| Show RINlKA6E OF REAT SALT LAKE AND ITS CAUSE Is the Lake Going to Dry UpProf Marcus E Jones on the Lake Surveys Measurements and Records I i On September 1st the writer made a careful examination of the old Ante Island bar which connects the to lope c Island with the mainland In order to l determine more accurately certain fads In the past movements of the I Jake and to obtain data for determln jng the average depth density etc of the hike Those who are familiar with the history of the lake know that on the actual elevation of this and the Stans bury bars hinge our data during certain critical periods lu the past especially I the height of the lake In IS 19 and 1877 1 The first recorded observations on the lake were made In 1813 by Foment In lUiSO 1 Capt Slansbury surveyed and chartedIt Again in 1SGO the King I Fortieth Parallel party rcsurvoyed the PI lake and charted it In the early seven 7 tits G K Gilbert connected with the United States geological survey began a observations and surveys which continued r y con-tinued with varying Intervals till 1S85 when he was recalled to Washington I In 1879 the writer began to study the lake and has continued without Inter iujitlon till now In 1889 Gilbert pub Hsnetl his conclusions I In an elaborate monograph In tut fall of 1819 or thereabouts Ktunsbury found that It was all dry hind bpI wer > n the south point of Antelope An-telope inland andthe southern mainland main-land with the oxceptlon of a little chan 1 nol six Inches 1 deep near the island and 1 about three miles from the southern point on the eastern side On October 1 I 19 1S77 Gilbert tried to plat the same i liar by soundings while the bar was under several feet of water and he I says that he readily found Stansburya IItill channel of twentyeight years be foco He doliMininod Its elevation to be u L ffci by the Garllcld zero This then I IH I the assumed elevation of the bar In m jSIO and Jlr Gilbert never seems lo I a have thought it could vary by an Inch On October 1 ISflU Capt Davis not D Le sailed over the Antelope bar In his yacht drawing three and onehalf feet of water and found four feet of water over the bar In the shallowest place The actual lake reading at that r j day was three feet above the Garfield L zero a difference of 22 feet The official ii offi-cial reading at that lime in calm 15 wcalhcr gave a difference of 1 foot fi r Inches It should be remembered that great care Is taken with the olli p I clal records to get the true level in Xi i calm weather so that If there Is a wind on the day of observation the actual y reading is disregarded and the average of previous reading each day for a I few days before and after Is taken instead a in-stead So we are reasonably certain that the actual level of the bar had I changed In fifteen years by 11h feet as i the yacht could not have gotten over U the bar al all had It been at the same In level as it was In 1S77 57 On September 11900 the writer found the deepest water over the bar to be 4 Inches with the gauge reading 1 foot 1 lnchshowlng that the difference was q then 4f foot between the level of 1S77 tin i and 1900 or 13 foot lower than In 1S77 but should be noted that the shallowest i4l shallow-est place had now moved three miles cs to the southwest and Is I noW near the l non them end i > rt HieHHlamli Phc old + s A shallow snot corresponding to Gilberts J and Stannbury8 channel l was about 2 I inches deeper Through the bar the 16 water was running at a threemile current In cur-rent lo the northward that Is from the ig deep part of the lake toward the mouth 1 o of the Jordan On September 13th the writer took a sample of Urn water from the lake I u r after It had been thoroughly mixed up from the deep part of the lake by a heavy storm and found It went 25 percent per-cent solid matter This I know to be a fair sample of the lake water at that time By applying the normal Increment Incre-ment due to the fall of the lake and adding It to the density found by Dr Gale In 1S49 we arrive at the conclusion that the lake In Stansburys time was 1 foot y inch higher than Gilbert assumed It to be Applying the same reasoning to data furnished by a sample of water taken from the lake In June 1900 by Sheley the bar should have been 1 foot 4 ½ Inches higher than Gllberts assumption as-sumption but as Sheleys sample was taken during a long calm period H may have been 1 per cent too high as tests made by me In the past show that difference I dif-ference between water near the shore live feet deep and water out In the middle of the lake Such a variance t I would make difference of a foot in the assumed height of the bar and as the I discrepancy Is only a foot we shall not be able to use the data of Sheley It should be stated however that we do I not know the exact date of collecting Gales water and as there was a difference differ-ence in the level of the lake that year of at least two feet his sample wan probably correctly taken and correctly analyzed FO that the error In the level of the lake at that time is probably Gilberts If wo correct the error In the lake curve requited 1 by our more accurate data now at hand we shall find that it Is not enough to require any marked change In the curve nor any change in + our conclusions as to the causes of the oscillations of Great Salt lake which are that up 1 to 1S30 or thereabouts 1 there-abouts the oscillations were due to climatic changes and that human agencies had Lot yet made themselves felt an as to be noticeable in the oscillations I oscil-lations of the lake At that time there was as much water flowing In the Jordan as now as far as can be ascer I tained At that time there was a small amount of water flowing in the Weber more than now Now there is practically prac-tically none Tlu Bear river had a large amount of water flowing in it all the year Since that time the great Bear River canal has been put in op urallon and has consumed an increasing increas-ing