Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1890-11-11
The BEACH LANDS.
Mr.. ". T. Shelton, C. B., Has His
Innings To-day
AT THE LAND oFFIcE INQUIRY.
He Follows In the Wake of the Three
Preceding Witnesses.

The hearing OF the land contest
| case was continued at the United
States land Office this msrnins.
Mr.. Charles w. Owen, c. E, was
under examination when the NEWS
went to press yesterday afternoon,
and hereto is appended the continu.
alton Of his evidence, which con.
cluded shortly before the adjourn.
mentor the day.
The witness SAID that while he
had made no chemical analysis Of
the specimens Of the substratum of
salt In question. tasting one Of the
crystals had suggested to him that
they contained a considerable per-
centage Of sulphate of soda, which
was also an alkaline deposit of the
lake, and OF some commercial value.
He ha J tested the water taken from
the ponds everything the salt deposit
with Beaume's hydrometer and also
United States thermometer. 1t
tested 81 per cent of solid matter,
the specimen Of water having been
obtained about iseo feet north and
little west Of the shanty, in tn.
main pond on the disputed land. OF
tbs - per cent OF solid matter in the
water, about 80 would be
salt, according to the Beaume hy-
drometer. He obtained a bottle OF
water from the Great Salt Lake.
directly west Of the land In question.
of which the test gave 20 per cent OF
solid matter. In August wells were
dug aud tested in witness presence.
and the percentage OF solid matter
then taken was, he believed, about
Il. Water taken yesterday (Sun.
day. from the, same well-which had
in the meantime received consider
able storm water, and of which a
portion OF the saline matter was
possibly preclpitated upon the bot
tom, and which he feared to stir IN
on account Of disturbing mud and
sand-gave a percentage by the
Beaume test Of 8 per cent solid mat.
ter.
Major Bird-Alfred Thompson,
the protestant, in a declaration un-
der oath, and Isaac J. Starhuck aud
Morgan l.. Sproat in affidavits
corroborating Mr.. Thompson, and
sworn to on July sth, 1899, state
that the lands now in question.
which he applies to enter under the
Desert Land Act, were at that time
'-unapprOpriated, unoccupied and
unsettled, because it has been i'm
possible to cultivate il successfully
on account Of its dry and arid con-
dition.' Is that true?
Mr.. Thompson objected to the
question, 10 which
Witness replied, Certainly not -
and said the land was decidedly
saline In character The reelama-
ton Of this land by irrigation for
agricultural purposes was, in wit
ness opinion, quite impossible.
The witness was crOss-examined
at considerable length by Mr..
Thompson, his line of questioning
being similar 10 that adopted with
the two preceding witnesses. In
the course of his replies, MIR. Owen
said his statement that ninety per
cent Of the solid matter was salt was
a presumption, based upon several
iiEerent analyses which were
OH -ial and made by Mr.. o. ID. Allen
aud Captain J. T. Kingsbury. His
own tests were based purely upon
Besume's bydrometer, which was
simply a test Of density.
Mr.. Thompson-What would be
the effect OF draining the water of
these lands?
Wiluess-It would simply dry the
land, aud would not improve it from
an agricultural point OF view in any
way whatever. He vas familiar
with the Salt aud alkaline waters
between the Jonian and Salt Lake.
They contained less salt but more
soda than the lands in question.
When the court met this morning,