Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-11-08

n
- mnr,a'n'.'s,sss.-Leaving out any an
swsn which might be required r
.nls question which do not appIv r.
me Gay bed underlying ne SsIi
lake Valley, ! would say that ths
uepth varies In a general vav IN
proPoft,on to the proximity to tbs
Iake; There are places for s re
ample, In Salt Lake r;,s 81
muere you get water within
twenty-five feet OF the surface III
scuy west OF the city, near Jor,;. =
Nser, you get good water at a deutb
ol iio feet. The farther Won a.
away II m the source of supnIv NJ
.uis artesian basin, viz. the Wa.s,ch
anu Oquirrh mountains. the To- !.
vi" NOV low OF water from such well.
witness was not sufficiently mr..
quainted with matters of law 70
SNOW whether the previous occns
Pancy OF the land in question hv
Lew Reed, Thomas Jsremv .n5
DINERS would be considered as
occupancy within the meaning
Oh the law when Reed maas
application to enter s,ch land".
nul he should consider thar
.nese lands had always been saline
iuu therefore any statement thai
uey were not would he incorrect or
eu upon some other interpreta.
ion OF the meaning Of the word
same than that which witness
Sau oeen accustomed 70 give To II
None OF these lands wers fence,i
rom any of those surroundino them
ne understood saline lands 20 be-
those which were either impreguat.
81 win salt or had salt springs uDon
mem, or beds Of salt either upon or
peneath the surface Of both. He
thought any saline land In which
AT water came upsn 1t from any
natural source. The land in dispute
iame under all ofthese heads except
nat referring to salt springs. so far
= ne knew, there were no natu-
raj salt springs upon this property,
hVnough there was a salt well flow
no "p'n u. This was the artesian
well put down Immediately north Of
sI.uty," auL 30J feet 4 eep.
Mr. Then you class
any lands which are impregnated
Nith salt as saline lands?
Witness-Lands which are i'm
ORIGINATED with salt to such an ex-
tent as ~ be unsuitable for agricui-
ture In their natural state are saline
lands, and l should consider any
lands 50 impreguated as TO make it
JossiO 10 gather salt from them for
commercial purposes would certain
~ be saline under any definition.
should also consider lands 10 be
saline which are periodically over
iorea by the waters OF the Great
Salt Lake, TO make them valueless
f,r agriculture and more valuable for
salt gathering.
Mr. Thompson, as the cross-exam-
ination further proceeded on this
pOint, again complained of the diff
Guilty which he experienced IN OBJ
raining direct answers from the
witness.
Prof. Jones rejoined-I am trying
to answer your questions to the very
best that 1 know how, but flr the
last few hours they have been 50
vague and indefinite, and your
complaints Of my prolixity have
ben so loud, that it Is impossible for
me TO answer them more briefly
than I have; because the general
character of your questions includes
SO many varying conditions.
Mr.. ThOmpson-You have referred
in your testimony 20 Land across the
jordan as containing salt, which
by absorption has destroyed, in the
the course Of q year or two, crops of
lucern planted and cultivated. What
percentage Of salt do those lands
contain?
Wltness-I have never made any
tests, but under their present con
dition | consider them more saline
than anything else, for the reason
that they are useless for agriculture,
being what are generally known as
''alkali flats" but these lands con-
tain other alkalis than salt.
Asked whether, in his opinion, it
would be possible TO reclaim these
lands by artesian water, witness re-
piled with a decisive negative,
since, he said, water had never beeu
obtained upon them-even il il had
heen pure-tO irrigate a quarter Of
an acre.
Questioned as TO how much land
there was bordering on Great Salt
Lake similar in character to that
now in question. witness said he
should say there were several
square miles of il. As TO the origin
OF the ponds on the disputed lands,
in so far as they were natural
and not artificial, witness said he
supposed their origin was due to
laeoons formed by the throwing up
o: sand bars along the shores Of the
lake at various periods in its history,
and some OF them We're certainly
due to the changing courses OF the
rivers which flow into the lake.
This concluded the examination
aud cross-examination Of Professor
Jones, aud when the NEWS went TO
press Professor Charles VI. Owen,
civil and hydraulic engineer, this
city, had lust taken the stand.