The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-09-14
A GREAT LAKE DISAPPEARING
THE GREET Salt LIKE or UT1H
GOING.

LEFT ut the Mercy of the SUN by tho De-
p1etion of ITS Fresh Water Feeders
The Record of Its Decline in Past Gen.
turtles Clearly Craven on Ats Noun
tntMous shores.
Before another century nears its end,
the Great Salt Lake, the mysterious
tideless inland sea Graded 4,OOO feet
above the level of oceans, may have
disappeared into air. For three decades
its shore line steadily has been contract
ing, it's depth continually growing less,
until to-day it's ultimate destiny is writ
ten so legibly that none deny the APP
proach. The declaration that waters
are being waited into the atmosphere
is no figure of speech. Evaporation is
the foe which in certain course of time
under prevailing conditions, is going to
transform the vast expanse Of water
into huge salt plain.
Ages ago, thousands of years, the geo
logists say, the Great Salt lake, then
a sea covering the greater part, possibly
the whole, of the great basin began to
subside, but strangely enough the agen-
ance, is distinctly of human origin. OF
more astonishing purport still the Nor
mons, who made the valley of the Jor-
dan widen from a narrow strip of green
to miles on miles of fields of unexcelled
fertility, are themselves the people who
have sacrificed the lake. That they
may exist that their rich tracts may
continue to bear. they deliberately are
off Ia tar
supply of the mountain sea. Stagnant
and helpless the lake is coming to lie
at the complete mercy of pitlless sun.
Not many years ago geographers and
descriptive writers took a fancy to ex-
pressing belief that the Great Salt lake
was fed not alone by the four rivers
which empty into it, but by hidden
springs at its bottom. AS long as no one
took the trouble to question the asser-
tons, they We're accepted as facts and
by many persons are still credited. IL
there were springs at intervals along
the bed of the lake it would not mat
ter so much whether the rivers contin-
ued to pour their contents into the basin,
but no springs exist They were called
into the pages of text books and into
the accounts of travellers to explain why
sounded much better to say that nature
by one of its freaks had opened up the
crust Of the earth at this point and sent
volumes of briny water bubbllng forth,
something after the style of geysers
and sulphur springs than to make the
simple statement that the sadness, as
with the ocean, was due to the process
of evaporation on body of water lack
ing a drainage outlet, and that its ex-
cess was the consequence of altitude.
Plainly enough, If the inflowing water
be diverted to other uses before it
reaches the lake, there will come a day |
when the salt deposit which is the re-
suit of the long warfare between sun |
and water, will stand exposed it's |
blanket gone.
The Mormons, more, perhaps, than
any class of settlers in the arid districts
of North America, have mastered the
science of irrigation. They have been
studying and experimenting for over
half a century. In all the time since
they entered their promised land they
have labored with the end of making
a little water do the most good.
Unfortunately for the Great Salt lake,
the lessons in economy in the usage of
irrigation rivulets have not served to
keep pace with the increase in popu-
lation and the consequent necessity of
the continued reclamation Of arid land
All the waterA for the irrigation of the
Jordan valley--the Great Salt lake stake
of the Mormon church, as it is denomi-
come from the rivers which
feed the lake. They are the Jordan
river itself, connecting the fresh water
Utah lake with the larger body Web
err river, which has it's source in the
foothills of the Uintah mountains and
flows northward winding close to Ogden
river, a smaller stream, which paral-
Iels the Weber for the latter half Of the
Journey; and the Bear river which
drains the Great Bear lake at the north.
The Bear river is subject to irrigation
demands Of the Gentiles as well as the
Mormons. since more of its course is
through Idaho than Utah, but the Weber
and the Jordan are wholly within the
Mormon sphere of agricultural inhu
ence While the Gentiles divide the
city populations of Utah with the Nor
mons, they do not compete with them
IN the farming districts. They own the
mines, but these need no water for ir-
'igation. Hence it is that the Mormons
nave themselves TO Iud1k IOr the lake |
recession.
1t has come to pass that at the dryest
seasons of the year the Weber dis
but a tiny streamiet into the
AXE. The Jordan and the Bear both I
Train lakes, which in turn are fed by 3
streams, hence their flows are ,
arger than that of the Weber, though :
in comparison to what they g
NICE were or what they would be again ,
hould the irrigation canals and bitches r
ease to claim their contents. :
1t would seem at first thought that the :
ate of Utah lake would be identical ,
With that of the Great Salt lake. The ,
ederaI government, indeed was seiz5d
yer 10 years ago, with the fear that r
he lesser body soon would be dried UP. \
hough no concern was expressed for the y
,ossible effect upon the saline reservoir +
t kept filling. +
When the Great Salt lake is gone it !,
viii be missed as a wonder and as a
alt factory: for little else. It's waters c
estroy vegetation instead of nourishing f
!. Should the fresh waters of Utah "
l,o TOD ,,,I ie.t,,D |