occur in intense tropical cyclones, generally with winds greater than 185 km/h (115 mph), or major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale). When tropical cyclones reach this intensity, and the eyewall contracts or is already sufficiently small (see above), some of the outer rainbands may strengthen and organize into a ring of thunderstorms—an outer eyewall—that slowly moves inward and robs the inner eyewall of its needed moisture and angular momentum. Since the strongest winds are located in a cyclone's eyewall, the tropical cyclone usually weakens during this phase, as the inner wall is "choked" by the outer wall. Eventually the outer eyewall replaces the inner one completely, and the storm can re-intensify.[8]

text: The discovery of this process was partially responsible for the end of the U.S. government's hurricane modification experiment Project Stormfury. This project set out to seed clouds outside the eyewall, causing a new eyewall to form and weakening the storm. When it was discovered that this was a natural process due to hurricane dynamics, the project was quickly abandoned.[8]

text: Almost every intense hurricane undergoes at least one of these cycles during its existence. Hurricane Allen in 1980 went through repeated eyewall replacement cycles, fluctuating between Category 5 and Category 3 status on the Saffir-Simpson scale several times. Hurricane Juliette was a rare documented case of triple eyewalls.[14]

text: Moats[edit]

text: A moat in a tropical cyclone is a clear ring outside the eyewall, or between concentric eyewalls, characterized by subsidence—slowly sinking air—and little or no precipitation. The air flow in the moat is dominated by the cumulative effects of stretching and shearing. The moat between eyewalls is an area in the storm where the rotational speed of the air changes greatly in proportion to the distance from the storm's center; these areas are also known as rapid filamentation zones. Such areas can potentially be found near any vortex of sufficient strength, but are most pronounced in strong tropical cyclones.[15]

text: Eyewall mesovortices[edit]

text: Eyewall mesovortices are small scale rotational features found in the eyewalls of intense tropical cyclones. They are similar, in principle, to small "suction vortices" often observed in multiple-vortex tornadoes.[16] In these vortices, wind speeds may be greater than anywhere else in the eyewall.[17] Eyewall mesovortices are most common during periods of intensification in tropical cyclones.[16]

text: Eyewall mesovortices often exhibit unusual behavior in tropical cyclones. They usually rotate around the low pressure center, but sometimes they remain stationary. Eyewall mesovortices have even been documented to cross the eye of a storm. These phenomena have been documented observationally,[18] experimentally,[16] and theoretically.[19]

text: Eyewall mesovortices are a significant factor in the formation of tornadoes after tropical cyclone landfall. Mesovortices can spawn rotation in individual thunderstorms (a mesocyclone), which leads to tornadic activity. At landfall, friction is generated between the circulation of the tropical cyclone and land. This can allow the mesovortices to descend to the surface, causing tornadoes.[20]

text: Stadium effect[edit]

text: The stadium effect is a phenomenon observed in strong tropical cyclones. It is a fairly common event, where the clouds of the eyewall curve outward from the surface with height. This gives the eye an appearance resembling an open dome from the air, akin to a sports stadium. An eye is always larger at the top of the storm, and smallest at the bottom of the storm because the rising air in the eyewall follows isolines of equal angular momentum, which also slope outward with height.[21][22][23] In tropical cyclones with very small eyes, the sloping phenomenon is much more pronounced.

text: Eye-like features[edit]

text: An eye-like structure is often found in intensifying tropical cyclones. Similar to the eye seen in hurricanes or typhoons, it is a circular area at the circulation center of the storm in which convection is absent. These eye-like features are most normally found in intensifying tropical storms and hurricanes of Category 1 strength on the Saffir-Simpson scale. For example, an eye-like feature was found in Hurricane Beta when the storm had maximum wind speeds of only 80 km/h (50 mph), well below hurricane force.[24] The features are typically not visible on visible wavelengths or infrared wavelengths from space, although they are easily seen on microwave satellite imagery.[25] Their development at the middle levels of the atmosphere is similar to the formation of a complete eye, but the features might be horizontally displaced due to vertical wind shear.[26][27]

text: Hazards[edit]

text: Though the eye is by far the calmest part of the storm, with no wind at the center and typically clear skies, over the ocean it is possibly the most hazardous area. In the eyewall, wind-driven waves all travel in the same direction. In the center of the eye, however, the waves converge from all directions, creating erratic crests that can build on each other to become rogue waves. The maximum height of hurricane waves is unknown, but measurements during Hurricane Ivan when it was a Category 4 hurricane estimated that waves near the eyewall exceeded 40 m (130 ft) from peak to trough.[28]

