Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1869-01-27
THE DEAD SEA OF NEVADA-BEs-
CRIPT10N OF MONO LAKE.

There are many things in the Great
Basin, or along its rim, which excite the
interest of travellers A correspondent
asks US to tell him "whether Mono Lake
is actually the dead sea- it is represented
to be. l am told that its bitter waters
are fatal to all living things. If you can
will you please say something about that
singular body of water p We gather
from the "Report ON the Mineral Re-
sources of the States and Territories
west of the Rocky Mountains" that
Mono Lake lies ten miles southwest of
dividing line between California aud
| Nevada, and is about fourteen miles long
and nine wide. It has never been sound
ed, but trial said to have Been made
with line of three hundred feet failed
to reach bottom. By chemical analysis
gallon of the water weighing eight pounds
was found to contain l 200 grains of
solid matter, consisting principally of
chloride of sodium, carbonate of soda,
sulphate of soda, borax and SILICA.
These substances render the water SO
acrid and nauseating that it is unfit for
drinking or even bathing. Leather i'm
mersed in tits soon destroyed by its cor
rosive properties, and no animal, not even
fish or frog, can exist in the water for
more than short time.
The only thing able to live within or
upon the waters of this lake is a species
Of fly, which, springing from larvebred
in its bosom, after an ephemeral life, dies,
aud, collecting on the surface, is drifted
to the shore, where the remains collect
in vast quantities, and are fed upon by
the ducks, or gathered by the Indians,
with whom they are a staple article Of
food. Nesting under the eastern water
shed of the Sierra, Mono Lake receives
several considerable tributaries; and, al
though destitute of any outlet, such is
the aridity Of the atmosphere that it is
always kept at nearly thiform level by
the process Of evaporation. So dense
and sluggish is the water rendered through
approximation with various salts and
other foreign matters, that only the
strongest winds raise a ripple on its sur
face.
As the Sierra IN this neighb rhood
reaches its greatest altitude, the scenery
about Mono Lake is varied and majestic,
some parts Of l. being at the same time
marked by most cherries and desolute
aspect. The bitter and fatal waters of
this lake render it virtually dead sea,
and all its surroundings-wild, gloomy
and foreboding-are suggestive of steril-
ity and death. The decomposing action
Of the water is shown by its effect upon
the bodies of a company of Indians, twen-
ty or thirty IL number, who, while at
tempting to escape from their white pur-
suers, took refuge in the lake, where they
were shot by their enemies who left them
in the water. In the course of few
weeks net vestige of their bodies was
to be seen, even the bones having been
decomposed by this powerful solvent
Mineral curiosiGes abound in the vicinity
Of Mono Lake, among which are numere
Gus deposits in the shape of tiny pine
trees.
A young lady with switch trailing
fashionably down her back was somewhat
startled, while waiting in the depot at
Lafayette, Ind. the other day, by kind
ly old lady wko vas not ''up in the latest
styles" approaching Her and whispering
in a tone so loud as to be audible all over
the room--"Your back hair is coming
down, Miss p