The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-01-18
SALTAIR BASIN
Is ABANDONED
Scheme Never Was Very Popu-
lar With the Directors.
IMPROBABLE BATHING POOL
PAVILION MAY BE FIoATED
OUT OF DANGER.

ihere viii be no earthen circle around
saltair. The idea of enclosing the re-
sort has been abandoned. 1t is doubt
M If the reservoir would have been
constructed at all, but the announce
ment made in The Herald to the eff
feet that the lake had ceased to recede
determined the directors. some of whom
have been puzzled to know Just how
they were going to get back the money
which it was intended to put into the
Improvement One of the officers said
yesterday;
The directors have at no time been
very deeply impressed with the reser-
voir scheme. although it seemed to be
the only way out Of the difficulty 1t
looked as if something would have to
be done, and the IDEA of enclosing the
pavilion with a basin looked like the
easiest problem. From a financial view
point it was an expensive proposition,
but we had to lose money whether we
put 1t into some kind of improvement
or allowed tho place to run down. We
thought it was better to spend the
money and keep up the place.
Will Wait for the Water.
IT looks now, however. as if the
water is coming back, and the report
published in this mornings Herald
makes the situation look very encOur-
aging. / did not like the idea of the
basin from the very first. I believe,
as Mr.. Murdoch said through the col
umns of The Herald several days ago,
that we would have had trouble with
the reservoir proposition, for 1 believe
that nothing would have prevented the
bottom of the basin from becoming
encrusted with rough covering OF salt |
Then, too, the proposition was an ex-
pensive one, and don't believe the /
place would have earned it in years. /
II was better to let the place drift /
along and take care of such business /
as came to us.
1T was estimated that the reservoir |
could be built for $50, 00O, but 1 am of |
the opinion that it would have cost us
three times that before we got through, |
and we would have had nothing but a /
swimming rink then. Such a pool (
would have lost its attractions and L /
doubt if any more people would have |
gone to the lake by reason of it. |
The water was bound to come 1
back again. and while did not look
for the turning point quite so soon 1
felt it was cheaper to wait for it than
TO put in the basin.
May Move Pavilion.
II think that if the water comes back
we may float the entire pavilion far
Their out into the lake. If the place
had been built out about a quarter of
mile farther in the first place it
would have been better. This could
have been done without increasing the
depth of the water around the pavilion
more than two or three inches. Some
of the mem bers of the board at that
time were in favor of doing this, but
they finally voted down the idea. They
did not anticipate anything like the ,
present shallow water, although they Z
knew the lake had experienced periods
OF low water. and they ought to have ]
realized that such periods would be apt
TO return.
Il think now that the trouble is over
and that there will be plenty of water
in the next few years. The lake could |
not have gone down much farther with
out affecting the arm to the north OF !
US. After the water in the body gets :
to a certain level il can get no lower, I
as this arm would simply dry up and
the main body not being spread over
so much surface would then resume its Y
normal de3th. {
This is a scientific possibility of the !
future. There is also a possibility that
the waters may gradually rise and T
spread over the territory which once '
included the desert wastes west and 5
south of US. Some years ago we were 7
threatened with this danger. The !
water had reached to within a short .
distance Of the city and prepare tiens :
we're under way to help the water re- f
urn to the great desert when il gradu- II
lily began to recede."