Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1858-11-02
YNCHBURG TUESDAY MORNING. NOVEMBER 9, Il
Daily slir9inian.
Description of Salt Lake.


correspondent of tho st. Louis Reiu,iicdn
suhoiued interesting description of the celebrated
Like irum which the capitol Of Mormondom, takes
its name. The writer says:
| have recently visited some objects Of interest
IN tits Immediate vicinity, among which | may
mention that great wonder ot tho world, Great
Salt Lake itself Yesterday morning. in company
with Capt. John u, Radiord. nm old st. Louisian
(who does not know Jack Radford, both in the
mountains and a home Judge Sinclair and Mr..
llenr, Cabot, we paid II visit to this great and
wonderful curiosity 1t lies about eighteen miles
northwest of this city and tho drive is II bcaut
iul one. Our ambulance was well stored with
pro,enler. ior Capt. Radiord was tho sutlcr up, n
the OCCASION and after about two hours drive we
approached tho margin of tho great lake For
miles the long flats from which the water had re
ceded. presented the appearance OF snow and lee.
80 perfectly inrrustod was it with puro snlt the
crystalfed dcpositcS flashing i'll the sunlight like
myriad. ot diamonds We finally camc upon the
Hat and rode for miles over PLAIN of hard. una
dultcrntel sut, ms hurd almost u grnvelcd turn.
pike. Talk about your shell roads, give me the
Lake tat. white Us SHOW. sparkling with saline d
Almonds and as level rs II billiard table. Lime
stone gravel. hIullcrs and Russ pnyements will
do very we'll lnr the States. hut we in the noun
tains here dash our nags Two forty speed over
plains II immaculate and crystnlizcd salt, no dust.
no eireumscrihcd boundaries of hedge or fence,
but II WIDE rxpuusc SO white that u bridal dress
would he un>ulliel if hrough, in contact with its
polished surincc.
Sail LAKE receives all the wushings Of the
mouniaina we'll as Of the various streams IN this
valley yet it is "A fact which admits of NO doubt.
that the Lake s gradually drying up. Whether
this is To he attributed 10 the process OF cNapora-
ton some other agency has not been satislacto-
tSt,u
atea.
There arc q number Of salt boilcries upon the
shores. but they are almost needless institution
except or refining ptoccsses,a the natural deros-
ties alone would supply the world for thousands
Of years. Some estimate may be formed oi the
strength Of the water. when from four gnllons ol
water one gallon of pure snlt cnn be produccd-
On our trip Yesterday we iordcd portion Of the
lake and came very near swamping our mulcs,and
bivouaekcd. on Antelope lslnnd about four mics
distant from tho main beach Antelope Island
rises Ike a muuntain from the lake. and - about
us rurted aud rocky Il formation ns ever was wash
cd J., water 1t is very large do not know its
extent, abpunding with springs, md is snll to be
an excellent hcrling ground range. bnc thing
however. particularly observed if not for no
other reason lhau it could not De avoided, mud
that wns the Immense number O! lizards that he
set IL Mt every step, ! could not put my foot
down without bringing IT in contact with these
disagrt hallc looking reptiles. they were rs thick
as gfnsShoppers III IN ordinary season in garden.
We eorralel uron Il rocky point, where, after ad-
ministering some oats to our mules, we drew forth
our provision box and went in with keen appc-
tito and washed down our victuals with several
bottles of pure Missouri wine. Az we looked up
on the labels of the bottles lively rccolrctious of
home aud the dear ones fnr away, came swelling
up, and the dear old 'borlcr rntian State, was,
YOU may rest assured, pledged in our bumpers
In onr party was small specimen of the genus
African very little nigger, whom we had pur-
poscly brought along 20 experiment with, to be
used as sort oi hpiomcicr, not for the purpose OF
uscertnlning tho specific gravity Of the water, but
to see what eject its action would have upon his
ebony skin. A. we all went in bathing. young
cuirc stripped also. and when he came out
and dried, lac was the most crystazed looking
niger that ever was seen in the Territory. His
black skin formed IL splendid back ground To
bring the salt out in II bold relief and it he had
leen CREASED or tarrcl and suddenly stuck in
snoy.drit. the mctamorphrsis could not have
,heen greater there. with his woody head and dus
XIV TEXTURES, hc stood, his Uranium not unlike
the mi ,hi luwk" ON tbs nck.stail Of steam
boat. 1t was 10 original thought ofours. we had
heard Of it bcore, md the experiment was bcanti-
lu.
Since thc year lSjh several Efforts have been
made To Introduce the culture Of cotton in this
Territory the first ut Fort Clara on the Santa
Clara rlscr. upwards of three hundred miles
south of the Great salt Lake City, but the re-
suit was not satisfactory. The present year at
the same place, more than twenty acres have
been planted, one hali oi two-thlrds Of which It II
failure tie cause is attributed to the lack of wa
ter bad seed, and inincrnl in the soil. Other
settlements have been formed on the Rio Nirgen
where there have been planted this year about
400 acres. only 1870 of which is considered fair
stand. At this colony the salt, salcratus and
other minerals have been very destructive
This information is from one Of the officers of the
Deseret Agricultural Society, aud tie cotton
culture, tar, in Utah may be set down as u
fnilurn