The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-03-14

the United States and fve-twelfths t,
England.
The most famous boundary line in Tia
United states Is thot dividing Penn
sylvanla and Maryland Is was sur
veyed 1867 by Charles Mason an(
jeremiah Dixon, and they are crcdite,
with runnin~ the whole line with Tho
exception OF twenty-five miles. II was
called for them "Mason and Dixon (
Inc, and received IT'S political promi-
ncnce at tho time of the great "Mis
sour Compromise - IN 1920, when John
Randolph IN famous speech referred
= II rs the bounda@y line between the
growing factions of the North and
South. Since then it has been an in
tegral pnrt Of history. The boundary
lInc between Massachusetts and Con.
necticut has never been accurately de
termlncd, strip of the Merrimac val
ley being IN dispute.
Vermont has no claim on the Con-
necticut river because The old grant
| OF the colony of New York defined its
boundary as reaching 'to the Connec-
bent. and Vermont was cnrvcj from
the eastern part of New York Virgin
in is in the same fix where the Potomac
iS concerned, the commission appoint ed
to establish her boundary line fixing
II on the southern bank of the river,
leaving Maryland IS dominion TO extend
over all the stream.
In the great basin between the Rock
les and the Sierra Nevadas lie the
ghosts of many dead lakes, Rivers
slll flow down To the dry edges of these
one time great reservoirs, and are licked
up by evaporation and the Chinook
winds. OF all the lakes that once Law
there only Great Salt Lake. Lake Tahoe
and Deer Lake are left. The Southern
Pacific rolls for lGJ miles across the
bed of what was once Lake Lahontan,
ana passengers gazing idly from the
windows may see the terraces and wrin-
kles in the crust of the fossil lake which
nature robbed and defrauded of lis
crystal treasures ages ago.
Akin to these ghostlike lakes are the
lost rivers of the Southwest. rivers that
How with all the swiftness and clear.
ness of other streams near by, then
disappear into The earth as mysterious
" as II they were spirit streams In
the valley Of the Rio Grande there arc
many httle rivers of this kind Just
south of Santa Fe is the River Uondo.
which flows broad and deep for many
miles, then suddenly spreads out over
a sandy PLAIN and disappears. A few
sight there is only sand as dry rs dust
itself. Some of these streams end in
tinJ bracklsh lakes. but most of them
disappear IN the sand beds. On the /,
coast of Mexico there are clearwater /
streams that discharge into the gulf !
from underground channels many feet /
below the level cf tie sea, auu these .
arc thought 10 be Inc same waters
that disappear further up in The States. /
In the valley between the Pecos and /
The Rio Grande. beginning near Sandia .
mountain, rs the bed of an old river
with all its tributaries, It's falls, its
shadows and Its fascinating bends 1t
IS 300 miles long and many feet wide,
but 1t is only the ghost of river, for
there IS no water there, 1t passes by
The ruins of Gran Quivira. its bed is
Strewn with broken lava and il termi-
mates in salt marsh. The Indians
nave legend that long ago the waters /
we're deep and swift there until one
lay great fire swept down the val
eyy tapping up the waters, leaving the
ocd empty, the banks barren and the
ialley desolate forevermore,
Crater lake. Oregon, is said to have
he greatest depth of any fresh.water
axe in this country. its maximum
)ly next in the entcrprising effort 10
END water down to qucnch the fires in
he center of the earth, for the measur-
ng lead shows l645 feet there Lake
Eric enjoys the distinction Of being the
'nly one of the chain of great lakes
hat has current, this being due 10 its
hallowness
The total number of navigable miles
# the Mississippi river is estimated at
'l6l miles for average steamers and
'23I miles for small steamers. All the
tributaries of this river combined
would make a stream l3, l60 miles long,
md steamer to traverse this would go
distance slightly greater than from
Scw York to Bangkok, by way of Lon
on. If it were pretty lively steamer
: could make such trip in about
fly days The Mississippi river dis
harges into the gulf 675. 900 cubic feet
T water every second, and is the only
iver IN the United States emptyinc