The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-09-14

| is one which has an pffpct 1tnon every
: lake and river From the nrovimitv ~
snow-capped mountains If would seen
| that mountain streams would furnish
all the water necessary far irrlpation
The snow. however does NOT melt unti
the season of cron nIantne is mast and
when the freshets coma down tbe,
frequently do more DAMAGE than GOOD
The average of snowfall foo is less
upon either the Colorado or wyoming
ranges.
once the rivers have fo,lnd their way
into either Utah or Great salt lake, OF
on the Way thither have snr5ad ont into
the basins, the assailing influence is that
of evaporation. The C,roat Salt lake is
1900 feet above sea level and its south
ern feeder lake is 100 feet higher. AT
this altitude the evaporation is some
thing enormous, even with fresh water,
While the action of the salt increases
the dissolution hundred fold. If water
could be preserved, once it has been
directed to a reservoir, Great Salt lake
might hold it's expanse of 1S70-then
1850 square miles-for unnumbered years
to come.
Yet its eventual fate would BE- I'M
changed for it is decreed that the Great
| Salt lake Is not to endure upon the face
of the earth. On the mountains which
rise from it's shores if has written the
| story of its fall of 900 feet Although
| it is given to no one to know the num-
| Der of centuries which have witnessed
| the dwarfing process, the fact itself has
been made so plain that, he who gazes
may be enlightened
The successive steps of the descent
| from mightiness to comparative low
illness are craven on the ranges of noun
tains, which are within sight Of the lake
on three sides. The fronts of some of
the mountains have the appearance OF
having beeen formed by piling truncated
pyramids, one on top of the other. The
different shore lines of the past stand
out as distinctly and as evenly as If a
surveyors line had been run along the
face of the ridges.
The terrace effect has one of its best
illustrat lions along a spur of the Ouuir-
rah range at the south of the lake.
When the body of water was a sea in
truth, these jutting mountains may
have been long, narrow island. Either
that. or else they were entirely sub
face has fallen more than 1000 feet, how
much more no standard Is left by which
ia nudge The line Of the ton terrace
is near enough ia the summit of the
range to hermit the theory that once
there, was still a higher level above
the crest.
That the belief is not illogical is
shown bv A comparison of the appear
ance of hillv islets in the lake with the
mountains back from the shore line.
Frequently an island shows a single
terrace on the line, generally, of the
lowest markings of the coast range.
The level of the second terrace comes
above the top of the hill, furnishing
proof that the island, at least. was once
far under water
No imaginary description can give
an ADEQUATE idea of what must have
been the size of the primeval sea. It's
area. if scientific estimates be accep-
ted as facts certainly included Bear
lake at the north and Utah lake at the
south To the east the Wahsatch noun
tains and their right aneled SPUR. the
Jrfntah range interposed an inpassable |
barrier hut TO the west If NAV have |
spread over the entire territory of the