OCR Text |
Show THAT INVESTIGATION In l'elation to the Salt Land-. Arutiud Garfield Reach. The further hearing of the land contest caw, tbe United Suites aud Thomas J. Almy, Thomas iZ. Jeremy, Jr., and Levi Reed (trading (trad-ing as Jeremy & Co.), vs. Alfred Thompson, claimant, was continued thla morning at 10 o'clock, at the United States Land Office. The same counsel as before were again in attendance. When tne News weut to press yesterday afternoon, Mr. J. Fewson Smith, C. E., was still on the stand. In the course of further cross-examination cross-examination witness said that when his survey was made in October, ISST, there were three dams upon tbe disputed lands, and some six or seven upon those outside of them. They were what were called earth and brush dams, constructed by driving stout poles or stakes into the ground, weaving willows or other brushes amongst the same, and filling tbe Interior between the lines of poles with brush, earth, reeds, and bags filled with sand. The sand was hauled from a considerable dlstausv, in some instances from the shore of the hkc, tho mud In some cases being taken from the line of the dam. When he spoke of earth he referred to the immediate mud flats from which it was taken. The whole mass of what witness designated desig-nated earth was not mud; some of the material forming the upper layer of the dam had been hauled from the higher ground away from tbe dam. He knew this from the evidences of excavations made 100, 2P3,or20Qfeetaway. Hefoundthese excavations pretty much in all of the dams. He presumed they were there uovr. lie did not think he ever observed any grass, nuch as cattle might feed upon, growing upon the land in question. He did, however, notice, in p!aces,what was locally known as "squirrel tall" grass, annual in Its character; but ho had not seen stock of any kind feeding thereon. He thi? summer, when accompanied by Prof. Jones, on making an extensive tour of these grounds, and near what wes represented as tho "salt shute" (on a high po'n' of sand ridge), observed one solitary specimen of tbe scrub kind of sagebrush. sage-brush. That was on a high point of sand ridge, and It was the sole specimen they found upon the land. The deepest water he found in the londs during the survey in 16S7 was from -4 to C Inches. The rise and fall of the Great Kilt Lake was due to the rainfall which occurred In tills" region. Local or tcmjiorary oscillations in special parts nert due to the varying direction of the wind. He would not swear he saw the team hordes drink water flowing from the artesian wells on these lands; his impression was, however, that horses as well as men used the drinking water brought in casks. Some might have been taken from the wells. He did not analyze tbe water In the sliallow welhiand therefore could not testify as to Its constituent parts aside from its salinity. The water pumped into tbe ditch for the purpose of irrigating irrigat-ing the trees at (Jariitld Beach was obtained from a spring some distance dis-tance east of Black Rock, possibly one-third or half a mile, and one-third one-third from tbe shore of the lake, more or less. It was situated on what was termed salt grass land. Mr. Stephens Do you consider all land In the vicinity of the Great Salt Lake, which might, In stages of high water be at times overflowed, a part of the bed of tho lake? WitnessAll lauds similar to those in dispute certainly are, and even other lands submerged by the lake at each recurring rise of the lake must at lcast,for tbe time being, be considered as tbe bed of the land. Mr. Stephens Can any lands which have ever been at any time overflowed by waters of the Great Salt Lake, or of other salt bodies of water.be reclaimed? Major Bird We olject to that question bo far as It relates to other bodies of salt water, because It is notorious that the density and percentages per-centages of salt in that of the Great Salt Lake l so very much In excess of the ocean waters. Anyreference to bodies of water outsldo of tbe Great Salt Lake is wholly incompetent. incompe-tent. Witness said he knew of no instance in-stance where bodies of water as salt of .those of the Great Salt Lake had receded from the lands aud tho same had been reclaimed. In his judgment, lands of the character such as these woo Impracticable of reclamation uuder existing conditions. con-ditions. Mr. Stephens Assuming that water from the Great Salt Lake could be pumped or in some way gotten Into natural or artificial ponds ou other lands besides those n question, could not salt be made. My th e solar process? Witness answered tbat undoubtedly undoubt-edly It could, providing the bed and aides of such ponds wero sufficiently retentive to hold the water. In re-dlrect examination the witness wit-ness was asked, supposing all these Salt lands were enclosed in a fence, how many head of stock cctild be kept within that enclosure all the year round. Mr. Thompson objectol to the question as Immaterial and Irrelevant. Irrele-vant. Witness I think the number would be extremely limited and run tho risk of utterly perishing, i nere were not, ho further stated, to his knowledge, any minerals