Davis chamber honors causeway leader
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Loretta Park
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
lpark@standard.net
K
AYSVILLE -- The commission's dream in the 1960s put Davis County on the map.
"Look what we have now," former Commissioner Wayne Winegar said. "It's much bigger than we envisioned."
Winegar of Kaysville served on the Davis County Commission from 1961 to 1965. During that time, he, Glen Flint and Dr. Evan Taylor decided to build a road that some said went nowhere.
Today that road leads to Antelope Island. Winegar is the only one of the three still living.
"Antelope Island gets in your blood," Winegar said.
The three are this year's winners of the Legacy Award, presented annually by the Davis County Chamber of Commerce to those who have provided leadership to the county, state or nation, said Interim Director Diane Townsend.
The award will be presented at the chamber's awards banquet on Jan. 19 at the Oakridge Country Club. The banquet is open to the public, and the cost is $50 per plate. Reservations can be made by calling 593-2200.
Winegar grew up in Woods Cross, but had never been in the Great Salt Lake. When he was serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Hawaii, he talked to people about the lake and how they could float in it.
When he returned home, he discovered there was no way to get to Antelope Island, and that's when he began dreaming of "getting someone back in that lake and on that island," Winegar said.
Later he bought a farm in west Kaysville and noticed cars trying to get to the island on a nearby lane. He told the tourists that if they continued, "you'd sink your cars and no one will be able to get you out."
After he was elected a commissioner, Winegar and others began working to get a road built. The county could not get money from the Legislature and Weber County commissioners refused to join the venture, Winegar said.
It wasn't until the county had built six of the seven miles that the state decided to kick in some funds and finish the causeway.
Winegar said when the lake's waters covered the causeway in the 1980s, some people thought the road would be gone. But when the water receded, the causeway was still there, although in need of repair.
"I'm no hero," Winegar said. "I don't want to be a hero."
Ron Taylor, park manager at Antelope Island, said without the dream that Winegar and others shared, many tourists from around the world would never have seen the island's wonders.
"They had a dream and a vision and were able to pull it off," Taylor said. "It was a very unselfish dream. They wanted others to have access to the island and to enjoy it as well."
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