The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1875-08-12
GREAT SALT LAKE.

'S*' GREAT SALT LAKE.
A Salt Lake City correspondent of
the Cincinnati Commercial says: On
the west of the lake. north of the end
of Cedar mountain, the Great Desert
begins some fye thousand square
miles.4ot sand and salkaai,1 only a few
feet higher than the lake. Doubtless
it, wasf a,ces a (, part of the lake, and
possibly it will be again, for the lake
surfaee has. lrisenL somel fifteen feet
since its first survey by Stanbury in
/ 1919, and as much more will cover
much of that desert Straight south
the, Oquirrh range rises very abruptly
/ from the end Of the lake, there being
barely room for wagon and railroad
to pass in fact, it is assumed by ge-
ologists that Antelope island is but a
continuation of that range, the break
between being covered by the salt
water flowing over low pass. Twen-
ty miles or SO away Lean make cut
the peak on which stood six weeks
4s.E -=t.A - . ss9 r--=fs ~
ago and took general view of this
and Rush ;'lakes.r and the adjoining
valleys. It is often said that there is
no living thing in Great Salt Lake,
but this is not strictly true. There is
a minute animalcui@ at the bottom, re-
sembling fine, shaving of the skin of
ones finger, more than an ything else
can compare it to. As it grows in
size il. beatsin toward the land by the
action of the waves, and finally swells
up into the likeness of worm and
floats upon the water. The boatmen
think that The hies. Which are SO nu-
rnerous around the edges of the lake,
breed from this worm, and this idea
streng gthened by the fact that the
empty ihuTs. of the worms, like the
abandoned shells of chrysols, float on
the water in large sections, extending
in long, dark. linesyfor- hundreds of
feet At first supposed these col
lections- were merely the bodies of
drowned flies, but on examination
they proved to be the husks, so to
speak, of what had been worms. All
sorts Of attempts have been made to
propagate life in the lake or mouths of
the affiuent streams, but one and all
have failed. Oysters have been plant
ed at the mouths of the rivers. but
when the wind was up stream the
dense brine from the lake settling
into the rivers mouth. killed. them.
Jordan was stocked with. seelssa. year
or two ago, but they heated down into
the lake and died. One was picked
up long. afterwards, on the eastern
shore, completely picked. The finder
cooked and ate it, and found it very
palatable. Gulls and pelicans abound
in. places around the lakes. feeding on
the flies and worms. Captain Stans-
bury reports finding blind pelican.
which had been fed by its companions
and kept fat. Appoints where grassy
marshes 'horder the lake, the buffalo
gnats are numerous and troublesome.
There are that buffalo were
abundant ii, the basin hundred years
ago,saI The AZ Indians say. the. Great
,Spirit,chaAged them all into'crickets!-
The latter were very destructive to
the first crops Of the Msrmona. until
the gulls came in immense fiocks and
ate thsm gg The T,hlYe Mormon gr'p historian
ip piopf pel p grgattittYae says; s.Tgh There were
no gulls in the country before the
lMofnons tame.u Tn one meaning of
that word thfsis6hapaf forfacetious-
ness with that statement in the book
of TTGreat darkness over
spread, the land yea, darkness where
in fire could not be kindIed with the
'dryesf wood. '''-'' % :