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Show SALT FLAT NEWS, JULY, 1971 7 Great Salt Desert (torn page 6) for the Utah State Road intriguing among our "finds" wu and his associates Commission to construct the accompanying map. In our progress across the desert, we encountered the ravages which mud, salt, sand, and thirst had made upon wagons and animals. In several spots we found the bones of oxen perhaps the very ones which James Reed had turned loose to fend for themselves when they became maddened from lack of water and, in spite of previous incursions upon the flats, we found some artifacts at the site of the abandoned wagons. Four low mounds still exist, and in them and on them, were pieces of metal, wood, and leather straps, all encrusted with salt and sand and most of them ready to disintegrate at the touch of a hand. Most a small spoon and a little compass, the latter so corroded as to defy almost all our attempts to open it. Both objects speak eloquently of the heartbreaking necessity for the pioneers to jettison their intimate belongings. We ended our journey at the Fete McKellar ranch where Pilot Springs still sends up a cool and refreshing flow of water. Although we were not parched as had been those early travelers who had moved with such agonizing slowness along their route, we were able to appreciate the drinks we sipped from the Bonark Wells." And looking back over the desert we had just crossed, we could understand something of the feeling of the pioneers upon finally arriving at this shady oasis. sun-bake- d Letters to the Editor (from page 3) Walter M. Katzenberger, former Chief Petty Officer in the U. S. Navy, U in charge of the Survey vessels and other equipment used in exploration of the Great Salt Lake. The vessels are the 42-foG. K. Gilbert, the motor dory, (Hyman, a and the Oolite, a lifeboat. The Utah Geological and Survey, in cooperation with the U. S. Geological Survey, has been underway since 1964 with a comprehensive study of the Lake. Study of the Chemistry of the inflow was begun by the U. S. Geological Survey in 1959. The Utah Survey obtained boats in 1965 which permitted observations throughout the Lake. The brines have been sampled at known locations both north and south of the Southern Pacific Causeway and the recent salt cover in the north arm has been cored. Clay mineral samples from the south arm have been studied from the mineralogical point of view and this study is the subject of a thesis prepared in 1970. Eardley'a work on Great Salt Lake sediments was published in 1938. Topographic mapping of the Lake and its surroundinp has been completed and quadrangle maps at a scale of 1 :24,000 are being published as rapidly as possible. Knowledge available in 1966 was reviewed in the Guidebook of the Utah Geological Society. Atmospheric and evaporation studies have been made and stream flow and lake level records re available for many years. Geophysical surveys have been made. In 1960 Eardlcy reported on a drill core which penetrated some 500 feet of Pleistocene sediments and recently he has drilled to 1,000 feet. The biology of the Lake haa been studied, though more work is needed on microscopic life and its relation to the chemistry of the Lake and to pollutants entering the Lake brines. Industrial use of the brines is entering a new phase; the effects of the causeway are being studied and a report published on results through 1969. ot 22-fo- 12-fo- ot al entire Bonneville basin has been mapped in varying detail. Geophysical surveys give indications of subsurface conditions and it is to be hoped that deep wells will penetrate the full thickness of - SELL - - - OLD PIONEER RELICS ANTIQUES OLD FURNITURE OLD BOOKS, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, POST COINS CARDS AND LETTERS WRITTEN BEFORE 1930 - e ADDITIONAL HOUSEHOLD AND FARM ITEMS NO OVERSTUFFS ' $2.55 FOR XF OR BETTER BEST PRICES FOR BETTER FOREIGN COINS AND MEDALS . j BUY We NO ELECTRIC APPLIANCES buy out old store items or estates FREE ESTIMATE GIVEN I i i T Quaternary and Tertiary sediments. The following is a list of published data by the Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey for the study of the Great Salt Lake and Western Utah. Considerable attention haa been focused for the benefit of scientific knowledge and economic management. It is my belief that researchers are, and have been for quite some time, busy at conducting fiill and complete scientific studies of the lake and all of the ecologic and geologic circumstances that surround the lake. These studies do how and will further bring to attention such matters as exploitation of the brines, evaporation invest igat ions and stabilization features. I know of several additional studies and investigations being made. Several technical reports as well as statistical summaries and of earlier reports are, at present, being conducted. Additional mapping of the area is constantly being undertaken. In general, it may be stated that the topography and surface geology of the Lake basin are well known. The bathymetry, sediment distribution, chemistry, birelaology and atmosphere-brinand studied been has tionship critical data assembled. The Great Salt Lake and the Salt Flats area, as well as western Utah, remain under constant observation by the Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey and investigative 'Missions" will continue. Refinements of knowledge are needed in many fields and the effects of everchanging works and products of man demand continuing studies. Sincerely, Carlton Stowe . Mineral Information Specialist Utah Geological and Mineral Survey BUYING SILVER DOLLARS PAY WAS HERE- - 120Y The Quaternary and older of the Lake basin and the geology : Write to J. L. Green, Gen. Mgr. Salt Flat News Contact 3&Jf Antique? 42 WEST 3RD SOUTH SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH P.0. Box11717 i Salt Lake City, Utah 84111 Phone 299 4504 I j or Evenings WRITE OR STOP BY 278-209- 2 |