The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1852-12-09
The Valley of the Great Salt Lake.

TO the treat Salt Lake, recently puDIlsneu u
Lippincott, Grambo & Co., of Phila. The al
ticle is made up mainly of extracts from tn
work, judiciously taken, and is exceedingly in
teresting
The existence of vast lake of salt waite
somewhere amid the wilds west of the Rock
Mountains has been known since 1883 whe
Baron La Houtan wrote an account-which, how
| ever seems to have been rs much indebted t
Imagination as to obseryation-Of his discOverie
in that region. Some attempts have since tha
time been made to explore its shores but Capt
Stansbury's party are the first white men tina
have made the circuit ofits waters. The results
of the Captains observations, which were carried
on with much skill and immense labor, make the
circumference of the lake, exclusive of offsets
I to be 29l miles The neighborhood around is
on the same gigantic scale-cousstlng OF deserts
| so and 20 miles across separated from each other
! by precipit 'us rocky eminences of great eleva-
ton. Many of these deserts Capt. Stansbury
| says would furnish extended plains, absolutely
| level, upon which degree of the meridian could
! be measured TO great advantage
| This inland sea is believed by Capt. Stansbu-
r. to have been in n past age Of infinitely grea-
| ter extent. He says
Upon the slope of Il ridge connected with
this plain. thirteen distinct successive benches,
| or water-marks, were counted, which had evil
IDENTIFY, at one time, been washed by the lake,
and must have been the result of its action con-
tinued for some time at each level. The high
est Of these is now about two hundred feet above
the valley, which has itself been left by the
lake, owing probably to gradual elevation occa-
stoned by subterraneous causes. If this sup
position be correct-and all appearances con-
spire to support it-there must have been here
ing for hundreds of miles and the isolated
mountains which now tower from the flats, for
ming its western and southwestern shores were
doubtless huge islands similar TO those, which
now rise from the diminished waters of the
lake"
The first view that the party obtained of this
extraordinary lake is as well described in the
following words =
"At our feet and on each side lay the waters
of the Great Salt Lake, which we had so long
and sn ardently desired to see. They were clear
and calm, and stretched far to the south and
west. Directly before US, and distant only
few miles, an island rose from 800 to 1000 feet
in height, while in the distance other and larger
ones shot up from the bosom of the waters,
their SUBMITS appearing to reach the Clouds
On the west appeared several dark spots, resem-
bling other islands but the dreamy haze hover
ing over this still and solitary sea, threw its
dim, uncertain veil over the more distant fea-
lures of the landscape, preventing the eye from
discerning any one object with distinctness,
while it half revealed the whole, leaving ample
scope for the imagination of the beholder. The
stiffness of the grave seemed to pervade both
air and water and, excepting here and there a
solitary wild-duck floating motionless on the bo-
som of the lake, not living thing was to be
seen. The night proved perfectly serene, and
young moon shed its tremulous light upon sea
of profound, unbroken silence. Twas surprised
to find, although near body Of the safest
water none of that feeling of ofinvigorating fresh
ness which is always experienced when in the
vicinity of the ocean. The bleak and naked
shores, without single tree to relieve the eye,
presented scene so different from what l had
pictured in my imagination of the beauties of
this far-famed spot, that my disappointment was
extreme"
This intense repose is broken at times by the
presence Of myriads of wild fowl -
''The Salt Lake, which lay about half a mile
to the eastward, covered by immense focks
of wild geese and ducks, among which many
swans were seen, being distinguished by their
size and the whiteness of their plumage. / had
seen large f1ocks of these birds before, in vari
Gus parts of our country, and especially upon
the Potomac but never did | behold anything
gether. Thousands of acres, as far the eye
could reach, seemed literally covered with them
presenting a scene of busy, animated cheerful
ness, in most graceful contrast with the dreary,
silent solitude by which we were Immediately
surrounded.
The water is described as one Of the purest
md most concentrated brines known in the
world, clear and transparent as the diamond;
md on ANALYSIS it was found TO contain twenty
Der cent, of pure chloride of sodium, with about
wo per cent. of other salts. OF course such
must posse an extraordinary buoy |
INT property and Capt Stansbury thus relates
his bathing experiences -
'No one, without witnessing it, can form any |
dea of the buoyant properties of this singular |
water. A man may float, stretched at full |
ength, upon his back having his head and neck, /