text: A common mistake, especially in areas where hurricanes are uncommon, is for residents to exit their homes to inspect the damage while the calm eye passes over, only to be caught off guard by the violent winds in the opposite eyewall.[29]

text: Other cyclones[edit]

text: Though only tropical cyclones have structures officially termed "eyes", there are other weather systems that can exhibit eye-like features.[1][30]

text: Polar lows[edit]

text: Polar lows are mesoscale weather systems, typically smaller than 1,000 km (600 mi) across, found near the poles. Like tropical cyclones, they form over relatively warm water and can feature deep convection and winds of gale force or greater. Unlike storms of tropical nature, however, they thrive in much colder temperatures and at much higher latitudes. They are also smaller and last for shorter durations, with few lasting longer than a day or so. Despite these differences, they can be very similar in structure to tropical cyclones, featuring a clear eye surrounded by an eyewall and bands of rain and snow.[31].

text: Extratropical cyclones[edit]

text: Extratropical cyclones are areas of low pressure which exist at the boundary of different air masses. Almost all storms found at mid-latitudes are extratropical in nature, including classic North American nor'easters and European windstorms. The most severe of these can have a clear "eye" at the site of lowest barometric pressure, though it is usually surrounded by lower, non-convective clouds and is found near the back end of the storm.[32]

text: Subtropical cyclones[edit]

text: Subtropical cyclones are low-pressure systems with some extratropical characteristics and some tropical characteristics. As such, they may have an eye while not being truly tropical in nature. Subtropical cyclones can be very hazardous, generating high winds and seas, and often evolve into fully tropical cyclones. For this reason, the National Hurricane Center began including subtropical storms in its naming scheme in 2002.[33]

text: Tornadoes[edit]

text: Tornadoes are destructive, small-scale storms, which produce the fastest winds on earth. There are two main types—single-vortex tornadoes, which consist of a single spinning column of air, and multiple-vortex tornadoes, which consist of small "suction vortices," resembling mini-tornadoes themselves, all rotating around a common center. Both of these types of tornadoes are theorized to have calm eyes. These theories are supported by doppler velocity observations by weather radar and eyewitness accounts.[34][35]

text: Extraterrestrial vortices[edit]

text: NASA reported in November 2006 that the Cassini spacecraft observed a "hurricane-like" storm locked to the south pole of Saturn with a clearly defined eyewall. The observation was particularly notable as eyewall clouds had not previously been seen on any planet other than Earth (including a failure to observe an eyewall in the Great Red Spot of Jupiter by the Galileo spacecraft).[36] In 2007, very large vortices on both poles of Venus were observed by the Venus Express mission of the European Space Agency to have a dipole eye structure.[37]


document_title: Great Salt Lake

question_text: where does the salt come from in utah

question_tokens: where does the salt come from in utah

text: Great Salt Lake

text: Origin[edit]

text: The Great Salt Lake is a remnant of a much larger prehistoric lake called Lake Bonneville. At its greatest extent, Lake Bonneville spanned 22,400 square miles (58,000 km2), nearly as large as present-day Lake Michigan, and roughly ten times the area of the Great Salt Lake today.[2] Bonneville reached 923 ft (281 m) at its deepest point,[5][6] and covered much of present-day Utah and small portions of Idaho and Nevada during the ice ages of the Pleistocene Epoch.

text: Lake Bonneville existed until about 16,800 years ago, when a large portion of the lake was released through the Red Rock Pass in Idaho. With the warming climate, the remaining lake began to dry, leaving the Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, Sevier Lake, and Rush Lake behind.[5]

text: History[edit]

text: The Shoshone, Ute, and Paiute have lived near the Great Salt Lake for thousands of years. At the time of Salt Lake City's founding, the valley was within the territory of the Northwestern Shoshone;[7] however, occupation was seasonal, near streams emptying from Canyons into the Salt Lake Valley. One of the local Shoshone tribes, the Western Goshute tribe, referred to the lake as Pi'a-pa, meaning "big water", or Ti'tsa-pa, meaning "bad water".[8][9]

text: The Great Salt Lake entered written European history through the records of Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, who learned of its existence from the Timpanogos Utes in 1776. No European name was given to it at the time, and it was not shown on the map by Bernardo Miera y Pacheco, the cartographer for the expedition. In 1824, it was observed, apparently independently, by Jim Bridger and Etienne Provost. Shortly thereafter other trappers saw it and walked around it.

