The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1900-12-14
TOO SALT FOR SEA ANIMALS
They Cannot Live in the Waters o
Great Salt Lake.

Some time ago, relates the New York
Sun, the United States fisheries commits
sion thought it would be good idea to
stock Great Salt Lake with useful sea
animals If it was found that they could
live in it's waters. There was consider
ticable, for it was believed that the ex-
cessive salinity of the lake might be I'M
avorable for sea life. However that
might be, it was thought to be worth
while, at any rate, to investigate the
matter.
So II. 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 certainly an oppor-
tunlty for an important immigration Of
the deniZenS of the ocean to these inland
waters. The lake is about 100 miles long
with an average width of twenty
miles, and so large body of water would
give plenty of leeWay for a good many
thousands of animals
Mr.. MOOre's report has been submitted
to the commission and it is so unfavor-
able to the proposed project that no at
tempt will be made to introduce sea life
into this superseded water.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 insects 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 fayora bic
for any form of sea life. The lake re.
ceives not only fresh water from the
mountain streams. but numerous salt or
brackish springs also contribute an I'M
usually large quantity of mineral matter.
so that while the specific gravity Of ocean
water, on an average, is only 1925 that
Of Great Salt lake is 1.169. The lake
waters are unfavorable for sea life, not
because of their quality, which does not
differ in chemical constituents from the
waters of the ocean, but because Of the
enormous amount OF salt held in solu-
tion
Commercial enterprises are now taking
from the lake about $4,000 tons of salt
every year. 1t might be thought that
the lake would before very great while
reduce the waters to the specific gravity
of seawater. When this point is reached
conditions may be attained that will
probably be favorab BILE for sea life in
Ctahs great lake. Mr.. Moore, however
transformation can be reached for a
great many generations to come.
1t is estimated that the amount Of salt
added to the lake every year by the wa
ters which pour into it is 10000 tons.
In other words, half the quantity of salt
that is now withdrawn from the lake
every year is made good to the lake by
the fresh supplies received. Computa-
tons based on the present specific gray
ity of the lake lead to the conclusion
that it now contains about 4OOoOO,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 pres
ent rate Of extracting salt for CONNER
cial uses from the lake waters. 14.OO0
years will elapse before the specific gray
ity Of the water has been reduced to that
of the ocean. So the prospect of intro
worth considering. The people of Utah
must continue to import their oysters
from the seaboard.