The times., 1898-11-13
Salt Lake and the Wealth Of
Its Waters.
ONCE LARGER THAN HU RON
The BONANZA Mines of America
DSinGre to BcEgnr's Penny Boxes
in Comparison. While Upon Bald
Headed People IL Works Miraclss -
The art Of BnthinE.
The most wonderful feature of all this


Dead Sea Among all earth's
weird wonders in water IT has
but one rival or peer-the miracle-made
sea whose waves of doom and oblivion
roll over Sodom and Gomorrah. the Chi
cagos of forty centuries ago. Think of
of a lake from 2.5o0 TO 5000 square miles
in area. lying l,0oo miles inland. at an al
titude of 4250 feet above the sea level,
whose waters are 81 xtimes as salt as
those of the ocean; and while it has no
outlet, four large rivers pouring their
ceaseless floods of fresh water into 1t.
without raising its mysterious surface
fraction OF an inch, or ever diminishing,
SO far as chemical analysis can deter
mine, its indescribable saltiness. 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 II draws its ever
lasting supplies? One may stand upon
its shores and ask a thousand such ques-
lions. but no answer comes from its nys-
teriOus depths. amid which death and si-
lence reign supreme.
There is no, fish nor any living tn : In
all the $500 or 5000 square miles of beau
swarms of summer bathers. Not a shark
or a stingaree to scare the timid swim
mer or floater; not a crab or a crawiish
to nip the toe of the WAGER. not n min
now a frog. a tadpole or a poilywog-
nothing lives. moves. crawls or wriSSies.
Long before human beings invaded this
mysterious and beautiful region or before
the little band of Mormons, after their
long march from Illinois and months of
IL, ,lY.f,. Il
over towering mountain ranges. pitched
their tents in the picturesque valley ad-
joining Salt Lake, this wonderful body of
water was larger than Lake Huron and
1000 feet deep. Its ancient plashings are
still plainly visible on the mountain
benches and are easily traceable as
though they were written but yesterday
1t is now about 100 miles long. with an
average width of from % to 80 miles. 1t
is from 80 to 60 miles wide in some places
and its greatest depth is about 60 feet.
Its waters contain about IS per cent of
solid matter mostly salt and soda, With
small proportions of sulphur, magnesia,
calcium, bromide, potassium, lithia and
boracic acid. The Asiatic Dead Sea wa
ter contains % per cent of solids, inciud-
ing less salt and soda and much more
magnesia, calcium and potassium than
Salt Lake. Atlantic Ocean water holds
but 35 per cent of solid material, OF
which salt constitutes 20 per cent. Hun
dreds of thousands of tons of salt are
made by natural evaporation along the
shoes of the lake, and at one place near
Salt Lake City windy night never fails
to pile up many tons of soda, eliminated
by the movement of the waves.
Compared with this vast liquid treasure
house of riches the greatest bonanza
mines OF Utah or of the United States
dwindle to beggars' penny boxes. Take
out your pencil and do little figuring.
Figures, 1t is said will not lie, and You
will soon find yourself dumfounded be-
lore your own mathematical truths.
Say Salt Lake is 100 miles long and has
an average width of twenty-seven miles;
that gives an area of 2,7o0 square miles.
There are 27s7s. 100 square feet in a mile;
so the lake has an area of 20, "a, $50 900
square feet. Take 20 feet as its average
depth: then 20 times 75, ri, $50 900 will give
US i.5O5. 433, 500 Oc0 cubic feet as the con-
tents of the lake. Now, l6 2-3 per cent, or
one-sixth of this, according to the analy-
ses of eminent chemists, is salt and sui
phate of soda.
That is, the lake contains $50, sos, 600 06O
cubic feet of salt and sulphate of soda.
OF this mass one-eishth is sulphate of
soda and seven-eighths common salt. A
cubic foot of sulphate of soda weighs 30
pounds. and cubic foot of common salt
50 pounds; so We have as the contents, in
part, of this unparalleled reservoir of
wealth 1,5ss l6O. 600 pounds, or 7s4. .0S0 0O0
tons of sulphate of soda, and II, ,5G0, S39r
zoe 900 pounds, or S.7s9 1s9, 600 tons of salt.
Allowing ten tons to a carload, that
would be rs 40S 600 cars of soda and SIS,
Ol69 cars of salt. Taking 30 feet as the
total length of freight car and its cou-
plinEs, we would have a train of soda
4i5,500 miles long, or nearly to the moon
and back, and a train of salt 4,9SS $50
miles in length, or long enough to reach
l96 times around the earth and leave an
5000 mile string of cars over on sice
track. Running 90 miles an hour and
never stopping, night or day. it would
take the salt laden train Is years 5
months and % days to pass station
Carry the computation one step more.
The ordinary valuation of sulphate of
soda is l cent per pound, or $50 per ton.
Common salt at a low estimate is worth
l-2 cent per pound, or so per ton. aggre-
eating for the salt and soda contained in
this great body of water a value of $103,-
lS3 292. coo.
The irregular, picturesque banks. paint
ed a glistening snowy white by heavy de-
posits of salt, EXTENDED miles from the
waters edge. marking with unmistaken
evidence the old bed Of the present lake
Out of the motionless emerald water giant
mountains rise TO an elevation of 5000
feet In the summer they are covered
with verdure and abound in exquisite
scenery. Near the tops many springs
send forth pure crystal water, which
winds its way in silver threads about the
mountain. and. ultimately meeting other
water. forms larger streams. which leap
playfully over ledges and make sweet
mn eli aS thakv On do Cl gr,1a Gin
ing merriiy down the mounJainside into
the lake below. Rich grasses flourish
everywhere, while extensive groves of
trees lend their exquisite beauty to tn
sen.
At this season of the year the mountains
are snow-capped. and when the suns
slanting rays spread over their immacu-
late crests they sparkle and glisten as if
they were covered with rich jewels and
seem to be crowned monarchs standing
sentinel over the sleeping lake and white
valley below.
The lake has receded from The city
proper about twenty miles. One of the
most delightful features of visit to the
region of the great Salt Lake is a bath
in the lake. One OF the finest and most
imposing pavilions in the world, which is
said to have cost a half million dollars
has been erected on a beautiful site
known as Salt Air. owing TO the air be-
ing so thickly impregnated with salt that
ii is visible at times to the naked eye, it
has received its name.
Crowded trains run to and from the
lake at frequent intervals during the
summer months. Everybody can swim in
Salt Lake. People float around in the
water like corks. In fact, IT is so heavy
that 1t is impossible to sink. No suicides
are committed here via the drowning
route. The water is a prompt and potent
tonic and invigorant of the body and
mind and is said to work miracles on him
or her whose tendencies are to bald