Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1898-02-07
GREAT SALT LAKE.


The Great Salt Lake IL two feet
lower today than ever before known
In the history OF Utah, and according
10 competent observers 1t is RAPIDLY
changing its chief characteristic and
turning into an inland sea of fresh
water Every fall the lake Is several feet
lower than in the spring, but this year
the waters have subsidized to such an
extent that many Of the bathing paw
lions and lighthouses are left high and
dry upon the beach. II has always been
believed by experts that the lake had
an underground outlet, but no explorer
has yet been fortunate enough to dis
cover any. 1t Is supposed, however,
that outlets exist. and that during the
last SIX months they have gained no.
tceahly upon the springs which supply
the lake.
on the northen slopes of the lakes
shores and down the western border
are numberless springs, which have al
ways run pure brine into the inland sea
These springs evidently come through
immense rocks OF salt in the earth
and by washing through them they
make the spring water intensely briny
by the time 1t reaches the surface
Ihere have been signs of n change in
THESE springs in recent years Several
times they have ceased to flow as ran
idly MS usual, and the water they
poured up appeared fresher. They have
now become partly choked up, either
with rocks or salt, and they no longer
give the same supply of salt water ns
they did years ago. In several other
places-notably on East Antelope. with
IN ntteen feet of the trimming lake
pisln-there are many fresh water
springs that gush up at all seasons of
the year and pour into the lake.
THESE fresh water springs have be-
come large and more powerful since the
SAT- water springs became clogged up.
ana IL is supposed the underground res
eroir Of water diverted from its usual
course, is now seeking an adequate out
let through the springs where no salt
II this theory Is correct the Great Salt
Lake will gradually turn to fresh
water, and the surface will continue to
fall until the winter and spring fresh
cts from the mountains FIJI Il again.
RMS additional water will add no salt
to the great sea, but make 1t fresher
than ever. II has been well known for
many years that the Great Salt Lake
Is fresher in the early spring than in
summer, and the phenomenon is prob
ably caused by the addition of great
quantities of water from the SHOWS and
streams of the mountains. Those en-
gagged In manufacturing salt on the
lake say that 1t takes six gallons of
water to make one gallon of salt in the
summer and fail. but that in early
spTlIlB II ulten tlktS seven ana even
eight gallons to make the same guam
tity.
There are three large streams empty
ing into the Great Salt I.ake-the Bear.
Weber and Jordan rivcrs-but they
make no appreciable difference in the
saltiness OF the Jake, except early in
the spring, when they carry the melt
ing SHOWS of the mountain down to the
lake. So long ms the underground
springs Of salt continued to pour their
brine into the lake 1t required an i'm
mense volume of fresh water to neu-
tralze them.
The Great Salt Lake Is seventy miles
long and fifty miles across in its widest
Part, and II has an area of 1000 square
miles. Another peculiar change that
has taken place in the lake is the
gradual upheaval of the bottom. In
recent years It's greatest depth has not
exceeded forty feet, while the average
depth is only from twelve to twenty
feet. Fifty years ago the bottom could
not be sounded in places, and lines 100
feet long failed to strike bottom.