Autograph Letter, Signed.: Taking the waters for her health at the Black Rock Resort, Utah

Angie. Autograph Letter, Signed. Black Rock, Utah. August 18, 1880. To Mrs. J. T. Cooper, Silver Lake, Utah. Handwritten letter. Six pages, some 790 words.

The author is taking the waters for her health at the Black Rock Resort or bathing area. "This was the earliest of and the longest serving of the Great Salt Lake bathing resorts. The Black Rock Resort was built in the mid-1860s and expanded in 1880." – Merritt, A Colorful History. History.Utah.gov. She describes her routine of bathing four times a day and how she is feeling better as a result. She bathes before breakfast, at 11 am; at 3 pm and again at night before retiring. "I can be down and float I can lie down and float and guide myself where I please entirely alone but – cannot – yet -- get up alone except in shallow water. I am determined to learn though and when I can get up without assistance in deep water I shall next learn to turn over and swim." In fact she has now a healthy appetite, so much so she has to interrupt her letter to go eat at the sound of the lunch bell. She also says she now eats between meals as well. She has a view of the lake and enjoys watching the other bathers. Excursions come out on the train, including one that brought a Brass Band, which she enjoyed. She describes visitors coming out on the train to see her and going into town to the circus. She goes to a party in Lake Point. She also mentions a young woman (Inez, who apparently used to live with her friend). "I suppose you know that she married a Mormon boy, his father used to be Brigham Young's secretary." An interesting first-hand account of one of the resorts on the Great Salt Lake.