| OCR Text |
Show UNTRODDEN GRODND. The Laud ContKt Inquiry Besnmed TMs Horning. A FRESH WJTXESS CALLED. lie Talcs a Slight Departure frtra the Beaten Track. The Wach lands contest case, which has now been In progress Jut a fortnight, was continued this morning at the United Slates land office. At the close of our report yester-dayaftcrnoon yester-dayaftcrnoon Mr. Ohad A. Palmer, mining engineer, was under cro-s examination by Attorney Stephens, who called the witness' attention b that portion of his evidence wherein he stated that he did not think It practicable to reclaim the highe portions of the land in dispute, shown upon the exhibit as sand bars, Islands, or the land east of the salt ponds and In the southeast corner of section 21, for the reason that the water lay too el we to tl e surface, and that the soil was almost saturated with salt and alkdine so-iutloni. so-iutloni. He now wished to know how tho wltneu arrived at Uie con elusion that the land in tho Immediate Im-mediate vicinity of the shanty, for iastau;o, wai saturated with alkaline alka-line solutions'? Witness replied from the Incrustations Incrus-tations cm the surface and irom the character of tbe sol) coming from holes dug in that viclnltr. R,L no chemical analysis, but examined the soil by taking it in his hands and touching his tongue with it. This Bve strong evideuce or salt and alkalies. He aid not examine tbe water in the wells other than "by tastiuglt. He had not made a study of the rise and fall of the Great Salt Lake, and all he knew or the oscillations oscilla-tions of the lake were such as bau como to bis knowledge in a general way. It was a certain thing that if tbe dam were removed all tht-water tht-water In the pond could not dnln out, because the sand bar at the south Inlet was, at least, hall a loot higher than portions of the present bottom of the big pnd on the land in dispute. Were it not for the sand bar between the "big dam" and the lake, tho water of the lake woulJ recede from these ponds or inlet after stages of high water, ju.-ta-It receded rrom the shores all along the lake. There had pnbably been little, if atiy, change In ttie line of salt or water In the pondssince 1SS7, Any salt in water, he shoupl nay. rendered tbe latter detrimental to vegetation, but what percentage of salt In water would actually destroy vegetitlon would be best determined by experiment. He had never made such experiment himself, He did not know what percentage of salt there was In the artesian wells of whi.-h behal testified, but he thus based bis opinion: that the water was too salt for irrigation that upon attempting to drink it he found it so salt as to be nauseating, and he did not Lelieve that such water cuuld be successfully employed em-ployed In irrigation. Upon Lands -uhject to desert entry the finest hind of bunch grass iti connection with sge brush was found. Mr. Stephens Take the first section sec-tion of laud susceptible of reclamation reclama-tion east of tbe lanJs in question, would you want to put five bead of cattle of your own thereon and leave them there a year, with no other feed than what they could obtain ob-tain from It? Witness If I bad the Ave head! would Ire willing to try It. Ml'. Stephens xou would want the privilege of removing them before be-fore the end of the year, would you nul? -. Witness No, as an experiment X uould let them light it out. (Laughter.) (Laugh-ter.) Mr. Stephens I am afraid that tho statute against cruelty to animals ani-mals would beeuforco-i! Witness, asked as to tho value of the "shanty," so called, erected on Messrs Jeremy & Co's land, replied The value of that house, erected in that place, ana juJgiug by the costnf liuiiding today, would bo at least $250. Mr. Stephens If the waters cf tbe Ureat nalt Lake Were pi)ed on to a ten acre tract of Liberty Park and there allowed to evatiorate, leaving an incrustation of salt, a-ouIJ that make that portion of the Park saline lands within the moa-Ing moa-Ing of the United States law? Major Bird protested against the question for several reasons. Witness Intime itmiglit be converted con-verted into artificial saline lands. Mr. Stephens In so far, if it be true, that salt water has been artificially rctaIned;unon the lands in question, ju-t so far they are artilicl illy saline, are they nul? Mtjor Bird objected to the question, ques-tion, as calling tor a hypothetical conrluslon by the witness. Witoesi answered