New-York tribune., 1902-12-21
GREAT SALTLAKES FUTURE
sUBsIDENCE OF TEN FEET IN THE
WATER IN FIFTEEN YEARS
CAUSES OF THIS.

The irrigation ditch and the salt evaporating
plants Of Utah rapidly drying up the Great
Salt Lake The decline of its waters has at last
alarmed the business men Of Salt Lake City to
such an extent that they have petltoned the
Department of the Interior to prevent, II pos
sible. the continuance Of such phenomena They
sav that the subsistence OF these waters will
be a shrinkage Of their prosperity as We'll "lth
the Great Salt Lake mere brackish pool, or
should their worst expectations come true,
harren field Of salt the thousands OF visitors
Who now 20 thither and spend their money in
The hotels the sanatoriums and the bathing
pavions will go somewhere else On the oiher
hand the farmer asserts that II Is more lmpor-
tant to reclaim the thousands OF miles OF desert
land in this region than TO preserve great sea
Of stagnant water.
Ever since the Great Salt Lake became known
to the white man It has been seen to be slowly
eyaporating for investigation showed that the
present surface OF 1900 or more square miles
J. only n little remnant OF the sea OF former
.ues JJp 20 recent years. however, the de-
crease of water has resulted simply from sio"
evaporation in the suns rays Changes III 'he
annual rainfaIls may have affected the oep'h
OF the waters slightly from year TO year put
the decline OF the waters was extremely SLOW.
The question Of preserving the Great Salt
Lake therefore, can simply be pinned down 10 a
between
The farmer has learned that by irrigation he Is
able to transform the arid. burning alkaline SOIL
Of the Western country into fields of luxuriant
alfalfa and orchards of peach and plum. Ac-
cordingly thousands of pioneers have peopieo
what was once a wilderness, and vast areas IN
ihe desert have been reclaimed.
The farmer has taken his water from the
streams which had hitherto flowed into the
Great Salt Lake. the final drain OF all water
courses within the great confines or ~hat Is
known as the Great Basin including an area
of about 210,OOO square miles, and comprising
the western half of Utah. the greater part OF
Nevada and portions of Eastern California
Southeastern Oregon, Southeastern Idaho and
Southwestern Wyoming 1t not long there
fore, before this diversion of water resulted In
the rapid decrease of the volume OF the lake,
and in the last fifteen years the surface has
fallen ten feet.
one evidence OF the great commercial value
Of this lake to the people of the metropolis of
Utah is to be seen in the vast amount of money
expended in a single bathing pavilion. known
as Saltair Beach. Here a railroad built
out a trestle four thousand feet into the
lake. The waters are so shallow that even at
this distance from the shore they are only
waist deep. The pavilion is like a little city
in itself, with a central dome shaped building.
q roof much like the egg shaped covering of
the Mormon Tabernacle towers and balconies
OF Moorish architecture, and long stretches
of bathing rooms, which extend each side
like the wings of bird. The whole length
of the structure is nearly a quarter of a mile,
supported piles. which had to be driven
through a bed of salt, where holes were made
by means of hot steam. The total cost of the
pavilion S30O,O
The enterprise, however, has proved a pros
porous one. The peculiar qualities of the water,
in which the human body floats as lightly as