The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1913-04-03

pear, this great lake has no outlet
whatever; the water either sinks oil
is carried of by evaporation.
In many places the lake il nc
more than three feet to the bot,
tom, yet its maximum depth Ii said
to be sixty feet. with a mean depth
OF about twelve. The color of its
water is clear, changing blue. accord
ing to the angle OF the suns rays.
The spring rains sometimes food
the rivers, causing the lake to rise
several feet and spread over i'm
mense tracts OF level saline plains
from which it again recedes as the
summer advances. It's blue and ex.
cessively salt water forms one of the
| purest and most concentrated brines
| known. It Is so dense that it Is said
a human body will float on It's sur.
face like a cork; the water Is sc
| buoyant that a man, stretched al
full length upon his back, can swim
with both head and feet above the
| surface. If the swimmer cares to
| assume a sitting position with arms
outstretched, his shoulders will bob
up above the water as if he were
seated in an armchair, and as 1t is
impossible to sink, all he need do is
to keep his feet down and his head
up.
| Swimming in that water is rem
| dered difficult only from the ten.
dency of the feet and lower limbs
to rise above the surface, while the
| head and shoulders seem inclined
to seek a lower plane. 1t is abso-
lutely necessary for bather to keep
| his head above the water. for the
brine is so very strong it cannot be
swallowed without danger of strang-
ling, and a single drop in the eyes
will cause instant and severe pain.
A bath in this lake is very invigor-
ating; however, the body must af-
terward be washed with fresh water
and soap to remove the clammy
sickness of the salt from the skin.
Should this be neglected the bather
| would within an hour present rep
| lica of Lots wife.
Fish brought down by the rivers
perish at once in the concentrated
brine. No living creature, save the
| myriads of brine shrimp, has ever
been found in those salt waters, al
though immense f1ocks of beautiful
gulls, wild ducks, pelicans, geese
and swans frequent its shores and
islands. affording CINE hunting
grounds for sportsmen. Just thirty
eight miles southeast lies Utah Lake,
body of fresh water over thirty
miles long, and one hundred feet
higher than Great Salt Lake, into
which it flows through the little Riv-
er Jordan. Utah Lake abounds
with fish of many varieties.
Much of the country for miles
around this inland briny sea is des-
olate and barren, no vegetation be-
ing visible-only great stretches of
white salt plains. The lands in the
almost imperceptibly to a base of
crusty salt-fakes and sand. Vast
fields of crystalized scalt can be
found on these barren deserts, whose
white surface in the sunlight re-
fleets a brilliance almost too daZ-
cling for the eyes. Salt, to some ex-
tent, has been gathered from these
shores since 1S48, and ten years ago
there were nearly half a million bar
rels harvested in one season, form
ed solely by solar evaporation. Salt
works at that point now manufac-
ture annually about sixty million
pounds, for which they realize $780,
900.
This great lake, in geologic ages,
is supposed to have occupied an
area whose length was fully five
hundred miles, and breadth over
three hundred. By the gradual up
heaval of the land in the bottom,
the waters have by slow degrees de-
clined into the lowest part of the
great basin. 1t is claimed by geol-
ogists that the lake has already
lost nineteen-twentieths Of its an
cient dimensions, and is now six
hundred feet lower than it once was.
Opinions have been expressed that
the process Of moisture exhaustion is
going on at rate of one mile in
twenty years. It's gradual rise was
first noticed about sixty years ago,
and as it is still rising, it is be-
lieved that in the course of time
this wonderful lake will have en-
tirely dried up, and its broad bot
tom be converted into an extensive
ranch.
Baron La Hontan, in 1859, gath
cred a vague idea of this marvellous
body of water from western Indian
tribes. though the weird accounts
they impaired. and the strange and
exaggerated stories related about
the briny sea and its sun-baked des-
ert. gave a very indefinite conception
of Just where and what it really
was. Many years elapsed before
true knowledge of the place was
learned. It first bore the name OF
Lake Timpanagos, and was fol-
long supposed to have an outlet into
the Pacific.
In 1s43, after Colonel Fremont