The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1895-07-30
ON THE GREAT SALT LAKE.
STRANGEST BODY OF WATER IN
TIE UNITED STATES.
Impossible to Drown in It's Saline
Depths - Queer Experience o.
EorfoD

He Great Salt Lake is seventy
miles long and fifty miles
across in its widest part. 1t
has an area of 2000 square
miles, and Of late years its greatest
depth has not exceeded forty feet. In
early summer, says the San Francisco
Chronicle. this remarkable sea IS two
feet higher than it is in the fall, ow-
ing to the melted snow brought down
hy its three largest tributaries, the
Bar, Weber and Jordan Rivers. This
indux Of fresh streams does not appre-
c;4hly lessen the saltinsss Of the main
body Of water, though its proportion
Of solid matter varies with the oscilla-
tions Of its surface, being naturally
greatest when the lake is shallowess.
Those engaged in the manufacture Of
salt here say that IL takes six gallons
Of water to make one gallon of salt.
If any one doubts that the water OF
the lake is taken up by evaporation,
and leans to the hypothesis of an un-
dersround outlet, let him expose to
the sun and wind of this high altitude
vessel Of this same water and see IN
what an incredibly short time the
liquid is reduced to solids.
The Salt Lake shores are mostly
gray flats o. indescribable barrenness.
The scant dwarf sage on the waters
edge is often beautifully howered with
q delicate frostwork Of salt spray. Op
the northern slopes aad down the
western border there are numerous
springs running pure brine. But
stranger than this Is the fact that in
several places fresh water rushes out
Of the sand on East Antelope within
fifteen feet OF the brlmmin3 lake
BASIN. The one perfect beach IS at
Garfield, a dozen or so miles west OF
where the Jordan River is crossed and
at the feet of the Oluirrhs-a srandly
picturesque range, in whose cletts
tarou ghout the summer the snow lies
like fallen clouds. The first bathing
in the lake was done at Black Rock,
on Garfield Beach, which has been a
resort fo- picnickers since the early
ffties.
The various groups Of islands in
this Dead Sea OF the Western Cont
nent are fragments OF mountain chains
gracefully strung out on the flashing
bosom OF this strange water. The
largest and best known is Antelope.
which WAS once used by the Mormons
as cattle corral for the church herd.
This island is sixteen miles long by
four wide, and lies twenty miles of
the south coast. The next in size is
Stansbury, which is fourteen miles IN
length, while Fremont is seven miles,
and Carrlngton two-thirds as long as
Fremont. The others, Strong's Knob,
Gunnison, and Dolphin, are grouped
fifty miles to the Northwest of Ante
lope, and are superb limestone cliffs,
almost wholly without vegetation,
an i haunted by millions of gulls I'd Cd
other sea fowl.
The four largest isands are used as
winter pastries for sheep or cattle,
! l55aC al are uninhabltel and without
fresh water except Antelope, whose
one ,house-aa ancient adobe, built
here by the Mormons fifty years ago
is occupied by the island herder
and his family. There are hundreds
of acres OF good grazing on the east
ern slope. aud q few years ago, when
the Government set apart the Salt
Lake islands as reservation for our
nearly extinct buffalo, some sixty
American bison and forty elk we're
transported to Antelope. The owners
of the island enaeayored to breed the
buff,lo in with Attorneys, but so far
have not succeeded, the shaggy, fierce
eyed beasts rebelling Mt every ap-
proach to domest:oat;on. The elk
proved even more unsatisfactory, for
after few days of restless roaming
they took it into their antlered heads
TO swim back to the main shore il a
body, and landed on a point fifteen
miles from Antelope, where they were
promptly shot down by the settlers
thcreabouts.
Along the shores Of the lake and in
many Of the island b.Js the water
presents y remarkable appearance,
kind OF madder rel spread out for
acres. Upon Investigation the cause
of this sanSuinary color is found to
he thick layer of floating larv;e, ths
chrysaliles of worms the size and
shape OF an oat kernel. Where these
accumulations exist an offensive smell
is noticeable, and is the one disagree.
able feature of these desolate shores.
In early days the Utah Indians COL
lecte,l anil dried the Larvae aud used
the mixture rs musb.
In tue fall of the year the marshes
ut the mouth of the rivers that empty
into the Jake are covered by focks o.
will geese and ducks, with sometimes
stately blue heron or swans WITH
beautiful white plumage. Their cheer.
ful cIatter and the fresh green Of the
coarse grass anal singing weeds con-
trast delightfully."- with the dreary tints
and solitariness Of the Immediate des
ert. There are also numbers OF sea-
GullS, which visit the marshes to fish,
coming tairty miles from their rook-
esies on Gunnison and its neighboring
isles The main food of the g,llls is
known to be the intinitesimal live
things found in the bitter brine-a,
small winged shrimp, smaller fly and
its larve, the bla.k worm before
uliuie,l to-thc three atomic crea-
turss that comprise the animal life Of
the lake.
Bathing IN the lake IS one of the