Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-06-11
UTAH
By ]. H. Paul.


| raphy proper, little more should be
said concerning the geological basis
of our story--the mountains. rocks.
soils. mineral veins, and orc bodies.
In the school room, for the purpose
| of impressing the memory and OF
| arousing livelier interest on the part
| OF the student we treat these topics,
which would otherwise be dry to the
| average youth, as a sort of dynamic
| process of life, growth, and action; we
| appeal to his Imagination by referring
| these formative processes to the do
minion of the most active participant
In the work Since moisture is the
chief, though by no means the only.
agency concerned in the production OF
stratiied rocks, and generally, of those
mineral formations not more directly
due to the agency Of heat. this part of
the work of rock and soil making, Of
the formation of ore bodies, and the
specialization or accumulation of min
erals from aqueous solutions, we call
the reign of water" 1t is sound
pedagogy thus to appeal to the fancy
in order to fasten the attention of the
learner upon what we would have him
consider. Moreover, since
Men are only boys grown tall.
And hearts don't change much, after
all" 1t may be that devices OF
the classroom are suited also to the
mental attitude of the average reader.
THE MAKING OF MOUNTAINS.
AS is well known. the gradual loss
OF the earth's internal heat was the
efficient and common cause that fore
ed up the mountain chains by the
wrinkling or folding of the crust. The
one case noted of mountains formed
by the bullying of the upper strata
through the intrusion of rising flows
of granite-like substance Is an exoep-
ton While the mountains we're rising,
atmospheric forces were at work
wearing down the ridges and plateaus,
the water In some places cutting across
the ranges TO form the present canyons.
Biologists say that the amount of this
erosion in parts of Utah has been so
enormous as to be almost beyond es-
| tlmation, and this impressive fact
| calls for remark from the recorder of
geographical notes. King supp0ses that
| an extreme depth of six miles, though
| the average must have been much less,
| was eroded from certain sections of
| the Wasatch mountains, and the detrIt-
| us laid down as alluvial deposits that
underlie the soil OF the valleys. These
| layers of silt, sand, clay and gravel
| have thus accumulated In many of the
| valleys of Utah to unusual depths. The
| early government surveys reported that
| this soil" as 1t was loosely called,
| varies from a. few feet TO about 800
| feet In thickness in the valleys OF the
| Great Basin; but recent deep well bor-
| lngs are reported to depth of some
| 1000 feet, and stili bed rock" or the
| bottom of the ancient alluvial deposits
| has not been reached.
THE sTRATIFIEp ROCKS.
Whenever the eroded materials We're
| laid down In water, they were assorted
| and better stratihed; In time they solid
| flied into compact stona chiefly con-
| glomerate and sandstone both of which
are abundant In many parts of the
| state. LIMERICK, likewise abundant Is
also a water formation. II frequently
| contains shells and other coral remains
| that show IL To be a deep sea deposit.
| and hence more recent than most OF
our sandstone; though We have also
| much recently formed limerick. Some
of our sandstone. geologically ancient,
has been metamorphosed-c by
| heat into semi-crystalline masses In
| which the stratifcation revealing It's
watery origin Is no longer evident; but
most OF our stratified sandstone APP
| pears 10 nave Dcen OF toHlpdIhllNtlF
| recent origin. AT all events. IL is clear
that great seas and lakes have covered,
at different epochs, many Of our pres
| ent land areas; for nearly all rock that
Is distinctly stratified shows thereby
that It wac formed under water.
ABOUT MINERAL VEINS.
The mineral wealth. likewlse, for
which this state Is somewhat noted.
occurs I'm the form Of veins, beds and
| replacement deposits, all now believed
to be primarily OF water formation.
For each ore body consists OF rock
more or less impregnated with small
| quantities of the various metals Of
| commerce: and these metals or other
minerals are so disposed through the
rock substance that they are thought
10 be OF aqueous origin; due, that IL,
To dispositions from water driven
through the rock masses by internal
forces or percolatlnB downward through
them from the force OF gravity.
THE EARLIER THEORIES.
The exposition Of the earlier geolo-
gists, In relation TO the formation Of
mineral veins was a drNam-like COM
tbinatlon OF fact and fancy. They sup
posed that tho hot sea waters covered
the bed OF the first reformed rock re-
sultlng from the cooling OF the earth's
crust; that these waters formed tho
most ancient sandstone beds by
grinding up and then depositing the
rock materials over which the waters
rolled that while the primitive ocean
was hot, It's waters dissolved the me-
tails with which they came into contact
muuh more fns4ly than they nov do,
and that when these waters, charged
with minerals. sank into the rock, some
OF these metals We're deposited In the
form OF veins, much as salt or other
ninerals now crystallge out OF water
saturated with them This simple and