The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-11-12
ONE OF THE WONDERS
OF THE GREAT WEST
THE WATERS OF SALT LAKE
ARE WORTH MILLIONS.
The Dead Sea of the Western Hemi-
sphere-It Was Once Larger Than
Lake Huron and l 1000 Feet Deep.
The Art and Mystery of Bathing
in 1t Set Forth.


The Art and Mystery of Bathing
in 1t Set Forth.
From the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
The most wonderful feature of al
this wonderful land, the mightiest mar
vel of all marvellous Utah. an ocean
of majestic mystery, clad in beauty di-
vine, Is great Salt Lake, the American
Dead Sea. Among all earth's Wcirl
wonders in water ii has but one rival
or peer--the miraClc-made sea whose
waves Of doom and Oblivion roll over
Sodom and Gomorrah, the ChicagOs
nf forty centuries ago. Think of lalt"
from 1900 to 5000 square miles in area.
lying 1000 miles inland. ut an altitude
~ $3.50 feet above the sea level, whose
waters are six times as salt as those
OF the ocean: and while it has no outlet,
four large rivers pouring their cease
less Hoods of fresh water into il. with
out raising its mysterious surface n
traction of an inch or even diminishing
40 far as chemical analysis can de-
termine, its indesCribable saltncsS.
Where does all the water go? Where
does all the salt, that no streams can
freshen, come from? Where are the
vast saline magazines from which it
draws it's everlasting supplies? one
may stand upon its shores and ask a
thousand such qustions. but no answer
comes from it's mysterious depths. amid
which death and silence reign supreme.
NO LIVING THING.
There is not a fish or any living thing
in all the 900 or 5000 square miles of
beautiful water except the yearly m-
CreasinC swarms of summer bathCIs.
Not q shark or a stinGaree to scare the
timid swimmer or tioater: not a crab
or a crawfsh to nip the toe of the
wader: not minnow or Il frog, Il tad
pole or a pollywog.
Long before human beings invaded
this mysterious and beautiful region oi
before the little band of Mormons after
their long march from Illinois and
months of weary travel across the bar
rem plains and over towering mountain
ranges pitched their tents in the pictur'
esque valley adjoining Salt Lake. this
wonderful body of water was larger
than Lake Huron and 1000 feet ceep
It's ancient plashings are still plenty
visible on the mountain benches ana
are az easily traceable as though thcN
were written but yesterday.
1t is now about 100 miles long. viii
an average width of from % to y
miles. II is from 80 to 80 miles wide il
some places and it's greatest dep&h /:
about 20 feet. It's waters contain abou
IS per cent. of solid matter. mostly
salt and soda, with small proportions
ur sulphur, magnesia, calcium, brom
ide. potassium lithia and boracic acid
The Asiatic Dead Sea water contain.
22 per cent. of solids, including less
salt and soda and much more mag
nesia, calcium and potassium than Sal
Lake. Atlantic Ocean water holds bu
30 per cent. of solid material, of which
salt constitutes &c per cent. Hundreds
Of thousands of tons of salt are made
by natural evaporation along th'
shores of the lake. and at one olac'
near Salt Lake city a windy nigh
never fails 10 pile up many tons u
soda. eliminated by the movement %
the waves.
A TREASURE STORE.
Compared with this vast liquid treas
ure house of riches, the greatest ho
nanza mines of Utah or Of the United
States dwindle to beggars' penn.
boxes. Take out your pencil and do
little figuring. Figures, it is said. vii
not lie, and you will soon find yourseI
dumbfounded.
Say Salt Lake is 100 miles long an,
has an average width of - miles: tina
gives an area of 200 square miles
There are 27,S7S,400 square feet in
I,,lry
271,6S0,0OO square feet. Take 20 feet "A
its average depth; then 20 times -,
\ 271 $4,000 will give us 1,5O5, ,433, 500 90
cubic feet as the contents of the lake
Now, 16 2-3 per cent, or one-siXth o
this. according to the analyses of emi
nent chemists, is salt and sulphate o
soda
That is, the lake contains 2j0 300, 600
900 cubic feet of Salt and Sul9hatc Il
soda. OF this mass onc-cighth is sui
phate of soda and seven-eighthS com
mon salt. \ cubic foot of sulDhate q
soda weighs 80 pounds. and a cubi
foot of common salt so pounds; so "
have as the contents, in part, of thi
unparalleled reservoir of wealth 1,5GS
10000. 900 pounds, or S4,0S0.00 tons 4
sulphatC of soda, and 1850, ,339 POO. .0t
pounds, or S, ,7S9, 1863, 800 tons of salt Al
lowing ten tons to carload. that WOul
be 1S,i0S.00O ears Of soda and S7SOl6, 81
cars Of salt. Taking 80 feet as the toti
length of a freight car and its couI
lngs. we would have a train of sod
44j,500 miles long, or nearly to the moo
ana back, and a train of salt 4,9SS, -
miles i'm length, or long enough I
reach 1856 times around the earth an
leave an 5000 mile string of cars ovt
on a side track. Running 20 miles II
hour and never stopping, night or da,
II would take the salt-laden train
years, months and % days To pas
STATEN.
ONE STEP MORE.
Carry the computation one step NOR
The ordinary valuation Of sulpha
of soda is | cent per pound, or 500
ton. Common salt at a low rstimat
is worth onr- half a cent pound {
so a ton, aggregatiTg for the sat
and soda contained i'm this great bod
Of water q value OF SOB 4}N, 2q6 coo
The irregular, picturesque bank
painted "A Slistening STOW white b
heavy deposits Of salt, extend mil,
from the waters edge, marking wit
unmistakablo evidence the Old bed {
the present lake out Of the motion
less emarald WAtcr giant mountain
rise TO an elevation of 5000 feet
the summer they are covered viii
rerdure ana abound i'm eXnusitc sccl
eIv. Near the tops many springs sen
forth Durc CRYSTAL water, which vino
It's way i'm silver threads about Il
mountain ana, ultimately meeting otl
nr MAIRr. fnrlne lnrner eIrenms- M.hi.