amount of water each year till it has completely changed the oscillations of the lake so that they do not respond to climatic influences any more The writer had hoped and was led to believe be-lieve from the past history of the lake that the opening of the canal would only affect the oscillations of the lake temporarily but It is now several years since this effect should have worn off I If it js ever to do so but the lake continues con-tinues to fall alarmingly and we have no reason to hope that with the canal running th < j lake will ever regain its old level unul l the annual rainfall exceeds ex-ceeds 19 Inches per i annum or more and the probabilities against such an increase in-crease in the rainfall are 10 to 1 It is almost certain that under present conditions con-ditions and present rainfall the lake will either dry up entirely or nearly so and In the near future At this rate there will be no bathing at Saltair In I two years and in three years the resort will he high and dry the water of the I lake will be saturated with salt and a I layer of salt will form all over the bottom bot-tom of the lake rile density of the lflke iK jovvJ2J sp CDl 25 pqr cent solid matter The actual saturation under normal temperature Is I 3L1 percent per-cent or a difference of only C per cent The theoretical saturation point of pure salt Is 34 per cent The results here obtained are none of them but the last theoretical all the others have been determined by direct experiment I on tho lake water this Includes den alty or specific gravity solid contents L saturation point Many tests have been made by the writer In the past on density covering many years but they will not be given now though Interest ing In finding the average depth etcH etc-H M e lake a fair average of the rainfall rain-fall about 1S90 and now the last few years wc find there has been an Increase In-crease In the normal rainfall of about two Inches which under normal conditions con-ditions should have raised the lake two feet above its level then but there has been a fall of the lake of three feet of a total shrinkage due to artificial causes of five feet In 1893 there was tin increase In the rainfall of o Inches which should have raised the lake three I feet but it actually raised it an inch above the year before In 19C there I was an increase In the rainfall of GVj I Inches which should have raised the lake several feet but the lake actually rose ibout three Inches During the present year the lake will fall about three feet It has lost In the last few years S000000000 tons of water that has gone up In the air and out of the great basin never to return In addition to the usual evaporation or enough to Irrigate 1SOO square miles for one year and have a foot of water left over for every square foot of the whole 1SOO square miles Fortunately we have i I sufficIent data to fix the responsibility for this loss directly upon those producing i pro-ducing it The question now is What are the people of Utah In general and Salt Lake City in particular going to do I i about it The railroads of Utah are I not going to stand Idly by and let I the greatest attraction of Utah dry up without fixing the responsibility and stopping It If there Is any law in Utah Salt Lake City will he very foolish if i It does not protect Itself for It Is the most directly concerned both In money and health as the exposure of the mouth of the Jordan will breed sickness sick-ness by the sewage germs becoming dust and uelng blown back Into the city by the prevailing winds and by the heavy alkaline storms which will pre j vail over the dry bed of the lake and cover us with alkali at times To the mind of the writer there are but two solutions of the problem shut up the Bear River canal and the extra use of the waters of the Weber etc or get water from without the great basin ba-sin by a canal from the Snake or Green river or both To close the canal means a serious loss to a large farmIng farm-Ing area To stop the extra use of the water means distress to many bonafide settlers and the whole means a considerable con-siderable loss to Utah in commerce The logical way to get water Into the great basin Is to compel those who have caused the loss to restore it by building a canal to bring in water from without If this Is not done then the city must do It or the Slate The loss of this water is an injury to the whole State as it will decrease the rainfall of the entire State and In the end ruin more farms than the Bear River canal can ever benefit This Is why the writer has for some time been quietly trying to interest the public in getting 1 water into the Great Basin It will not benefit me except as it i benefits the State as I have no ranch or farm to Irrigate nor any other special interest that would be affected The sources from which water can be brought Into the basin are probably three the Snake river Green river and Hams fork of the Green river The last will be the least expensive but Will not furnish enough water The other two have an abundance of water that will never be appropriated except in such a way The bugbear that Smoot has Invented Shy stopping the worlc by Injunctions will never material ma-terial le for the only people who might do such a thing are those of the Bear River valley who would never try such a thing for fear that their water might be confiscated If they tried to stop the repair of the waste which they cause In addition the water could be brought in in such quantity as to enable enough now farms to I start to repay the entire cost of the canalin a fewyears A wcanal the size of the Bear giver cofmroughT l to afford the water needed to supply the waste Any one of the proposed canals would enter the Great Basin byway 1 by-way of Bear River valley There might be considerable water brought into the basin from tho soulh side of I tho iJintas coming over Into the Weber river The expense would bo considerable MARCUS 33 JONES |
