Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-08-28
a Bath in Salt Lake.
GARFIELD BEACH.


To visit Salt Lake City without taking
| a bathjn the briny waters of the Amer
lean Dead Sea would be worse than see
| ing Hamlet played with the melancholy
Dane left out The Mormon capital,
thriving city of 10000 people, just now
wild over the result of municipal cleo
! ton that proved Liberal victory and
in consequence agitated by a tremen-
dous boom in real estate, has many
attractions and noteworthy objects of
interest, but the average tourist is anx-
ious for look at the wonderful lake,
and can hardly wait for the first train
to take him there. The lake has now
two bathing resorts, the old one, now
called Garfield Beach, reached by the
Utah q Nevada r. r. on the East side
of the lake, the other on the North side,
Lake Park, on the D. & R. G.. r. r.,
doomed by that road, and both about
20 miles from the city. We pass through
the suburbs OF the city over perfect
ly level stretch of land, a great deal of
which has now been laid ont in city
lots, notice a few fine ranches along the
road and get the first glimpse of the
lake almost before we are aware of the
fact, the waters being here on a per-
feet level with the land. A beautiful
pavilion 165 by IS feet, Is feet above
the water, has been built CT piles
in the lake connected with the shore
by promenade 800 feet long and Is
feet wide, and along the shore are nu-
merOus bath houses; ascending up from
these is the r. R. station, claimed to
have cost SIC, 900, $50 feet long bv so
feet wide, and % feet high, containing
dining room, hall, lunch counter, bath
ing suit offices and open waiting rooms
from which a magnificent view of the
lake is had; this is rs miles long by
50 miles wide on the widest place, and
800 miles around, the average depth be-
ing about Is feet and the greatest depth
30 feet; it contains about 20 per cent. Of
salt, While the ocean contains only per
cent, and it is estimated that it con-
tains six billion tons of salt; it presents
peculiar clear appearance. possibly
from the fact that no living object can
exist In it, and the water is beautifully
/ clear, with magnificent sandy beach
stretching out in the lake for several
hundred feet.
The train has carried down several
hundred people, the day is clear and
warm, the water looks inviting, and a
rush is made for suits and bathing
| houses; for a few moments there is lul1
and then the water is alive with men,
women and children wading out, and
soon the air resounds with laughter
and exclamations of JOY and pleasure;
for hours at time the people remain
IN the water, and after the first feeling
OF chilliness and anxiety has passed
away there follows delightful feeling
of restfulness. One can float in the wa
ter as easy as a cork without moving
! legs or arms, care only being taken that
hn
mouth or nose, its intense saltiness
making the ewes smart and being liza
bic to strangle person, if swallowed.
To-day the water is 70dg and the sur
face as smooth as glass; curiously
enough swimming is the most difficult
part, the buoyancy Of the water being
so great that one has to become accus-
toned to it before being able to make
any headWay in swimming, but there is
no necessity fer it, and floating about is
great deal easier. 1t is with absolute
regret that one leaves the water, the
feeling OF ease and comfort being so de-
lightflll, and one can lie on his back and
smoke his cigar as comfortably as if he
laid on his lounge or in his hammock at
home; there is just motion enough to
rock one gently, and not the least
feeling Of weariness overcomes one,
even after he leaves the water. But
the lake can also be rough and bolster
Gus, and then bathing is disagreeable
and even dangerous, for people are
known to have been drowned by being
strangled to death swallowing the wa
ter. A little steamer plies on the lake,
a fine sailing yacht takes parties out to
ride, and numerous row boats are for
rent. AT the station, across the track,
a large pavilion is built with chairs
and tables for the accommodation of
families and picnic parties, and after an
hour or two spent in the water one has
a most astonishing appetite.
Crowds of people visit the lake on
every fine day from June to October,
the year around being 800 while as
many as 5000 have visited it in
one day. Within what appears to bea
stones throw from the station rises a
spur of the lofty Oquirrh mountains to a
height of nearly mile above the lake,
but the distance from the shore is really
greater, and trip up the mountain
quite an undertaking. Salt Lake CITY
is proud of its lake, and the first cues
ton asked the tourist is invariably.
Have you been to the lake?'
The erection of a magnificent hotel
on the beach is In contemplation, and
the number of people visiting the lake
from year to year is increasing rapidly:
it is indeed difficult to see why the
place should not in course ola few years
become the greatest summer resort of
the country. New railroads are rapidly
reaching out towards the city; Mormon
rule is ching of the past, and public
improvements on grand scale will
soon be undertaken; an electric street
railway has just been opened, and when
the Gentiles, when they, as they sure
ly will, gain entire control of the city it
will inaugurate policy of progress and
improvements that will astonish the
Latter-day saints and the country in
general. VT. r.
Minneapolis Industrial Exposition.
From August 21st to September 2Sth
inclusive, the c., M. & st. P. R'y will
sell on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Satnr-
days in each week, Excursion tickets
from Watertown to Minneapolis at a
fare one way for the round trip. with
25 cents added for admission coupon to
Exposition. Tickets mada GOOD - ro