upon these lands other than saline. There was no coal nor Indications of it. This concluded tho evidence of Mr. Smith. Professor Marcus E. Jones was then rc-called on the part of the protestants nnd questioned upon certain points In the diagrams before the court. Asked as to what caused the rise and fall of the Great Salt Lake, witnecs replied tliat it was dde to the difference differ-ence In rainfall aud temperature, and upon these depended, chiefly, tho humidity and evaporation. Asked to explain the periodical rlrt) and fall or the lake, Prof. Jones answered that there was a general continuous rise of the lake from ISoO to 1S50, inclusive, and from 1SC5 up to tho present time. That he called "grand oscillation," and, speaking In verygeneral terms, he had been accustomed to call It the "thirty year oscillation." Taking any pait of thlsso-pal!ol'thlrtyyrar3 currr," It would be wen that there wa3 an oscillation within such curve, the crest of tbe first oscillation being in 1S57, and the second In ISM. That he was accustomed to call thc"uine-year thc"uine-year oscillation;" but though these oscillations were perfectly evident, they were not uniform cither in length or extent. Hence he had taken a general average from all the known oscillations shown on the mans. To other questions witness said tbat the rainfall of 15S9 was IT;,' inches or whereabouts, while that of 13SS wasa trille less lhau 1-1, and of lSS7abcutlll. Interrogated as td uow long ho thought the land in dispute or all of the land embraced In the Jeremy t Co. salt pond was likely to remain exposed or to be overflowed by the waters of the Great Salt Lake, Prof. Jones said tint, judging from tho lake's past history for many yeaw, It was not likely that these lands would be submerged or exposed for fjr any great period of time. Inthe pist they had been covered to the depth of a numlier of feet by tho waters of the lake, and had been exposed by the lake's surface being slightly less than an equal number of feet below tbe Inlet of tho ponds. The storm line was produced by the action of waves In throwing up upon the shore floating weeds aud bushc, Etick, and other floating material, which would necessarily be piled up and left there by the highest water occurring at that time, and could not possibly remain there had tho water been even higher than that at anysucceedlng period. Major Bird Could there I that difference, or even a greater difference, In the levels If the conditions of the lake were changed say that when your measurement was taken the lake was smooth and level and when Mr. Smith's level was taken there was a wave action or wind governing the surf ice of the Like or changing it. Witness replied there could, and more than that difference. A high northwest wind would drive the water of tho lake Into tho ponds before referred to, to the abnormal height of a foot or one and a half feet, and the wave action within tho ponds might make a possiblu difference differ-ence of a foot and n half or more. The character of tho soil underlying the salt jond". which Included all but a very small portion of the land in question Immediately underlying under-lying the salt on tho bottom of the ponds was clay, nearly saturated with salt. The clay varied in thickness; and at varying depths beneath the clay lay a stratum of clay mixed with sand, then a stratum of sand, thru a stratum of clay, and so on In varying thickness to a known depth of 250 feet. Msjor Bird Now, from these examinations, ex-aminations, how much, If any. of the laud in dispute is what might be termed arable? Mr. Thompson raised an objection to this question, as it had not been shown that the witness i as competent compe-tent to testify as to the agricultural character of this land, or its area. Witness said his understanding of arable land was that It was naturally divided into two clases, viz.: ordinary lands such as would Eroduce crops immediately Uion L-lug plowed, and cultivated without with-out irrigation, while tbe second subdivision of nrabte land was that which would produce crops immediately upon bting plowed ani cutivated, if itlmd a sufficient supply of moisture brought upon it by irrigation or otherwise. This latter lat-ter was commonly clashed as desert land. Whatever part, therefore, of this land could pcslbly pnxluce crops under this definition would be classed as desert land. That portion which could poffihly be so classed In this cae was confined to a very small area, say two aud a half acres, lying in the vicinity and to the southwest of tbeshauty now standing stand-ing on this land. So far as he could rememlisr, this particular land was made up entirely of sands aud was of such an uneven surface that it would be necessary to rake it over before water could be turned upon it, also to construct costly flumes to conduct (the water from the main land to the south of it. It would like wise require a very great quantity quan-tity of water .to irrigate, as thu u a-ter a-ter would sink immediately into the sand and flow away underground. The Inquiry was proceeding at the time the News went to piess, Prof.Marcus Jones being still under examination. |