The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-08-29
SALT Lake DRYING Up.


from the starting point of its mad ca,
| reer.
None may guess the interval between
the first depression and the second The
mountain handwriting tells Of three sep
arate falls but gives ma, limit to the time
which elapsed before one followed the
other. After the third 0ufpouring a dif-
ferent disturbance must have raised the
boundary walls and blocked the former
outlets. Three gateways may have closed
at once; there IL no saying that the freed
waters followed identical courses to the
ocean. Indeed. the contrary is more
within the range of probability. The vol
canic theory fits nearly every hypothesis
Within the present century q radical
| change in area and coast line has been
been accounted for on the basis that the
internal disturbances still continue, and
that part OF the shore Is as apt to sink
downward tomorrow as It was in the days
before humanity had begun to keep its
record.
The lake became salt after its final
egress was cut of. Were outlets formed
at this late eriod 1t would remain salt for
ages, so deep has become the salt bed in
the centuries since stagnation has been
the fate of the waters above. few
months ago a professor who made a SER
les of experiments, in the interest of the
salt industry of the lake, announced that
IL every other source Of salt supply in the
world were cut of. the Great Salt lake
would be able to furnish the ingredient
as long as the world should endure. In
that statement he made no calculation
for the possibility that the lake itself
should cease to exist, but even in that
event, 1t Is estimated that khe solid de-
posits in its bottom would be sufficient to
earth for long period as the mind can
grasp.
From these illustrations, better than
from figures one is able to gain an ap-
probation Of the time which must have
passed since the last disturbance closed
the northern gate and walled in the then
fresh water lake. Although the area of
the period evidently many times exceeded
that of modern times, it may be asserted
with certainty that Bear and Utah lakes
had by that time become seperate from
the main body, or were by that convuls-
ion set free. They have remained fresh
because they drained into the Great Salt
lake. From the fact that utah lake Is
today but 100 feet above Salt lake, it is
apparent that the larger body has fall
less than that distance since the last of
the three great outpourings of its con-
tents.
The proof that 1t has been much lower
10 in he
salt deposits within ten and twenty miles
OF the shore. showing that the sea salt
once lay above the deposits.
1t did not take the lake long to become
intensely saline after 1t was locked in.
For its eaxpnse, 1t was shallow even then,
not more than 1e0 feet deep at its deep
mum depth today is sixty feet, and the
average is not half that figure. At some
points one may wade a mile and more
from shore without getting in water over
the knees. 1t was as IL huge and shall
low basin basin had been spread out in
the sun. T he ratio Of evaporation, far
greater than at sea level. hurried the
chemical action and in a comparatively
short time the fresh water lake was a
of the alkan in the surrounding soil is
problematcal. Some persons have cred
tied it with being the fundamental cause
Of the exceptional salinity.
In the proportion OF solid matter in It's
contents, the Great Salt lake Is surpassed
only by the dead sea. In the former the
ratio is eighty-six parts of water to four
teen OF solids, in the latter seventy-six
parts Of water to twenty-four of solids. |
The Atlantic ocean contains 96.5 parts
water to but S.5 parts solids. emphasizing |
the abnormal quantity of salt in both the |
inland reservoirs
AS the salinity increased the amount of |
evaporation increased, and it is likely
enough that to this cause alone the lake |
owed the gradual fall which brought II |
down to an area of LOO square miles
seventy-five miles long and between |
twenty-five and thirty miles broad-its |
surface during the earlier half of the |
present century and at the time the Nor
mons came into the Jordon volley.
About 1850 the lake began to rise ach-
ing in few years the area of 1850 square
miles, which 1t retained until 1870. when
irrigation ceased to be desultbry and be-
came a system. The lakes rise has given
rise to much discussion, and furnished
some excuse for inference OF a hidden
feeding stream. In general the phenom-
enon Is laid to the series OF unusually
wet seasons, which not only increased
the volume Of the streams emDtyiag into
the lake but also did away with tho ne
cessity of irrigation
Since 1870 irrigation has been tai ing
YEARLY nd ~ H.
the length of the lake has decreased from
eihty miles thirty years ago % barely
seventy, while its width in no place Is
greater than twenty-five miles. A. some
place sthe shore line has recaded five
miles within as many years.
The Mormons, however, do not gea- the
lake will ever disappear. IT Is one of
their sources of wealth. the pumps which
draw the water from the AXE II the
evaporating squares whic dot the shores
often going night and day. It would be
more difficult and more expensive IN mine
salt than to pump water and leave the
rest of the MANUFACTURER gto the sun,
hence they have faith that the lord will
not Inlet the blow upon them. They need
river water for irrigation. therefore they
take II; they look TO lake water for sumo
OF their income. therefore they expsct
that the divine power which they believe
led them 70 their holy land will see that
the lake Is kept filed. The contraifc-
ton in their action and their face they
do not appear TO notice. They certainly
a q e an asa