Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1910-08-25
Great Salt Lake.

IOIllllS OulSl, dllu gradually uIlCu uE
from over thousand feet deep to fifteen
feet, and from eighteen thousand square
miles in area TO less than seventeen hun
dred.
II is now seventy miles long and about
thirty wide, but is beautiful still, and is
the home OF myriadS OF sea-birds and
other water-fow II is the great resort
of the people of Utah, for from three tC
five thousand visit its shores daily in the
summer, and many bathe in its waters
The lake is salty, like I'll lakes that have
no outlet. II contains about seven bill
lion tons OF salt.
When the lake is high the salt is so di-
luted that il has gone down to eleven pei
GEN.. When il is low, as it was noI
many years ago, it reached Saturatior
which for the mixed ingredients OF the
water is thirty-SiX per cent. 1t is now
about twenty-one per cent.
There is nothing mysterious about II
any more than there would be about a
teacup with teaspoonful OF salt in the
bottom. Ifa tablespoonful of salt were
put in the cup on the salt it would taste
very salty, but if the cup were filled to
the brim with water it would not
The salt has come from the water oi
the rivers flowing into it since it ceased
to flow from its outlet All river-water
contains salt, and the annual evaporation
of from two to five cubic miles OF this wa
ter leaves large quantities OF salt behind
and so it has accumulated for thousands
OF years.
Many years ago the great value OF the
lake in the study of meteorology was ap-
preciated, and so for over generation its
waters have been the subject OF most
careful observations and study. These
observations began in l843, and are con-
tinued today by Semimonthly obSeva-
tionS. Its oscillations have been tabulated
and compared with the rainfall, tempera-
ture, and so forth. 1t is known that the
lake falls in summer and rises in winter
and spring, due to the evaporation in sum-
mer and the rainfall and winter SHOWS.
Its annual rise is about sixteen inches,
and its fall the same. In cool seasons or
those with an extra rainfall the evapora-
ton will not equal the inflow, and so the
lake will rise more than it falls. II gen.
orally rises foot for every extra inch OF
rainfall.
A tabulation Of its oscillations for nearly
sixty years shows that these periods OF
rise and fall follow the rainfall and go in
cycles. Every two and half 10 three
years the lake will rise, and in the next
similar period will fall; then every nine
to eleven years there is still larger pc
Rod ; and every thirty-five years or
thereaboutS a cycle. In the grand cycle
the lake is about sixteen feet higher than
il was at the beginning, and then it goes
down TO the lowest again in the next cy-
Gle.
These cycles are found to correspond
with the periods OF maximum Sun-SpotS,
which are doubtless due TO the remark
able changes in the suns photoSphere,
causing abnormal rainfall on the earth.
Just now, and Tor few years back, the
lake has been rising from the lowest
point ever known. 1t is about eight feet
above the lowest, and will have to rise
eight feet more before it will reach the
height Of the year 1869. 1t is quite prob
able that the lake will rise several feet
more before it begins its downward march
again.
That it will never be as low again as it
has been is probable from the fact that
the government is bringing in water from
without the basin for irrigation purposes,
and this water will all settle in the lake
and tend to make it rise.
Some serious difficulties are arising to
two railroads that cross the lake from the
fact that the builders OF these roads would
not listen to the advice OF the men OF
science who knew the past history OF its
waters. They built the road-bedS i'm
properly and many feet too near the wa
ter, and consequently they are being
swamped and washed out by storms.
There need have been no trouble, for a
stable road can be built across the lake
anywhere.
The waters OF the lake are very heavy
and roll with lazy motion, but with tre-
mendouS force. A person can lie flat on
his back in the water and third Of his
body will still be above the surface; he
floats like cork, the only difficulty be-
ing that as his head is heavier than the
rest, he is constantly trying to stand on
if, which is not good tor his breathing ap-
paratus, since single inhalation Of the
salty water will cause serious, although
rarely fatal, inflammation OF the lungs.
The water is full of animal life, even
when it is at saturation; but the life is
confined to a little shrimp about fourth
of an inch long, and little worm, the
Iarva Of a fly which leeds on The shrimp,
and few species of alga, on which the
shrimps feed. No other living thing ex-
lists in the water, but these are enough,
for there are hundreds Of shrimps in ev-
cry bucket OF water. Except when milky
with shrimp eggs, the water is as clear as
crystal.