The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-03-23
SWIMMING IN SALT LAKE.
Easy Enough to Float, but to Float
Right End Up, There's the Rub.

Easy Enough to Float, but to Float
Right End Up, There's the Rub.
From Goldthvdit's Geographical Magazine
During a visit to Salt Lake enjoyed"
swim on a summer afternoon, making the
trip from town to Lake Point, the Coney
Island of the region, on an excursion train
in company with number OF Mormons.
The little railroad runs through diversified
tract, in which garden, farm, rocky uplift,
aud mud plain are oddly jumbled, the plain
being spotted with tufts OF pale and brist-
ling sage brush that grows on the rocky
mountain country where nothing else will.
There 10 bathing pavilion at Laka Point
with fresh water tanks, in which to rinse
ones self after the bath, but elected to try
a swim without spectators; so, walking
southwark along the shore for mile or SO /
found place where the rounded rocks that
formed the semblance of a beach mere not
too numerous,
1t was d trifie difficult to keep a steady
footing in the water, and at first | attrib-
uted this to inequalities on the bottom, but
on getting where it was deeper / found I'll at
my legs had a disposition to come to the
top, and 1t was apparent that the difficulty
Of wading across arose from the buoyancy
that the body has in SO dense medium as
as this brine. When l had waded out SO
far that the water came up to my neck
scaled boulder and Owed. As it is my
custom to open my eyes under water, did
so as soon as I was fairly immersed. In an
instant it seemed as If vitriol had been
poured into them. Springing to an upright
position as soon as possible. / tried Co get
the salt out of them, but the more rubbed
the more it seemed to get in. Nature re-
lieved the smart after a while, by pouring
through the tear ducts enough Of a milder
| solution of salt to clear the irritated corner
or the fluid, and took pains not to let the
water into my eyes again. After that the
bath was more enjoyable, If only as a new
experience.
There was singular and unaccustoned
sense Of lightness. and it was not difficult to
| float high out of water either in a reclining
or sitting posture; yet a bather who is not
a swimmer will fare as badly here as any
! where, for the head being heavier than the
lower extremlties, has a tendency to sink
unless one has the skill to keep it above the
surface. To swimmer there is no especial
danger, unless he is choked by the brine or
blinded and confused by it. TO float re-
| quires less exertioD than in the sea, slight
motion of the hand being sufficient to keep
the body balanced evenly. for one depends
| less for his buoyancy on breathing than in
ocean water.
On striking out TO swim was surprised
| at a splashing noise behind me, and discov-
ca Sd LAbb ~ W 1e uidue ny NY owl lecb, LOT
/ was so high out of water that they went
into the air at every stroke. This lghtness
at one end Of the body tends, as l have
said, to depresS the other, but to one who is
used to swimming this is a trhe.
On emerging from the lake / found that
every inch of my skin was sparkling with
salt crystals. and though | rubbed and
scraped they were not so easily to be got rid
OF. These crystals we're sharp enough to
create discomfort and to suggest an undue
intimacy with thistles.
Ny hair was full of them, and they even
adhered to my clothing. so that vigorous
shaking of raiment and a fresh water bath
were in order on reaching my hotel.
When | told the people in town of my
swim and the manner of 1t | was laughed
at. ana informed that it was not the correct
thing 10 swim except at the bathing pavil-
ion, where one has fresh water to shower
away the salt that sticks to him.
Salt Lake is by no means a saturated sos
luton OF salt, yet IL is FIVE or six times as
rich ia salts as the ocean, aud nearly as
strong as the Dead Sea- In summer it con,
ssturation point not being reached until the
salt forms little over a third or the liquid.
There are oil through the great basin nu-
msrous saline lakes and ponds. but none Of
The Size and Importance OF this In Utah.
Net infrequently they are shallow and en-
tirely disappear during the dryness aud
beats 81 summer. leaving 20 mark their
sites only stretch Of some acres or IL may
bo ml!es OF clay or mud, entirely covered
viii salt