text: Most of the trappers, however, were illiterate and did not record their discoveries. As oral reports of their findings made their way to those who did make records, some errors were made. Escalante had been on the shores of Utah Lake, which he named Laguna Timpanogos. It was the larger of the two lakes that appeared on Miera's map. Other cartographers followed his lead and charted Lake Timpanogos as the largest (or larger) lake in the region. As people came to know of the Great Salt Lake, they interpreted the maps to think that "Timpanogos" referred to the Great Salt Lake. On some maps the two names were used synonymously. In time "Timpanogos" was dropped from the maps and its original association with Utah Lake was forgotten.

text: In 1843, John C. Fremont led the first scientific expedition to the lake, but with winter coming on, he did not take the time to survey the entire lake. That happened in 1850 under the leadership of Howard Stansbury (Stansbury discovered and named the Stansbury mountain range and Stansbury island).[10] John Fremont's overly glowing reports of the area were published shortly after his expedition. Stansbury also published a formal report of his survey work which became very popular. His report of the area included a discussion of Mormon religious practices based on Stansbury's interaction with the Mormon community in Great Salt Lake City, which had been established three years earlier in 1847.[11]

text: Beginning in November 1895, artist and author Alfred Lambourne spent a year living on the remote Gunnison Island, where he wrote a book of musing and poetry, Our Inland Sea. From November 1895 to March 1896, he was alone. In March, a few guano sifters arrived to harvest and sell the guano of the nesting birds as fertilizer. Lambourne included musings about these guano sifters in his work. Lambourne left the island early in the winter of 1896 along with the first group of guano sifters.[12]

text: Geography[edit]

text: The Great Salt Lake lends its name to Salt Lake City, originally named "Great Salt Lake City" by the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) Brigham Young,[13] who led a group of Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley southeast of the lake on July 24, 1847.

text: The lake lies in parts of five counties: Box Elder, Davis, Tooele, Weber, and Salt Lake. Salt Lake City and its suburbs are located to the southeast and east of the lake, between the lake and the Wasatch Mountains, but land around the north and west shores are almost uninhabited. The Bonneville Salt Flats are to the west, and the Oquirrh and Stansbury Mountains rise to the south.

text: The Great Salt Lake is fed by three major rivers and several minor streams. The three major rivers are each fed directly or indirectly from the Uinta Mountain range in northeastern Utah. The Bear River starts on the north slope of the Uintas and flows north past Bear Lake, into which some of Bear River's waters have been diverted[14] via a man-made canal into the lake, but later empty back into the river by means of the Bear Lake Outlet. The river then turns south in southern Idaho and eventually flows into the northeast arm of the Great Salt Lake. The Weber River also starts on the north slope of the Uinta Mountains and flows into the east edge of the lake. The Jordan River does not receive its water directly from the Uintas, rather it flows from freshwater Utah Lake, which itself is fed primarily by the Provo River; the Provo River does originate in the Uintas, a few miles from the Weber and Bear.[5] The Jordan flows from the north part of Utah Lake into the southeast corner of the Great Salt Lake.

text: Due to its shallowness, the water level can fall dramatically in dry years and rise during high precipitation years, hence reflecting prolonged drought and wet periods. The lake level change is strongly modulated by the Pacific Ocean through atmospheric circulations that fluctuate at low frequency.[15] By capturing these climate oscillations while using tree-ring reconstruction of lake level, the lake level fluctuation could be predicted onward for 5–8 years.[16] The Utah Climate Center provides prediction of the Great Salt Lake's annual lake level. This forecast uses central tropical Pacific Ocean temperature, watershed precipitation, tree-ring data of 750+ years,[17] and the lake level itself.

