The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1900-12-18
roo sALT FoR SEA ANIMALS.
Il Is Found That They cannot Live
In the Waters of Great
Salt Lake. 4

Some time ago the United States
fisheries commission thought it would
be good idea to stock Great Salt
Lake with useful sea animals if it
was found that they could live in its
waters. There was considerable
doubt that the project was practi-
cable, for it was believed that the ex-
cessive salinity of the lake might be
unfavorable for sea life. However
that might be, it was thought to be
worth while, at any rate, to investi-
gate the matter, says the New York
Sun.
So Mr.. H. F. Moore was sent to
Utah to see if the lake would make
a good home for sea animals. If his
report were favorable there was GER
tainly an opportunity for an impor-
tant immigration of the denizens Of
the ocean to these inland waters. The
lake is about 100 miles long with an
average width of 81 miles, and so
large a body of water would give
plenty of leeway for a good many
thousands of animals.
Mr.. Moore's report has been sub
mitted to the commission and it is so
unfavorable to the proposed project
that no attempt viii be made to intro
duce sea life into this supersalted
water. Mr.. Moore found that in those
parts of the lake which received the
main supplies of fresh water and were
consequently less saline than the
other waters some sea crabs and in
sects may live and some of the lower
forms of vegetation flourish; but the
proportion of salt in the larger part
of the lake is too great to be favor
able for any form of sea life. The
lake receives not only fresh water
from the mountain streams, but nu-
merous salt or brackish springs also
contribute an unusually large guam
tity of mineral matter, so that while
the specific gravity of ocean water,
on an average, is only 1.O25, that Of
Great Salt lake is 1.16S. The lake wa
tiers are unfavorable for sea life, not
because of their quality, which does
not differ in chemical constituents
from the waters of the ocean, but be-
cause of the enormous amount of salt
held in solution.
Commercial enterprises are now
taking from the lake about $4,000
tons of salt every year. 1t might be
thought that this enormous with
drawal of salt from the lake would,
before a very great while, reduce the
waters to the specific gravity of sea
water. When this point is reached
conditions may be attained that will
probably be favorable for sea life in
Utah's great lake. Mr.. Moore, how
ever, does not encourage the idea
that this Transformation can be
reached for great many generations
to come.
It is estimated that the amount of
salt added to the lake every year by
the waters which pour into it is 5000
tons; in other words, half the guam
tity of salt that is now withdrawn
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
contains about 4OO,OOO,OOO tons of salt,
which is far less than the estimates
of the salt wealth of the lake that
have come from some sources. Ac-
cording to these figures, and at the
present rate of extracting salt for
commercial uses from the lake wa
tiers, $4,000 years viii elapse before
the specific gravity of the water has
been reduced to that of the ocean.
So the prospect of introducing sea
animals is, at present, scarcely worth
considering. The people of Utah
must continue to import their oysters
from the seaboard.