The Washington times., 1904-08-14

he right himself than he kicked Ike o
frog. Down he would go while the
yells Of the spectators on the pier could
be heard Cor a mile. Exhausted. morti-
fed, ana determined 10 master the mys-
terious waters upon some other occa-
sion. he made his way slowly to the
bathing pavilion. Then he dressed and
went out upon the pier 20 watch a Salt
Lake City boy cutting through the wa
ter with strokes that were very slow.
but sure. One can swim some. too, If
he Is careful not to execute the stroke
too rapidly.
Receding for Years.
The waters have been receding from
the original shore line for many years.
Indeed. It is regarded as a fact Of scien-
tihc interest that the future will see
the absorption by the sun Of the whole
OF Salt Lake.
Since the building OF the Union Pacific
Railroad the waters have receded in a
marvellous manner. Twenty years ago
they were within a few rods Of the
tracks. Today there is an unbroken,
! level. white, salty plain TO a long point
the train, note the waters Of salt Lake.
Year by year the shore line has been
growing more distant This has little
10 do with the exhilaration of swim
ming in this body Of water. but Salt
Lake contains so many mysteries that
/ the telling OF the incident will serve
\ the tale
! Although the lake does not average
] mn
where reaches q greater depth than
sixty feet, the Southern Pacific Railway
has had most tremendous difficulties TO
| overcome while endeavoring to fill in
| across neck Of Great Salt Lake in or
der 10 avoid the present circuitous route
/ along the lake shore. The Improvement
is known as the "Lucin cut OF. and the
railroad engineers. when they began the
work, considered II only a question Of
a very short time before trains would
be running across the lake by the short
route
Shallow as Pleasure.
Great Salt Lake is one OF the shallow
est bodies Of water in the world. con-
sidering its dimensions. In some plsces
a man may wade out mile from shore
without wetting his shoulders.
| The railroad contractors decided 10
take advantage Of this shallowness bv
making a solid rOadbed as far as pos
sible out in the water. Material from,
a deep cut at Little Mountain was haul
ed out on a temporary track and used
for filling
Then it was discovered that in some
iplaces the bottom Of the lake was com
lpOscd Of crUsted salt and sand extend
Ing to considerable depth. In other
places the formation was so loose that
the longest piles driven into Il would
not become firmly imbedded. These
were supposed to be depressions in the
formation which could be readily filled
To form a permanent roadbed near
shore somewhat novel railway was
laid, consisting Of planks upon which
were placed sandbags TO hold them in
position. on these ties were placed, e
which the rails were spiked.
Sunk Into Quicksands.
AS fast as this temporary track wal
laid the cars were run out and dumpot
over the side. But in spite OF the enoc
nous quantity OF material used on IN,
section Of the road constructed IN IN,
shallow water, Il was observed thu,
here and there depressions were contI,
ually occurring, showing that the fourl
dations were still sinking. For ovel
sixteen months material was dumped
into the lake. thousands upon thousand,
OF tons OF IL being emptied apparently
upon one spot before the settling ceased
and the engineers had a firm foundation
for the rOadbed.
, II seemed that at the part Of the lax,
crossed by the Southern Pacific cutoff
the water ranges In depth from twent,
20 thirty feet. 1t was determined 10 la,
the track upon trestle work. For THU
purpose piles Of the largest size wer,
secured 10 be driven IN for posts to sup
port the framework Some OF these pile
, were over forty feet long.
, After being driven down a few feet
ave. most Of the piles suddenly dis