text: A railroad line – the Lucin Cutoff – runs across the lake, crossing the southern end of Promontory Peninsula. The mostly solid causeway supporting the railway divides the lake into three portions: the northeast arm, northwest arm, and southern. This causeway obstructs the normal mixing of the waters of the lake because there are only three 100-foot (30 m) breaches. Because no rivers, except a few minor streams, flow directly into the northwest arm, Gunnison Bay, it is now substantially saltier than the rest of the lake. This saltier environment promotes different types of algae than those growing in the southern part of the lake, leading to a marked color difference on the two sides of the causeway. On December 1, 2016, the causeway was open under a newly constructed 180-foot-long (55 m) bridge that allowed water to flow from the southern arm of the lake into northwest arm. At the time of opening of causeway the northwest arm was nearly three feet lower than the southern arm. As of April 29, 2017, the levels of both arms of the lake have risen due to spring runoff, and the northwestern arm is within one foot of the southern arm.[18]

text: Islands[edit]

text: Categorically stating the number of islands is difficult, as the method used to determine what is an island is not necessarily the same in each source. Since the water level of the lake can vary greatly between years, what may be considered an island in a high water year may be considered a peninsula in another, or an island in a low water year may be covered during another year. According to the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Geological Survey, "there are eight named islands in the lake that have never been totally submerged during historic time. All have been connected to the mainland by exposed shoals during periods of low water." In addition to these eight islands, the lake also contains a number of rocks, reefs, or shoals that become fully or partially submerged at high water levels.[19]

text: The Utah Geological Survey, on the other hand, states "the lake contains 11 recognized islands, although this number varies depending on the level of the lake. Seven islands are in the southern portion of the lake and four in the northwestern portion."[20]

text: The size and whether they are counted as islands during any particular year depends mostly on the level of the lake. From largest to smallest, they are Antelope Island, Stansbury Island, Fremont Island, Carrington Island, Dolphin Island, Cub Island, and Badger Island, and various rocks, reefs, or shoals with names like Strongs Knob, Gunnison Island, Goose, Browns, Hat (Bird), Egg Island, Black Rock, and White Rock. Dolphin Island, Gunnison Island, Cub Island, and Strongs Knob are in the northwestern arm. The rest are in the southern portion of the Great Salt Lake.

text: Black Rock, Antelope Island, White Rock, Egg Island, Fremont Island, and the Promontory mountain range are each extensions of the Oquirrh Mountain Range, which dips beneath the lake at its southeastern shore. Stansbury, Carrington, and Hat Islands are extensions of the Stansbury mountain range, and Strongs Knob is an extension of the Lakeside Mountains which run along the lake's western shore.[21] The lake is deepest in the area between these island chains, measured by Howard Stansbury in 1850 at about 35 feet (10.7 meters) deep, and an average depth of 13 feet (four meters).[21] When the water levels are low, Antelope Island becomes connected to the shore as a peninsula, as do Goose Islands, Browns Island,[22] and some of the other islands. Stansbury Island and Strongs Knob remain peninsulas unless the water level rises well-above the average.

text: Lake effect precipitation[edit]

text: Due to the warm waters of the Great Salt Lake, lake effect snowfalls are frequent phenomena of the surrounding area. Cold north, northwest, or west winds generally blow across the lake following the passage of a cold front, and the temperature difference between the warm lake and the cool air can form clouds that lead to precipitation downwind of the lake. It is typically heaviest from eastern Tooele County east and north into central Davis County. It can deposit excessive snowfall amounts, generally with a narrow band of snow highly dependent on the direction the wind is blowing.

text: The lake effect snowfalls are more likely to occur in late fall, early winter, and during spring due to the higher temperature differences between the lake and the air above it. During summer, the temperature differences can cause thunderstorms to form over the lake and drift eastward along the northern Wasatch Front. Some rainstorms may also be partially attributed to the lake effect in fall and spring. It is estimated that approximately six to eight lake effect snowstorms occur in a year, and that 10% of the average precipitation of Salt Lake City can be attributed to the lake effect.[23]

text: Hydrology[edit]

text: Because of its high salt concentration, the lake water is unusually dense, and most people can float more easily than in other bodies of water, particularly in Gunnison Bay, the saltier north arm of the lake.[24]

text: Water levels have been recorded since 1875,[2] averaging about 4,200 feet (1,280 m) above sea level. Since the Great Salt Lake is a shallow lake with gently sloping shores around all edges except on the south side, small variations in the water level greatly affect the extent of the shoreline. The water level can rise dramatically in wet years and fall during dry years. The water level is also affected by the amount of water flow diverted for agricultural and urban uses. The Jordan and Weber rivers, in particular, are diverted for other uses.[5] In the 1880s Grove Karl Gilbert predicted that the lake – then in the middle of many years of recession – would virtually disappear except for a small remnant between the islands.[25]

