The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-09-10
GREAT SALT LAKE GOING.
IN ANOTHER CENTURY 1T MAY HAVE
WHOLLY DTsAPP'EARED.

r tion of Its Fresh Water tFeeders-Th,
Record OF Its Decline in Past Centuries
Clearly Craven on Its Mount ainous Shore,
From The Chicago Trfoun
Before another century nears it's end tho Grea
Salt Lake tho mysterious, tidcless inland SEQ
Graded 1000 feet above tho level Of oceans may
have disappeared into air. For three decades It's
phore limo steadily has been contracting, its depth
continually growing less, until to day its ultimate
destiny In written legiby that none deny the
approach. The declaration that the waters are
being waited into tho atmosphere Is no figure Of
speech Evaporation Is tho foe which in certain
course Of time, under prevailing conditions, ia
going TO transform tho vast oxponso Of water
into huge salt plain.
Ages ago, thousands Of years, tho geologists
say the Great Salt Lake. then q sea covering tho
greater part possibly the whole, Of tho great
basin, began 10 subsdo, but strangely enough
the agency which now Is fastening its disappear
ance is distinctly Of human origin. OF moro
astonishing purport still the Mormons, who made
the valley Of tho Jordan widen from a narrow
r strip Of green TO miles miles OF fields Of unex
eolled fertility, themselves the people who have
sacrificed tho Lake That they may exist. that
thcir rich tracts may continue to bear they dolber
ateIy arc cutting of tho source Of fresh water sup
ply Of tho mountain sea. Stagnant and helpless
10 lake is coming 10 lie at the complete mercy
Of ptiless sun.
Not many years ago geographcrs and descriptive
writer's took fancy 70 expressing belief that
tho Great Salt Lake was fed not alone by the four
rivers which empty into it, but by hidden springs
, al its bottom As long as no one took the trouble
TO question tho assertions they were accepted
! facts and by many persons are still credited
Z II there were springs at intervals along the bed
! Of the lake IL would not matter so much whether
the rivers continued to pour their contents into
Ma, lls
into the pages Of text books and into the accounts
OF travellers to plain why the lake is exception
ally salt 1t sounded much better to say that
nature by OF its freaks had opened up the crust
OF the earth at this point and sent volumes of brny
water bubbling forth. something after the style
OF gcysers and sulphur springs, than to mako
the simple statement that the sadness, as with
the ocean, WAS due 10 the process of evaporation
on a body Of water lacking drainage outlet.
and that its excess was the consequence OF alti-
tudc Plainly enough. If the in1owing water be
diverted to other uses before 1t reaches the lake,
there will come day when the salt deposit which
Is the result Of the long warfare between sun and
water. will stand exposed. its blanket gone.
The Mormons more, perhaps, than any class
Of settlers In Tho arid districts of North America,
have mastered tho science of irrigation. They
have been studying and experimenting for over
half century In oil the time since they entered
their promised land they have labored with tine
end of making little water do the most good
Unfortunately for tho Great Salt Lake tho
lessons in economy in the usage of irrigation
. Iiyuets have not served To keep pace with the
incHease in population and the consequent neces-
= city Of the continued reclamation of arid land
mi tho water FOR the irrigation OF tho Jordan |
Naey-the Great Salt Lake stake Of the Nor |
mon Church, as il is ACCOMPLISHMENTS come |
from the rivers which feed tho Lake They arc
the Jordan River itself, connecting the fresh |
water Utah Lake with tho larger body; Weber |
River which has its in tho foothills Of |
tho UintAh Mountains and flows northward, |
winding close to Ogden before il empties into |
the lalfs: Ogden River. smaller stream which |
parallels the weber for the latter half of the jour
neyI and tho BeaI River which drains tho Great |
Bear Lake at the north |
The Bear River is subject TO irrigation do |
minds OF the Gentiles as well the Mormons |
sinca more ef its onursa is through Idaho than |
Utah, but tn, Weber and tho Jordan orc wholly |
within the Mormon sphere of agricultural in
encncc While the Gcnules divide tho city popu-
lations Of Utah with the Mormons. they do not |
compete with than in the farming districts They
own the mines but these need no water for irriga-
ton Hence it il that the Mormons have them
selves 10 thank for tho lakes recession
Il has como 70 pass that at the dryest seasons |
of the year the Weber discharges but tiny stream
let into tho lake Tho Jordan and the Boar both |
drain lakes which in turn arc fed by mountains |
streams, hence their flows arc larger than that |
of the Weber. though insignificant in compari- |
son To what they once were what they would |
be again should tho irrigation canals and |
bitches cease TO claim their contenta
II would seem at first thought that the fato of |
Utah Lake would DO Identical with that OF the |
Great Salt Lake Tho .tednra government |
indeed Seiyel ten wit he |
fear that the lesser body soon would be dried up |
though no concern was expressed for tho possible |
effect upon tho saline reservoir it kept filling.
When the Great Salt Lake is gone il will be missed |
a wonder and a salt factory; for little else
Its waters destroy vegetation instead OF nourish-
ing il Should the fresh waters of Utah Lake,
however. be evsporated disappear into the |
earth thousands Of square miles would cease to |
be habitahle |
decade ago n sequence OF dry winters so de- !
creased the volume OF the snow-fed mountain |
streams which arc tributary to Utah Lake
thai State and national authorities were seriously
alarmed The outcome was that the Utah Lake |
region was made government reservation. an |
act which has kept irrigation companies from |
drawing water either directly from ID or from its
feeders In itself 1t has become a mighty reserv- |
DIR the Jordan performing the functions of canal |
in carrying Eden making Gow through the val |
ley. The tapping OF the Jordan all along its |
course, while fatal TO the Great Salt Lake |
does no harm 10 Utah Lake As long as
the streams flowing into the latter arc not attacked
the influence which is lowering the former will |
not directly affect The fresh water body.
Nevertheless. the cause which makes scarcity |
sOi water throughout northwestern Utah forcing |
The dWclers to infringe upon the Great Salt Lake |
supply, is ono which has effect upon every |
iaks and river From the proximity Of snow. |
capped mountains it would seem that mountain |
streams would furnish all the water necessary for
4ipigstion This SNOW. however, does not melt |
: until the season Of crop planting is past and |
when the freshets come down they frequently |
do more damage than good The average OF
snowfall too, is less upon the Wahsatch Mount. |
aims than upon either the Colorado or Wyoming |
ranges
Once tho rivers have found their way into either |
Ctah or Great Salt Lake, or on the way thither
have spread ont into the basins the assailing |
influence is that Of evaporation Tho Great Salt |
Lake is 400 feet above sea level and its south |