in the affirmative, affirma-tive, but stated that in this case it would bo naturally saline land artificially intensified. Mr. Stephens Dj you regard the shores of the Great Salt Lake from which the water has receded, leav. log no pouds, as you term them, but where the slope la gradual gradu-al to the water'a edge, as saline sa-line lands? If so. how far liack from the shore are the lands siline? The question was objected to. Witness In places they would undoubtedly be saline, and the distance dis-tance they would extend back from the shore would depend upon tbe natural reclamation which bad gradually in ages past taken place. Mr. Wm. E. Langford, farmer, North Point Ward, this city, was the witness called this muraiug. He said he was formerly engaged with his brother and J. B. Meredith Mere-dith in the manufacture and gathering gath-ering or salt on tbe 1 orders of tbe Great SaltXake. Ue bad gathered salt upon the same lands as were now occupied by Jeremy & Co., to whom he and his partners sold the occupancy by del and certificate. The deed was put in. It showed up-n Itsfacethatthe firm of Langford and Meredith quit claimed certain lands embraced within tbe Jeremy & Co. salt ponds, including the lands now in dispute, for the con slderation of$4,500, paid by Jeremy & Co. Mr. Stephens here objected to the introduction in evidence of the deed and receipt, for the reason that tbey were not material to the isue. Witness further said twenty-two or twenty-tbree years had passed since he first gathered salt from the pouds on the land iuquestion. Tbe dam across tbe south inlet of the disputed land was constructed in 1879 by himself, his brother and Meredith. Silt was deposited and gathered from this land prior to the construction of dams upon the same. Hie "Big Dam" was built for the purpose of controlling tho waters Tbe ponds were natural ponds before any work was ever done upon them. The waters from which the salt was manufactured flowed in Irom tho Great Salt .Lake. The lake had been at different levels since witness had known it. Witness' Wit-ness' farm wa located directly on the banks of the Jordan river, almost al-most directly east of tbe land in dispute, dis-pute, from which it was distant about twelve miles, and he used the waters of tbe Jordan for irrigation. Witness was well acquainted with the lands between the Jordan and those now in dispute. Major Bird And has 'anyone, to your knowledge, ever been able to reclaim and render valuable for agricultural ag-ricultural purposes any of the salt sloughs within thatarea? Witness answered In the negative. nega-tive. Major Bird From your knowledge knowl-edge if the agricultural lanJs aha your cultlvatlrs of the same by IrrI gatlin, what is your opinion of tbe liofBibilityof reclaiming the lands In dispute? ., Mr. Stephens I object to that question, for the reason that no rsiaia - foundation is laid for tho witness' Sg?0 tathefelamat!onorthe ". A5n might farm la, din certain portions of the Territory all his life and still not have any ex- i.r,. aUuo Iq character. intpunanyoi the laudsTow ?n lue cross-examination of the Questioned as to by what might he noS. "in 'y C,?,,meU tb0 tCtor land now In question, witness replied- TOWT' dtePuel"-In what way did you have powsslon of this trait ex-tending ex-tending one and threc-ftmrtbsmiles long the lake shore, and In LonS portions one and a quarter miles oack rrom the shore. W WltutB We considered the Ia-or Ia-or we did there, and theTimprovc-meuts theTimprovc-meuts we had on there, Justified us right? g htm b "Iter's ,,,".,'WiiWhat w.ere U,e 'niprove-uieuu 'niprove-uieuu they made there, witness Id they built the levees; they had a house there,a few thou-iud feet of lumber and tools belonging to the alt busines-5 they had iyeutsome ?uy lu,.n"1.I1S -on roads for oauliug salt, and had also made an application to ascertaiu in what li. .couIli,a,'lulrB mi to the Tuey ,iTwl ln the house all the time they were out there. Uo w, tanning uu his land on Jordan Jor-dan rtiver all Una time, thu crop .?aB rra,n Potatoes, fruit, aud alfalfa. They worked at the salt business trttty nearly the whole season, simultaneously. Mr. Stephens After putting In the dam wnen you took possesion of tho land you had tu wait until the water had evajorated somewhat before you could cut salt, had you not? Witness replied yes for some few weeks. His cross-examination was still going on when the Xbws went to press. |