text: A 2014 study used tree rings collected in the watershed of the Great Salt Lake to create a 576-year record of lake level reconstruction.[17] The lake level change is strongly modulated by Pacific Ocean coupled ocean/atmospheric oscillations at low frequency, and therefore reflects the decadal-scale wet/dry cycles that characterize the region.[26][27] By capturing these climate oscillations[28] as well as utilizing the tree-ring reconstruction of lake level change,[29] researchers were able to predict the lake level fluctuation onward for as long as 5–8 years.[30]

text: The Great Salt Lake differs in elevation between the south and north parts. The causeway for the Lucin Cutoff divides the lake into two parts. The water-surface elevation of the south part of the lake is usually 0.5 to 2 feet (15–61 cm) higher than that of the north part because most of the inflow to the lake occurs from the south.[2][18]

text: Salinity[edit]

text: Most of the salts dissolved in the lake and deposited in the desert flats around it reflect the concentration of solutes by evaporation; Lake Bonneville itself was fresh enough to support populations of fish.[31][32] More salt is added yearly via rivers and streams, though the amount is much less than the relict salt from Bonneville.[31]

text: The salinity of the lake's main basin, Gilbert Bay, is highly variable and depends on the lake's level; it ranges from 5 to 27% (50 to 270 parts per thousand).[24] For comparison, the average salinity of the world ocean is 3.5% (35 parts per thousand)[33] and 33.7% in the Dead Sea. The ionic composition is similar to seawater, much more so than the Dead Sea's water; compared to the ocean, Great Salt Lake's waters are slightly enriched in potassium and depleted in calcium.[24]

text: 1930s Fresh Water Project[edit]

text: In the early 1930s there was a project to dam off a third of the lake with dikes on the east side north of Salt Lake City to make a fresh water reservoir for drinking and irrigation. The project was abandoned before it got beyond the planning stage.[34]

text: Willard Bay Reservoir[edit]

text: Willard Bay, also known as Willard Bay Reservoir or Arthur V. Watkins Reservoir is a fresh water reservoir, completed in 1964, which separated, drained, and subsequently filled with fresh water from the Weber River, a portion of the Great Salt Lake's northeastern arm.

text: West Desert Pumping Project[edit]

text: Record high water levels in the 1980s caused a large amount of property damage for owners on the eastern side of the Great Salt Lake, and the water started to erode the base of Interstate 80. In response, the State of Utah built the West Desert Pumping Project on the western side of the lake. This project consists of a pumping station (41°15′9.28″N 113°4′53.31″W / 41.2525778°N 113.0814750°W / 41.2525778; -113.0814750) at Hogup Ridge, containing three pumps with a combined capacity of moving 1,500,000 US gallons per minute (95 m3/s); an inlet canal; and an outlet canal. Also, there are 25 miles (40 km) of dikes and a 10-mile (16 km) access road between the town of Lakeside and the pumping station.[35]

text: This pumping project was designed to increase the surface area of the Great Salt Lake, and thus increase the rate of water evaporation. The pumps drove some of the water of the Great Salt Lake into the 320,000-acre (1300-square kilometer) Newfoundland Evaporation Basin in the desert west of the lake. A weir in the dike at the southern end of the Newfoundland Mountains regulated the level of water in the basin, and it sometimes returned salty water from the evaporation basin into the main body of the Great Salt Lake.[35]

text: At the end of their first year of operation, the pumps had removed about 500,000 acre feet (620,000,000 m3) of water from the Great Salt Lake. The project was shut down in June 1989 since the level of the lake had dropped by nearly six feet (1.8 meters) since reaching its peak levels during June 1986 and March 1987. The Utah Division of Water Resources credits the project with "over one-third of that decline."[35] In total, the pumps removed 2,730,000 acre feet (3.37 km3) of water while they operated.[36]

text: Although the pumps are no longer in use, they have been kept in place in case the level of the Great Salt Lake ever rises that high again.[37]

text: Ecosystem[edit]

text: The high salinity in parts of the lake makes them uninhabitable for all but a few species, including brine shrimp, brine flies, and several forms of algae. The brine flies have an estimated population of over one hundred billion and serve as the main source of food for many of the birds which migrate to the lake.[38] However, the fresh- and salt-water wetlands along the eastern and northern edges of the Great Salt Lake provide critical habitat for millions of migratory shorebirds and waterfowl in western North America. These marshes account for approximately 75% of the wetlands in Utah.[39] Some of the birds that depend on these marshes include:[40] Wilson's phalarope, red-necked phalarope, American avocet, black-necked stilt, marbled godwit, snowy plover, western sandpiper, long-billed dowitcher, tundra swan, American white pelican, white-faced ibis, California gull, eared grebe, peregrine falcon, bald eagle, plus large populations of various ducks and geese.

