The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-07-03
RISE AND THE
FALL OF LAKE
Explanation is Given by South
ern Pacific Man.
LUCIN CUTOFF A SUCCESS
WILL BE OPEN TO REGULAR
TRAINS BEFORE WINTER.

The wind and the Lucin cutoff have
conspired to change the level of the
water about Saltair. according to a well
known Southern Pacific man who was
in Salt Lake yesterday, and he gave
an interesting explanation Of the sud
den rising and falling Of the lake which
has proved so puzzlsng to the officials
lately.
AT the eastern end Of the grade" he
said, there is a trestle about 600 feet
long. North Of that is an arm of the
lake, probably ten miles long and seven
miles wide-a considerable body of wa
ter-and this trestle is about the only
outlet for it. When there is a strong
wind the water runs through this
trestle like through a mill race. If the
wind is from the south the water flows
northward through the trestle and the
level Of the section north Of the grade
is raised. When the wind is from the
north the conditions are just reversed.
I have watched this times without
number and have seen that water,
driven by a strong wind, flow through
the trestle faster than any river ever
Knew The effect Of this condition is
virtually to add or subtract the volume
OF mighty river from the main-b body
OF the lake every time there is a strong
north or south wind and this will go
lar toward explaining the sudden
changes noted in the level Of the lake
about Saltair.
Is an Old Condition.
This story about the water north Of
the cut-Off grade being fresh" con-
tinued the railroad man, lis nothing
new 1t is the old condition that has
always existed to a degree about the
mouth of Bear river, where the fresh
water comes in. The main part of the
water north of the cutoff is no fresher
than that to the south. I was bathing
north of the grade the other day and
the water was fully as buoyant and
DTiny there as on the south side. 1t is,
Of course, likely that after the grade is
completely filed in the influx of fresh
water from Bear river all the time will
make the water on the north side
rather fresher than on the south but
II VIII be many years, I believe, before
there VIII be an appreciable difference.
Il believe there will be work trains
running across the lake by Oct. !. The
sink is still giving some trouble, but it
is being filed up and it is only a ques-
ton Of short time now until it win be
IL IL q e--Af RNAFE part u tue lake =
bottom There has been an awful lot
Of dirt dumped in there and this is be-
ginning to have its effect.
Is Still Treacherous.
THE thing is still pretty treacherous
though, and an engine overturned Just
few days back. Nobody was hurt
and the damage was quickly repaired.
You see, the grade sinks gradually
there and the crew always has time
70 jump. This engine just began to
lower slowly and both men Jumped.
one side of the track always sinks
slower than the other and the result
in this, as in all the other cases, was
that after sinking for a time the en-
CINE tOppled over into about twenty
Feet of water. The train kept the rails
and the engine was soon pulled out.
There is no ground to believe that
( the cutoff viii not prove a success in
every way The weak spot in the grade
VIII soon be as firm as any other por-
ton The belief in some quarters that
strong wind across the lake may blow
train from the track is not justified
have ridden out there on trains when
a man could hardly stick his head out
side on account Of the wind and the
train ran as steadily as If there was
nothing going on. You can take it
from me as from one who knows that
the cutoff will prove a success in every
way and viii be opened to regular
! trains before winter"