Semi-weekly herald., 1909-12-06
uTAH's BIG SALT LAKE
is GREAT SANITARIUM
tBy william E. Curtis. CORES rondent
of the Chicago Recordlieta.lO

OF the Chicago Recofd-lio,a..lD
SALT LAKE CITY-Once upon a
time, before Adam and Eve wefs born,
there was great lake in ah, BAG
miles long. 145 miles wide. 2.2 0 miles
in circumference, 1000 feet deep, and
its level was just one mile higher than
tidewater in the bay OF San Francisco.
1t was about as large as Lake Michi-
gan, and about as long as the state
OF Illinois. The distance around its
shores was about the same as that
from Chicago to San Francisco 1t
was called Lake Bonneville in honor
of that gallant explorer whose wonder
full adventures in the west are describ-
ed By Washington Irving in fascinat-
ing book
| A river carried the overflow of Lake
Bonneville to the Pacific ocean. 1t
ran from Utah north through the can
yon now occupied by the Snake river
| into the Columbia to the sea, rushing
| by the place where the city of Port
land with its beautiful rose gardens
now stands. Possibly earthquakes or
| some other terrestrial phenomena
changed the topography. so that the
inlets and outlets of Lake Bonneville
became choked up; the rainfall di-
mnished; the summers grew longer
and warmer and gradually 1t was re-
duced to the present body of water
known as Great Salt Lake, which is
eighty-three miles long. fifty-one miles
wide, and at the deepest place thirty
feet deep. If its bottom were level,
1t would be fifteen feet deep every
where.
1t is the most salty water on earth
except the Dead sea in Palestine
There is one pound OF salt TO every
five pounds of water, which makes 1t
so dense that nothing will sink in it
except metals and other objects .pf
great weight. People who bathe al
Salt Lake, and during the summer
several hundreds indulge in that lux
ury every day, find it difficult to keep
their feet on the bottom. II is very
easy to float or swim, but when a
timid person first enters the water
the sensation is alarming, because OF
the tendency OF the feet and legs tC
let themselves 80 and make no mus
cular effort their bodies will lie upor
the surface OF the wate. Sc. Il iloat
about like a cork. The SAT- will make
their eyes smart. and wheno yer the
skin is broken or tender upon the bod.
there will be a singing sensation fol
a little while, but the action of tbs
water is healing and wholesome anc
bathing in Salt Lake is prescribed by
, physicians in Utah for every disease
that human flesh is heir to. 1t il
natures greatest sanitarum.
), There are no fish in Great Lake
Lake and no living things except tiny
shrimps about one-third of IN incl
long and some little crabs winch bore
deep into the sand
The scientists say that sail Lake /.
$4,000 years old, or, to put it different
ly, that period of time has elapsed
since Lake Bonneville commenced t
diminish by evaporation. This conclu
sion is reached upon the assumption
that the sun draws up into the atmos
nhpra So much watpr avary X,anr lae,
; the rainfall and drainage from tn,
watershed around it, Scientists ais,
say that there are 100000, 900 tons o
salt in the lake.
- For many years the water was grad
ually receding, and scientific men tolt
: us that the lake was drying up and il
so many thousand years It would en-
It tirely disappear and leave bed o
= salt lying on the ground dry as tn,
remains of Mrs. Lot. But to conrount
= the wise men, about four years age
the waters began TO rise, and the,
y have continued to do so until the leve
: of the lake is now about four fee
l. higher than 1t was when the bathin,
i pavilion was built at Saitair beach.
+ Nobody knows why the lake is act
ing in such a contrary manner. L
: has upset all the theories of science
n it has compelled the men who ar,
/ making salt by evaporating the wateI
I to spend a great deal of money NOV
!. ing back their drying pans; it ha.
l. compelled the railway company t.
;, change its tracks, and If the lax,
T Keeps on rising the waters will ulti
+ mately submerge the beautiful city o
d Salt Lake, as Sodom and Gomorral
> are said to have been covered by tn,
I Dead sea, although as matter of fact
J. there is no evidence that the Deat
5 sea ever drowned anything There
are no ruins under its waters; there
: are no signs of cities or the foupda
tions of buildings upon its banks
t while 1t is absolutely certain that the
A water has been subsiding gradually
! for several thousand years, and the