text: There are twenty-seven private duck clubs, seven state waterfowl management areas, and a large federal bird refuge on the Great Salt Lake's shores.[41] Wetland/wildlife management areas include the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge; Gillmor Sanctuary; Great Salt Lake Shorelands Preserve; Salt Creek, Public Shooting Grounds, Harold Crane, Locomotive Springs, Ogden Bay, Timpie Springs, and Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Areas.

text: Several islands in the lake provide critical nesting areas for various birds. Access to Hat, Gunnison, and Cub islands is strictly limited by the State of Utah in an effort to protect nesting colonies of American white pelican (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos).[42] The islands within the Great Salt Lake also provide habitat for lizard and mammalian wildlife and a variety of plant species. Some species may have been extirpated from the islands. For example, a number of explorers who visited the area in the mid-1800s (e.g. Emmanuel Domenech, Howard Stansbury, Jules Rémy) noted an abundance of yellow-flowered "onions" on several of the islands, which they identified as Calochortus luteus. This species today occurs only in California, however, at that time the name C. luteus was applied to plants that later were named C. nuttallii[43][44] A yellow-flowered Calochortus was first named as a variety of C. nuttallii but was later separated into a new species C. aureus. This species occurs in Utah today, though apparently no longer on the islands of the Great Salt Lake.[45]

text: Because of the Great Salt Lake's high salinity, it has few fish, but they do occur in Bear River Bay and Farmington Bay when spring runoff brings fresh water into the lake. A few aquatic animals live in the lake's main basin, including centimeter-long brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana). Their tiny, hard-walled eggs or cysts (diameter about 200 micrometers)[46] are harvested in quantity during the fall and early winter. They are fed to prawns in Asia,[38] sold as novelty "Sea-Monkeys," sold either live or dehydrated in pet stores as a fish food, and used in testing of toxins, drugs, and other chemicals.[4] There are also two species of brine fly[47] as well as protozoa, rotifers, bacteria and algae.

text: Salinity differences between the sections of the lake separated by the railroad causeway result in significantly different biota. A phytoplankton community dominated by green algae or cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) tint the water south of the causeway a greenish color. North of the causeway, the lake is dominated by Dunaliella salina, a species of algae which releases beta-carotene, and the bacteria-like haloarchaea,[48] which together give the water an unusual reddish or purplish color,[47] and the bacteria converts non-toxic mercury into toxic methyl mercury, which then flows into the Southern portion of the lake in a heavy brine layer through the causeway.[49]

text: Although brine shrimp can be found in the arm of the lake north of the causeway, studies conducted by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources indicate that these are likely transient.[48] Populations of brine shrimp are mostly restricted to the lake's south arm.

text: In the two bays that receive most of the lake's fresh water inflows, Bear River Bay and Farmington Bay, the diversity of organisms is much higher. Salinities in these bays can approach that of fresh water when the spring snow melt occurs, and this allows a variety of bacteria, algae and invertebrates to proliferate in the nutrient-rich water. The abundance of invertebrates such as gnat larvae (chironomids) and back swimmers (Trichocorixa) are fed upon extensively by the huge shorebird and waterfowl populations that utilize the lake. Fish in these bays are fed upon by diving terns and pelicans.

text: Pink Floyd the flamingo[edit]

text: A solitary Chilean flamingo, named Pink Floyd after the English rock band, wintered at the Great Salt Lake. He escaped from Salt Lake City's Tracy Aviary in 1987 and lived in the wild, eating brine shrimp and socializing with gulls and swans. (Pink Floyd is often referred to as a "he", although the bird's gender is not actually known.)[50] A group of Utah residents suggested petitioning the state to release more flamingos in an effort to keep Floyd company and as a possible tourist attraction.[51] Wildlife biologists resisted these efforts, saying that deliberate introduction of a non-native species would be ecologically unsound and might have detrimental consequences.[52] Pink Floyd was last seen in Idaho (where he was known to migrate) in 2005. He has not been seen since then and is presumed not to have survived the winter of 2005–2006.[53][54]

