Great Salt Lake Engraving

I was cruising Craig's List a few weeks back and found an ad for an engraving of the Great Salt Lake. I was curious, and checked it out.

The description was pretty vague, the image of it wasn't that good, so I asked for some detail shots. After figuring out that the seller was in Minnesota and not here locally to meet and see the print, I took a chance and decided to buy it.

It's actually really neat, and I gave it to Polla for Valentine's Day to make up for not getting her that butter dish I've been promising for years.

Here's what was on the tag on the reverse side of it:

medium - steel engraving
source - Bibliographisches Institut, Hildburghausen, Germany, circa 1850

The face reads:

Salt-Lake-City
die Mormonen-Stadt
Aus. d.Kunstanst.d.Bibl.Instit.in Hildbhsn
Eigenthum d. Verleger.

I don't have any other info about the piece, the artist or anything else. I might try to dig, but that'll have to happen in my 'spare' time.

My favorite parts of the piece are the sailboats on the lake (in 1850? Didn't the pioneers arrive in 1847?), and that the lake comes up right to the base of the Wasatch Mountains. I'm still trying to figure out the vantage point, possibly somewhere north of the present day capital site.

Clearly there are some geographical inconsistencies.

In anycase, I like it.