The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-11-02
Salt Lake in Ancient Times.

1t is we'll known that the ancient water sur
III face of the great Salt Lake of Utah, once
n covered a vast area of country, probably more
a than ten times that covered by the lake at
II the present time. The most conspicuous
u vestiges of that great body of water are found
i in its extensive shore lines, which are, even
Ito this day, most u~nmistakable IN their char
acter. 1t is also known by these indications
athat the surface of the lake was at one time,
fully 1000 feet above its present level. Tit
flake at that early period most undoubtedly
fhad an outlet to the ocean, and much Specu-
~alation aud no little research has been indulg-
fed IN to fix upon the locality of this outlet,
Abut as yet without any generally satisfactory
result. The Popular Science Monthly sums
aup the results thus far as follows:
Mr.. G. K. Gilbert maintained, in the dmer-
sican Journal Of Science for April, 1878, that
fthe point of overflow was Red Rock pass.
idaho, at the north end of Cache valley; that
abe discharging stream descended through
Marsh valley, and thence continuously to the
Pacific ocean; and that, flowing over soft ma
aerial at first, it gradually excavated at the
pass a channel more than 800 feet deep, and
lowered the level of the lake by the same
amount.
n DIR. A. c. Peale controverted Mr.. Gilbert's
fconclusion in a subsequent number of the
journal, and held that the original altitude
of the Red Rock pass was considerably be-
low the highest level of Lake Bonneville:
H hat the original shore line exists in Marsh
7alley, at the north end of the pass, as it
Hoes in Cache valley at the south: and that
he real point of discharge, when the water
IS tood at the Bonneville level, was about 45
y niles north Of Red Rock pass. Mr.. Gilbert
q has, within a few months, revisited Marsh
alley and Red Rock pass, and other points
near the former supposed outlet of the lake,
and gives in the May number of the Journal
Il lis reasons, derived from his later observa-
III ions, for adhering to his former conclusions.
M He assumes to determine the character of
IA he body of water which has occupied a
as ,iven spot, whether it was a stream or a
n axe, from the nature of the terraces left
the valley. Thus there are stream
$erraceS, and wave-telraces, and del
D a-terracas and others, all marked by dis
IL met features. A lake should leave wave ter
II aces or delta terraces. In revisiting Marsh
d alley, he trayersed it from end to end, max
81 ng a careful search for the terraces of the
b ncient shores, selecting the most favorable
Stations and lights he could get. He saw
Il tream terraces n displacement terraces of
II considerable magnitude, and a few inconspic-
HI Gus terraces due to an unequal erosion, but
III o wave terrace and no delta terrace. He
III lade a special examination of two terraces
III eferred to by DR.. Peale i'll support Of his
III Jews, but did not recognize in them any fea-
Tres inconsistent with the opinion that they
81 re stream terraces. He consents to recon-
der his original location of the outlet of the
HI AXE at the time of the beginning of the over
III ow, and assigns it to a position two miles
III orth of Red Rock.
81 MIR. Gilbert Thompson, an expert topo-
Ii rapher, visited the northern limits of the
& AXE in 1877, while ignorant of the results of
II lr. Gilbert's examination, and came to the
II anne conclusion that he had reached