text: Elevated mercury levels[edit]

text: US Geological Survey and US Fish & Wildlife researchers, originally studying selenium levels in the lake, discovered some of the highest levels of methyl-mercury they had ever seen, at 25 nanograms per liter of water. For comparison, a fish consumption advisory was issued at the Florida Everglades after water there was found to contain 1 nanogram per liter.[55] The extremely high methyl mercury concentrations have been only in the lake's anoxic deep brine layer (monimolimnion) below a depth of 20 feet (6.1 m), but concentrations are also moderately high up in the water column where there is oxygen to support brine shrimp and brine flies.

text: The finding of high mercury levels prompted further studies[56] and a health advisory warning hunters not to eat common goldeneye or northern shoveler, two species of duck found in the lake. It has been stated that this does not pose a risk to other recreational users of the lake.[57]

text: After later studies were conducted with a larger number of birds, the advisories were revised and another was added for cinnamon teal. Seven other species of duck were studied and found to have levels of mercury below EPA guidelines, thus being determined safe to eat.[58]

text: A study in 2010 concluded that the main source of the mercury is likely worldwide industry, rather than local sources. As water levels rise and fall, mercury accumulation does as well. About 16 percent of the mercury comes in from rivers, and 84 percent comes from the atmosphere in a non-toxic, inorganic form. The non-toxic mercury is converted into toxic methyl mercury by bacteria which thrive in the more saline water of the North arm affected by the causeway.[49]

text: Commerce[edit]

text: Great Salt Lake contributes an estimated $1.3 billion annually to Utah's economy,[59] including $1.1 billion from industry (primarily mineral extraction), $136 million from recreation, and $57 million from the harvest of brine shrimp.[60]

text: Solar evaporation ponds at the edges of the lake produce salts and brine (water with high salt quantity). Minerals extracted from the lake include: sodium chloride (common salt), used in water softeners, salt lick blocks for livestock, and to melt ice on local roadways (food-grade salt is not produced from the lake, as it would require further costly processing to ensure its purity); potassium sulfate, used as a commercial fertilizer; and magnesium-chloride brine, used in the production of magnesium metal, chlorine gas, and as a dust suppressant. US Magnesium operates a plant on the southwest shore of the lake, which produces 14 percent of the worldwide supply of magnesium, more than any other North American magnesium operation.[60] Mineral-extraction companies operating on the lake pay royalties on their products to the State of Utah, which owns the lake.[61]

text: The harvest of brine shrimp cysts during fall and early winter has developed into a significant local industry, with the lake providing 35 to 45 percent of the worldwide supply of brine shrimp,[60] and cysts selling for as high as $35 per pound ($77/kg).[62] Brine shrimp were first harvested during the 1950s and sold as commercial fish food. In the 1970s the focus changed to their eggs, known as cysts, which were sold primarily outside of the United States to be used as food for shrimp, prawns, and some fish.[46] Today, these are mostly sold in East Asia and South America.[63] The amount of cysts and the quality are affected by several factors, but salinity is most important. The cysts will hatch at 2 to 3% salinity, but the greatest productivity is at salinities above about 10%. If the salinity drops near 5 to 6%, the cysts will lose buoyancy and sink, making them more difficult to harvest.[46]

text: The lake's north arm contains deposits of oil, but it is of poor quality and it is not economically feasible to extract and purify it.[13] As of 1993, around 3,000 barrels (480 m3) of crude oil had been produced from shallow wells along the shore.[64] The oil field at Rozel Point produced an estimated 10,000 barrels (1,600 m3) of oil from 30 to 50 wells, but has been inactive since the mid-1980s. Oil seeps in the area had been known since the late 19th century, and attempts at production began in 1904.[65] Industrial debris from this field remained in place near Spiral Jetty until a cleanup effort by the Division of Oil, Gas and Mining and the Division of Forestry, Fire, and State Lands was completed in December 2005.[66]

text: Causeway[edit]

text: The causeway running across the lake was built in the 1950s by the Morrison-Knudsen construction company for the Southern Pacific Railroad as a replacement to a previously built wooden trestle, and is now owned and operated by Union Pacific.[67] About 15 trains cross the 20-mile (30 km) causeway each day.[59] Previous to December 2, 2016, the causeway constrained the flow of water between northern and southern parts, which has a significant impact on various industries surrounding the lake. With the construction of a 180-foot-long (55 m) bridge and the opening of the causeway for water to flow between the arms of the lake, water levels have begun to equalize. The impact of the flow of water from the southern arm of the lake to the northern is yet to be seen.

