The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1883-12-28
Fleatips on Salt Lake.

People who have not visited the Nor
mon Mecca. or whose knowledge Of
geography is not very accurate, think
that Salt Lake City is situated on the
shore of the great lake. But although
the lake has given its name to the city,
the waters of desolation are not at the
nearest point less than fifteen miles
from the center of the town; and the
distance by rail to Black Rock and
Point Garfield, the places where during
the summer bathing and boating are
most INDUCED in, is a trif1e over twenty
miles. These points are reached by the
Utah & Nevada Railway, which skirts
the eastern shore for considerable dis
lance. During the season, which lasts
from June till October, frequent excur-
sions, or, as they are called, bathing
trains are run, and the traffic is heavy.
The road, after passing through some
excellent farming land on the outskirts
of the city-land, however, that owes all
its present fertility to irrigation-passes
into a portion of the Great American
Desert, where the ground is white with
alkali dust. and nothing grows but the
everlasting sage brush.
Looking from the windows of the cars
it is at times difficult to believe that the
country has not recently been visited by
q snow-storm, so thick and white are
the alkali dust and the brush. On the
left of the train, as it speeds toward the
lake, is a spur of the WaSatch Mount
aims, which extends to within about half
n mile of the shore at Point Garfield.
Black Rock is the first point on the lake
that is reached. Here there is small
hotel. and boats can be hired. The
bathing is, however, nearly all done at
Point Garfield. A large pier, running
about three hundred feet into the lake.
is covered with little bathing-houses,
and there are also some built upon the
sands. Accommodation for not fewer
than four hundred bathers at one time
is provided. Steps lead down from the
pier to the water, but woe to the bold
and unwary diver who ventures to take
header. He WILL think he has struck
paving-stone and swallowed COM
bined sulphur and salt mine, for in his
establishment at the conclusion he will
be pretty sure to open his mouth. The
density of the water is so great that to
dive into it is simply impossible. The
greater the force with which one strikes
it the greater the rebound. There is
some danger. too, of slipping into the
water face downward. and not being
able to turn over, even where the depth
is not greater than two or three feet for
the resistance of the water is so power
full that only very strong person can
force a foot through it to the ground.
During one of my visits l saw lady
just about to step into the water miss
her footing and fall face forward She
struggled violently for several seconds,
but her friends, who were unacquainted
with the peculiar properties of the Salt
Lake water. did not suppose she was in
peril. An alarm was, however, raised
from the pier, and she was lifted to her
feet. But for this timely help she would
certainly have been drowned in less
than two feet of water. 1t seems al
most impossible that any liquid can be
so intensely salt as this. The swallow
ing of a very small quantity produces
violent vomiting, the action of the salt
being aggravated by several other aka
lis held in solution. The proportion OF
salt alone is over twenty per cent
somewhat greater than that of the Dead
Sea-and, even in the rough way of
making salt common in this region,
namely, flooding meadows and awaiting
the results of evaporation. gallon OF
salt is obtained for every five gallons of
water.-Cor. ". Y. Sun.