The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-11-30
TOO SALT FOR SEA ANIMALS
Mr.. Moore Shows That They Cannot
Live in Great Salt Lake.


Some time ago the United States
fisheries commission thought it would
be good thing to stock Great Salt
lake with useful animals if it was
found that they could live in it's
waters. There was considerable
doubt that the project was practicable
for 1t was believed that the excessive
sal1nlty OF the lake might be unfavor-
able Tor sea life. However that might
be, 1t was thought to be worth while,
at any rate, to investigate the matter.
SO Mr.. IL. F. Moore was sent to
Utah to see If the lake would make
good home for sea animals. If his re-
port was favorable there was certainly
an opportunity for an important i'm
migration of the denlzens of the ocean
to these inland waters The lake is
about one hundred miles long, with an
average width of twenty miles
and so large body of water should
give plenty of leeway for good many
thousands of animals.
Mr.. Moore's report has been submit
ted to the commission, and it is SO un-
favorable to the proposed project that
no attempt will be made to Introduce
sea life into this supersalted water.
Mr.. Moore found that in those parts
of the lake that receive the main sup
plides of fresh water and were conse-
quently less saline than the other
waters some sea crabs and insects may
live and some of the lower of vegeta-
ton flourish but the proportion of salt
in the larger part of the lake is too
great to be favorable for any form of
sea life. The lake receives not only
fresh water from the mountain
streams, but numerous salt, or brackish
springs also contribute an unusually
large quantity of mineral matter so
that while the specific gravity of ocean
water, on an average, is only 1, 625,
that of Great Salt Lake is I, 1853. The
lake waters are unfavorable for sea
life, not because of their quality,
which does not differ in chemica
quality from the waters of the ocean,
but because of the enormous quantity
of salt held in solution
Commercial enterprises are now tax
ing from the take about 40, 600 tons of
salt every year. 1t might be thought
that this enormous withdrawal of salt
from the lake would, before a very
great while, reduce the water to the
specific gravity of sea water. When
this point Is reached conditions may
be attained that will probably be fav-
orable for sea life in~Utah's great lake.
Mr.. Moore does not, however, encour-
age the idea that this transformation
can be reached for great many gener-
vations to come.
1t is estimated that the amount of
salt added to the lake every year by
the waters which pour into it, is 49,
600 tons; in other words, half the
quantity of salt that is now with drawn
from the lake every year is made good
to the lake by the fresh supplies re-
ceived. Computations based on the
present specific gravity of the lake
lead to the conclusion that it now con-
tains about 400, 600, 600 tons of salt,
which is far less than the estimates of
the salt wealth of the lake that have
come from other sources. According
to these figures and at the present rate
of extracting salt for commercial pur-
poses, IA, 600 years will elapse before
the spec ific gravity of the water has
been reduced to that of the ocean. So
the prospects of introducing sea ami
mails is, at the present, scarcely worth
considering. The people of Utah
must contribute to, get their oysters
from the seaboard. New York Sun.