The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1899-07-06
SCOTLAND NECK, N. c.. THURSDAY, JULY g. l8o9
SALT LAKES WONDERS.

SALT LAKES WONDERS
VAST WEALTH IN THE WATERS
OF UTAHS DEAD SEA.
Salt and Soda Worth Billions Lz-
ing Unused.
New York Sun.
"The most wonderful feature oi
Utah is not its Mormcns," said an in
habitant OF that State, "but Its great
salt sea, which always seems to me like
a mystery only little less weird than
the Dead Sea which rolls over Sodorn
an1 Gomorrah. Every time I look at
this great American dead sea I get to
specializing about its past and its prob
able future, which will be more inter
estlng to the next generation Or tive
than to the present. The origin OF
the lake is only a matter OF curiosity,
but its future will be question of dol
lars and cents to this country. / have
lately been figuring out the probable
value ofthis dead sea to the company
which will exploit 1t. At first I was
surprised at the magnitude Of its
wealth, and then astonished beyond
measure. The fact is that Utah is The
richest State in the Union, and all BY
reason OF this great American deaG;
sea. Her salt is worth more than all
the gold and diamond mines in the
world. The estimated value OF the
products of this salt lake is in round
numbers nearly $l03. 800, ,O0O,O00
Think of over one hundred billion dol
lars lying unused and untouched right
| in the heart OF our country
'How do figure out such value
1t is simple enough. According to
analyses the waters OF the lake have
an average of more than 16 pet cent.
of salt and sulphate of soda : that is
about one-sizth Of every bucketful OF
the water dipped out Of the lake is OF
commercial value. About one-elghtE
of this is su]phate of soda and seven
eights common salt. Now, to find ont
the value Of the lakes contents one
has only to figure out roughly the
amount OF water in it. 10 make the
calculation easy we will say the lake
is 100 miles long, with width vary
ing between % and 80 miles, or ap-
proximately 2700 square miles IN sur
face area OR 1921, ,6SO,OOO square
feet. The average depth OF the lake
can be safely placed at 20 feet, which
would make 1905 ,433 100000 cubic
feet Of water. Now, one sixth of this
total is common salt and soda or $780,
905 100000 cubic feet. A cubic foot
of sulphate OF soda weighs fifty pounds
and a cubic foot of salt eighty pounds.
The ordinary valuation of sulphate OF
soda is one cent a pound, or 500 ton
and common salt is worth half cent
pound, or $40 ton. According to
my figures there would be 7S4,O8O,OOO
tons of sulphate of soda IN the lake,
and 8,7S9,160,60O tons Of common
salt. Now, at the ruling prices for
these two commodities given above
the total valuation of the lakes pro-
ducts would amount to SlO3, 3,4S3, 1885,
900. What State can produce better
showing than that?
"But it is not only the money value
of this great inland sea that attracts
me. The lake is a mystery which ap
peals to one even though he lives on
it's rim for lifetime. There are four
large rivers pouring fresh water con-
stantiy into the lake. but the saltiness
does not diminish l per cent. any sea-
son of the year, not even when the
freshets of Summer pour millions of
gallons af extra water down the noun
tain sides into the lake. There is no
visible outlet, and yet the lake rises
and falls from year to year only a
trlfe. There is no visible source os
the great salt beds or mines that must
underlie the lake somewhere. The
reason for the saltiness Of this sea is
almost as great mystery to the scien-
lists of to-day as it was tc the Indians
OF century ago. There is simply
no explaining the matter. In ages
gone by the lake was much larger,
covering at one time total area larg
er than that of Lake Huron. In
places then the sea must then baye
been at least thousand feet deep.
Its greatest depth is now about sixty
feet. It is saltier than the Dead Sea
of Palestine, although many people
are not aware of it, for the simple rea-
son that they compare only the per-
centage of solid matter in the water Of
the two lakes. The Asiatic de.sd sea
contains % per cent. of solids, and the
A lool coo o,,I1, 10 ,,or onrt