Evening star., 1936-08-02
Romantic Story of the
Lost Lake Uinfa.
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

some years has raised the question of
whether there is to be a permanent
change in the climate and landscape of
that region. Fears have been expressed
that the dry weather and the duStStorms
will cause vast square mileageS of West
ern States to become desert Such
changes do not take place with great
rapidity. The mills of the gods grind
slowly. Usually there are cycles of
change and swings back and forth Dry
periods have been known in the West
in the past, only to be succeeded by WELL
watered periods.
We do know, however, that profound
changes have taken place There re-
main records of the ice age in which
the ice cap, or at least glaciers pro-
truding southwark from the ice cap,
reached as far south as New Jersey. The
coal beds and the petroleum sands in
which American territory is rich tell of
long-pa period when tropical vegeta.
ton covered much of the land.
There Is no more fascinating story OF
earlier times than the story of the long
lost Lake Uinta. 1t was not called Lake
Uinta when 1t existed. 1t probably was
not called anything, because it is by no
means certain that there were any men
here to give it a name. The name has
been applied by moderns because the
lake occupied part of the region which,
within historic times. was the range of
the Uinta tribe of Indians The lake
was in the northern part of Utah and
Colorado, the north and south State line
about evenly dividing it. 1t was about
the length of Lake Ontario but wider
IN places 1t was in existence some
100000 years but has been out of
existence, as lake, for longer period.
Or. Wilmot H Bradley of the United
States Geological Survey has made a
special study of Lake Uinta and is able
to read its history like book. Indeed,
he uses that figure of speech himself
because he notes that the geologic layers
deposited by the lake are very like the
leaves of book These leaves now are
rock, ages old, but the skilled geologist
can turn the pages and read the story
Of millions of years ago.
The formation of the lake was gradual.
To the northward rose the high Uinta
Range Of mountains. The climate was
warmer in those days and the region
much better watered Streams flowed
down from the Uinta Range onto the
plain in which there were hollows. These
hollows filled and became fair-Sized
lakes. For long period there was a
general Subsidence of the whole region
due to seismic and other geologic action.
This resulted in the filling of the whole
broad region. the smaller lakes Joining in
one wide eXpanse Of water.
The geologic remains reveal that huge
ferns Of tropical variety grew on the
shores of this lake. Palm trees were
there and the mimosa. Farther from
the shore. on the slopes were naples,
oaks, hickories. while still farther back
grew pines and other evergreens.
The insect life was especially rich.
Caddice flies, craneflies, midges, beetles,
crickets and grasshoppers were present,
and there were mosquitoes and gnats
and larger flies. somewhat suggestive of
the modern horsef1y, which were capable
of biting savagely. Spiders and cock
reaches were there and. in the geologic
remains, there has been found what Dr..
Bradley calls Americas Oldest louse.
1t is likely that at certain periods of
the lakes existence these innumerable
insects kept many animals away. There
were crocodileS, however and land tor
toiSes of huge size, somewhat like those
of Galapagos. There were turtles and
snakes. Water birds dwelt by the lake
side and other varieties, too, were pres
ent.
Fish were plentiful and a mysterious
fact is that there were both fresh and
salt water fish existing, apparently, con-
temporaneouSly. This suggests that there
may have been some connection, subter-
ranean probably. with the Pacific Ocean.
Herring and such salt water fish of the
type which go upstream long distances
to spawn have been found in the bed
of Lake Uinta.
The later history of the lake is the
best written. Because of the warm cli-
mate, the lake became the breeding
place of vast numbers of marine micro
organisms They furnished abundant
food for the fish but, in the end, they
became so abundant that the fish could
not devour them. They died and sank
to the bottom. Each year is marked with
microscopic creatures. A single one
might be too small to see with the naked
eye, but they died in such numbers that
they created these layers. Even so. the
layers were so thin that the deposits of
1900 years were required to make one
foot's thickness.
In the latter aeons new viciSsitudeS
came to Lake Uinta. Volcanic activity
appears to have taken place in the
neighboring mountains. Great clouds Of
volcanic dust settled over the lake re-
gion. Moreover, at about the same time.
the lake bed ceased to sink. So 1t was
inevitable that the lake should become
shallow. At this period there seems
to have been no outlet. Rains became
infrequent, too. This caused progress
Sive lowering of the lake level through
evaporation, and the time came when
the geologic pages show that, instead of
clear expanse of water, the lake had
become little more than a vast Shiny
morass.
Fish could no longer survive. They
died and became embedded in the slime
to write their own part on the geologic
pages Billions of insects died in the
slime, too, and became fossilized.
Then came the last chapters of the
story of Lake Uinta. Another alteration
in climate occurred. The rains came
again and ref1lled the lake. AS the bed
had been raised by the centuries OF
deposits, the fresh rains and the re-
reued streams caused the level tn rise