S C A V E N G E R H U N T

Welcome to Open Streets SLC! You have found the Nature on Main Scavenger Hunt.

Here, we ask you to identify an aspect of nature along Main Street and answer a question about it that relates to the natural history of the Wasatch Front. Stops are numbered north to south, but you can start anywhere. Answer as many questions as you like. At the end of the Scavenger Hunt, go to the City Creek Center activity hub to learn more and find fun activities!

Stop 2: Buildings made of sand

Look at the building across Main Street. This seven-story building was constructed between 1890 and 1893 for McCornick & Company, which became the largest private bank between the Pacific Coast and the Missouri River.

The builders of Salt Lake City’s downtown quarried rocks from the canyons surrounding the city- especially the sandstone from the Wasatch Foothill peaks and canyons. The McCornick Building incorporated locally quarried Kyune sandstone. Easy to quarry and containing seams that allowed it to be extracted in large-sized blocks, Kyune sandstone was used extensively in Salt Lake City as a building stone in the late 1800s and early 1900s, especially for large buildings such as the City & County building.

Now look to the east, down 100 South, at the bright red building on the south side of the street. This is the Utah Commercial and Savings Bank Building, an even older structure built between 1888 and 1890 - its bright red facade made from a different type of local sandstone also found in “The Living Room” on Red Butte Peak.