The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1899-10-25
GREAT SALT LAKE DRYING UP
Irrigation Using Up the Waters tha.
Supply it.

TOT three Hecdues It's SnOre line Stea0l-
ly has been contracting, its depth con-
tinually growing less, until to-day its
ultimate destiny Is written so legibly
that none deny the approach. The
declaration that the waters are being
waited into the atmosphere is nofigure
Of speech. Evaporation is the foe
which in certain course Of tims, under
prevailing conditions, is going to trans
form the vsst expanse Of water into .
huge salt plain
Ages ago, thousands Of years, the
geologists say, Great Salt Lake, then
a sea covering the greater part, possi-
bly, the whole, Of the great basin, be-
gan to subside, but strangely enough,
the agency which now is Fastening its
disappearance is distinctly Of human
origin. or more astonishing pGrport
still, the MOrmons, who made the val
ley Of the Jordan widen from a mar
row strip Of green to miles on miles of
fields Of unexpected fertility, are them
selves the people who have sacrificed
the lake. That they may exist, that
their rich tracts may continue to bear,
they deliberately are cutting or the
source of fresh water supply Of the
mountain sea- Stagnant and helpless,
the lake is coming to lie at the COM
plete mercy Of pitiless sun.
Not many years ago geographers and
descriptive writers took fancy to ex-
pressing the belief that the Great Salt
Lake was fed not alone by the four
rivers which empty into it, but by
hidden springs at is bottom. AS long
as no one took the trouble to question
the assertions they were accepted as
facts, aud by many persons are still
credited. II there were springs at in
tervals along the bed Of the lake it
wOuld not matter so much whether the
rivers continued to pour their contents
into the basin, but no springs exist.
they were called into the pages Of
textbooks and into the accounts of
travellers to explain why the lake is 50
exceptionally salt. 1t 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 bubbling forth, something
after the style of geyser and sulphur
springs, than to make the simple state
ment that the saltness, as with the
ocean, was due to the process Of evapO-
ration on a body Of water lacking a
drainage outlet, and thai its ex-
cess was the consequence Of alti-
tude. Plainly enough, if the infiowing
water be diverted to other uses before
it reaches the lake, there will come q
day when the salt deposit, which is the
result Of the long continued warfare be-
tween sun and water, will stand ex-
posed, It's blanket gone.
The MOrmons, more, perhaps, than
any class of settlers in arid districts
Of North Ameriea, have mastered IL
science of irrigation. They have been
oNaa A16 aA0 AOA ONCA
half 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 possible 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 population and the consequent neces-
sity of the continued reclamation Of
arid land. All the water for the irr.-
CATION of the Jordan Valley-the Great
Salt Lake stake of the Mormon Church,
As it is ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS come from
the rivers which feed the lake. They
are the Jordan itself, connecting the
fresh water of Utah Lake with the
larger body; Weber River, which has
its sources in the foothills of the Uin-
tab Mountains and flows northward,
winding close to Ogden before it emp
ties into the lake; o gden River, small
er stream, which parallels 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 irriga.
ton 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 influence. While the Cen
tiles divide the city populations Of
Utah with the MOrmOns, they do not
compete with them in the farming
districts. They own the mines in the
mountains, but these need no water for
irrigation. Hence it is that the Nor
mons have themselves to thank for the
lakes recession.
1t has come to pass that at the dryest
seasons of the year the Weber dis
charges but tiny streamlet into the
lake. The Jordan and the Bear both
drain lakes, which in turn are fed by
mountain streams; hence their flows
are larger than that Of the Weber,
through insignificant in comparison
to what they once were or what they
would be again should irrigation Ca
nails and bitches cease to claim their
contents.
1t would seem at first thought thst
the fate of Utah Lake would be ident|-
cal with that Of the Great Salt Lake.
The Federal Government, indeed, was
seized over ten years ago with the fear
that the lesser body soon would be
dried up, though no concern was ex-
pressed for the possible effect upon the
saline reservoir it kept filling.
When the Great Salt Lake Is gone IL
will be missed as 3 wonder and as a
salt factory-for little else. Its waters
destroy vegetation instead Of nOurish-
ing it. Should the fresh waters OF
Utah Lake, however, be evapOrated or
disappear into the earth, thousands Of
square miles would cease to be habiia-
bic.
What it Might Have Cost.
ain certain town in Vermont"
..;l a., no.tor Ir,,uau,ar oo Ia obat-.