The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-04-06
SALT LAKES BOTTOMLESS PIT
HARTMAN CUT-OFt.S COLLAPSE
PUZZLES the EXPERTS.
II 10 Only One Of the Mysteries Of the Great
Salt lAke-One section Where Piles
Are Automatically Cemented to the
Lakes Observation-Disclosures Of the Pit.

SALT LAKE tI1Y, April II H. haril-
man has called some Of the most noted
engineers in this country into a consulta-
ton over the collapsed Lucin cutoff, which
has already cost more than 100000. and
they admit that they are puzzled. For
the past week they have been investigating
the conditions at the point in Great Salt
Lake where the track suddenly sunk into
9 the water; throwing q locomotive into the
lake.
The L,cin cutoff is one OF Mr.. Hartman 4
pet projects. It runs across the northwest
end OF the lake, and by 1t the Southern
Pacific route to San Franciso is shortened
sixty miles.
%. The cutoff is considered one OF the re-
. markable engineering feats OF modern
railroad building. The track was laid across
the lake on great piles, and war 80 FAR COM
pleted that a locomotive was sent spinning
across it to test the track. About a half
milo from shore the track sank into the
water, and the engine plunged into the
lake. drowning the fireman.
At the point where the track dropped il
" believed by some experts that bottom-
less quagnrre has been discovered in the
lake. Some engineers indorse this theory
while others oppose it.
ne ulat ~ " +, DIN fV-iOON pAINN VI SNN''
have been driven into the hole on top of
each other, and the entire 24O feet OF steel
shot through the he'd OF the lake and could
not be reached. One hundred carloads Of
stone or 1000 900 pounds, were dumped into
the hole. and ten minutes Later could not lie
located with to-foot piles.
Some engineers incline to the belief that
the pit on the line OF the cutoff Is sub
- Cali oil ernilar n
that of the freakish Humboldt River in
Nevada, but this theory finds dissenters.
Whatever the hole may be, II seems likely
the line OF the cutoff must be changed,
and It Is feared that similar quagmirrs
will be encountered before the track is
across the lake.
Or. Adolphus T. Kecheler OF the Smith
sonian Institution. who examined the line
OF the cut oh last July at the request OF
Mr.. Hartman, predicted at the time that
the trestlework would be insecure and
unstable. He declared that the bottom of
Great Salt Lake was a solid crust OF pre-
cipitated materials formerly carried by the
water, and that the crust was liable to
break through under the weight of the
trestle. The engineers employed by Mr.
Hartman did not accept DR.. Kecheler's
theory. and the result Is the collapsed cut
on
To illustrate what a scientific mystery
the lake really f. it may be stated that a
milo from the Lucin cutoff steel piles were
sunk till they encountered solid bed OF
sodium sulphate as hard as iron. When
the piles were left over night the layer OF
sulphate seemed to solder them In the bed
Of the lake and II was impossible 10 bulge
them with the aid Of the most powerful
engines used in railroad building.
This h but one Of the scientific mysteries
of this wonderful lake, which is now holding
up the construction Of Mr.. Harrimans
pet schemes. ..-.
Prof. ]. Z. Talmage. the ssologist. who
is now at the lake Investigating the bottom
less pit, opposes the theory that the quag-
mire u an outlet Of the lake. He says that
. the site Of the cutoff 10 the old bed OF Bear
River, which has been filed with alluvium
not solid enough to bear the weight OF the
trestle. He said to-day:
AT tbs south end Of the lake piles driven
into the bed are particularly secure because
Of Q h yer Of sodium sulphate. or mira BIZ
lite, which covers the bottom Of the lake
10 a depth OF seven or eight feet THIS Is
beneath q layer Of loose or slightly COM
pacted layer Of oolitio sand, several inches
in depth, under which Ia another layer OF
. ss nd, cemented by oslcareous matter, which
IL two or more feet In depth.
The mirabilite. or. as il il known in
commerce, glauber salts. was precipitated
from the lake water at an earlier stage In
its history.
In the work Of pile driving at this part
Of tho lake, where Garfield and Saltair
beaches are located, 1t was found TO 10
practically impossible TO penetrate the
Layer OF soda even with the best steel
pointed instruments. A method both sim
pIe and effective was adopted
Steam under O moderate pressure ives
convened to the sodium sulphate bed
through IRON pipes The steam dissolved
the substance readily. and the piles could
lie costly driven. After the piles were
driven they were allowed to set for twenty
four hotrs, after which IL was found TO
be impossible to drive them a quarter OF
an inch. though they were hammered until
they were worn down.
This bed OF mirabilite extends for an
undetermined. though certainly for a very
oonsiderable, AREA inland, as has been de-
termined by excavations and borings.
The actual condition OF that part Of the
lake bed has mover been determined. |
believe, from the conditions which seem
TO prevail, that the lake bed where the
Lucin CUTOFF IL located. is nothing but
ordinary sand
There il no evidence Of a subterranean
outlet from the lake at any point. The fact
that there Ii such an extraordinary amount
Of salt in the water proves that there Is no
outlet, except by evaporation.
THE fact that the lake level responds to
the fluctuations OF the climate is another
conclusive proof that there is no outlet.
and no escape for the water through sinks
similar TO the sink Of the Humboldt River
in Nevada.
@Such an outlet would serve as a regulator
and keep the lake at a constant level. ever
decreasing regardless Of the constant pre-
cipitation. Such an outlet Is not indicated
nv any OF the conditions known.
1T Is a fact that some areas OF the lake
bottom are less Arm than other areas, but
il Is because those areas have not been
covered by a precipitation Of mirabiite.
The railroad engineers made a grave
and costly error in failing to have borings