The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-21

formations which flank the Archaean
and Palaezoic mountain formations.
The Bonneville beds comprise a. yellow
clay. already examined to a depth of
30 feet; this. is oyerlaid by CD white
mari; ten feet on the top is a deposit
of 90 fine sand ten feet. In this
have been found fossiliferous remains.
Most of the molluscs of the lake are
stunted in their growth, probably due
to cold climatic conditions.
The shore lines have suffered much
reformation owing to faulting and
other orogenic disturbances. An ex-
cellent fault Searp is revealed inlme-
diately north of Salt Lake city in the
neighborhoodl of the lime kilns. This
may be traced from a point north OF
Willard City to the region of Nephi.
Near the mouth of Little Cottonwood
canyon a deep trough caused by the
fault is SPAWNED by a water fluIne.
Some Of these fauiting occurrences are
very recent and there are evidences
that the Wlasatch mountains are still
rising Evidences of volcanic action
are numerous. Particularly fine rec
ords Of this are found in Willard
county and neighborhood, where old
crateFs, example tlse Ice Spring era
ters, Pavant Butte, Tabernacle craters,
are generally known. Gilbert has
pointed out that some OF these craters
probably discharged their lava be-
neauh the surface of the water. Very
recent lava flows are found, and this.
coupled with the recent faulting, indi-
Gates a probable recurrence of vol
canic activity. Surely some OF the
craters have been active since the re-
ceSSionS Of the lake, so that their ac-
ton is not conditioned by the presence
of large bodies of water in the valleys.
In a letter published In 1855 by Gill
4. am q
people OF what he considers an I'M
pending danger. A shrinking OF the
lake still continues. Idost Of the tribu-
tary streams are lessened if not wholly
before they reach the lake
irrigation processes. The lake
is already one of the most concen-
trated natural brines known. 1t is
noted for its high percentage of com
mon salt, and of sodium sulphate; the
latter as miralbilite us deposited when
ever the water sinks below a certain
critical temperature not far from the
freezing point of fresh water An
analysis made by DIR. Gale over forty
tain % 2S2 per cent by weight of solid
matter. Subsequent to that time, how
ever, the volume of the lake increased.
In 1SS0-S1 Gilbert placed the total
of the water at Is per cent; IN
1869 Allen found about the same pro-
portion An analysis made by DR.. Tai
mage showed that the water contained
IN December 1885 1911 per cent; in
August. 1889. 1856 per cent; in Septem-
Der, 1892, % per cent. From present
knowledge concerning the history of
the large lake, Director Powell has
made the following summary from the
report of the laborS of Gilbert and his
associates: First, the waters were
low, occupying, as Great Salt lake now
does, only a limited portion of the bot
tom of the basin. Then they gradually
rose and spread. forming an inland
sea nearly equal to Lake Huron in eX-
tent, with a maximum depth of 1000
feet Then the waters fell and the
lake not merely dwindled in SIZE but
disappeared, leaving a plain
even more desolate than the Great
Salt Lake desert of today. Then they
again rose, surprising even their
height, and eventually overlooking the
basin at its northern edge, sending a
tributary stream to the Columbia
river; and last, there was a second re-
cession, and the waters shrunk away.
until now only Great Salt Lake and
two smaller lakes remain"
The fauna and flora of this shrunken
of an ancient inland sea are
of special interest. The following
species oI animals have been found in
the brine and some of them We're ex-
hibited at the lecture. First the brine
shrimp (artemia fertilis); second, the
larvae and pupae of the gnat ephydra
gracilis: third, the larvae of a long
legged fly tipula; and fourth, a species
Of cOriXa. The vegetable life of the
lake is varied and interesting, but thus
far it has been but little investigated.