text: The northern arm of the lake has a much higher salinity, to the point that the native brine shrimp cannot survive in its waters. In the southern portion, where the vast majority of the fresh water inlets are found, the salt level can dip below what is necessary for the brine shrimp to survive, while water in the northern bay is too salty. The salinity of northern arm of the lake will likely drop as lower salinity from the southern arm of the lake flows into the northern arm. The brine shrimp harvesting industry could benefit from the causeway allowing a freer flow of water.[59] There were concerns from the brine shrimp harvesting industry that the lake conditions in the southern arm of the lake were becoming too saline for the brine shrimp due to several years of lower precipitation in the lake's watershed. The precipitation in the watershed has been above normal for the current water year that begins its tracking October 1, 2016. This additional precipitation has allowed the levels of both arms of the lake to rise,[18] and at least for the near future the conditions for a healthy brine shrimp population seem good.

text: Great Salt Lake Minerals Company (a subsidiary of Compass Minerals) which extracts minerals from the northern bay. The company potentially benefits from the higher salinity of the northwest arm of the lake but has had difficulties accessing water from the lake because of lower water level. Previous to the opening of the causeway they had had to extend their intake channels to reach the water.

text: Morton Salt, Cargill Salt, Broken Arrow Salt and the Renco Group's U.S. Magnesium each extract minerals from the southern bay, and could benefit from a more natural mixture of water between the two sides of the lake.[67]

text: Recreation[edit]

text: Dramatically fluctuating lake levels have inhibited the creation and success of tourist-related developments. Additionally, there is a problem with pollution from industrial and urban effluent, as well as a natural "lake stink" caused by the decay of insects and other wildlife, particularly during times of low water.

text: Despite these issues, the lake remains one of Utah's largest tourist attractions.[68] Antelope Island State Park is a popular tourist destination that offers panoramic views of the lake, hiking and biking trails, wildlife viewing and access to beaches.

text: The State of Utah operates a marina on the south shore of the lake at Great Salt Lake State Park, and another in Antelope Island State Park. With its sudden storms and expansive spread, the lake is a great test of sailing skills.[69] Single mast, simple sloops are the most popular boats. Sudden storms and lack of experience on the part of boatmen are the two most dangerous elements in boating and sailing on the Great Salt Lake.[70]

text: Saltair[edit]

text: Three resorts, each called Saltair, have been operated on the southern shore of the lake since 1893, each one built as a successor to the previous one. Rising and lowering water levels have affected each iteration, and the first two were destroyed by fire.[71]

text: The first Saltair pavilion was destroyed by fire on April 22, 1925. A new pavilion was built and the resort was expanded at the same location by new investors, but after years of various challenges, it was eventually destroyed by an arsonist in 1970.[72]

text: The current Saltair serves as a concert venue.[73] The new resort was completed in 1981, approximately a mile (1600 m) west of the original.

text: The second Saltair included a fun house and a dancing venue.

text: Garfield Beach Resort[edit]

text: The Garfield Beach Resort was established by Captain Thomas Douris in 1881 and was originally called Garfield Landing. Located near Black Rock just outside of the town of Corinne, patrons traveled to the resort via a steamboat named "General Garfield" in memory of the commander and president James A. Garfield.[74] After the great expansion of the resort, the General Garfield was eventually replaced by two steamers, the Susie Riter and the Whirlwind. The iconic General Garfield was tied to the dock as a landmark.[75] The main attraction of the resort was a massive pavilion located 400 feet from shore. It covered 165 by 400 feet (50 by 122 m) and included 300 feet (91 m) of covered deck.[75] The success of Garfield Beach eventually overtook the neighboring Black Rock resort.[75] In 1887, the resort was purchased by the Utah and Nevada railroad and they improved the site by adding an extensive array of bathhouses, a restaurant, and other amenities like a bowling alley and venue.[74] The resort was the Salt Lake's first to have an electric generator which powered its many concerts and parties held on the top of the pavilion tower.[75] Garfield Beach was the most popular Salt Lake resort until Saltair was built in 1893. [76] The resort was eventually put out of service by a fire in 1904.[74][77]

text: Legends and unusual features[edit]