the onset of the twentieth century, sport hunting exploded in Utah. Each year,

thousands of hunters made their way to camps in the GSL wetland. Utah

newspapers reported on the quality shooting that one could experience in the

marsh and remarked that caravans of wagons were transporting hunters to the

marshes.

River and Black Sloughs for opening day. The

under the headlines RISE OF “DUCK-DOM.”

marshland around the GSL became appropriated by numerous duck clubs. Often the

land was only leased; however, in many cases the clubs owned it outright. On

the north end of the lake, a group of wealthy Denver, Chicago and East Coast

hunters incorporated the Bear River Club, merely 6,000 acres at the time. The Duckville Gun Club and many other clubs followed suit. By opening day 1906, scores of hunters “from

around the country” were arriving in Ogden by train to make their way to the

Bear River area.