Show geological survey wants information the present behavior and past history of great salt lal lalo 0 la Is attracting more and more attention each year and Is now th i object of a special investigation by the united states geological survey ahe unit ed states weather budeau tation lecorps le ie cords beginning in 1863 present a comparatively accurate accord of the levels of great salt lake dating back to the year 1850 in 1850 the lake stood at aft la ia the water rose to 14 ft di copped to 7 75 5 ft in 1873 and rose again to 14 ft in 1877 the lake then gradually lowered until the water mater stood at 24 ft in 1902 and 22 ft in 1903 since 1905 the water has gradually risen reaching the 6 ft mar mark in may alay 1910 the lake is now falling many millions of dollars have been spent in the construction of rail loads and resorts over or neat the shores of the great salt lake if any data can be secured which will enable one to make a reliable prediction as to the behavior of the lako lake ten years in advance the information would be of inestimable A value alue it will m ill be necessary to determine whether or not there are regular periods of wet met and diy daiy years also to determine dete the tinie time intervening between two wet and two dry periods to determine this point one should have pie records dating beck one hundred years or more taking foi example a forest trie tree which is some distance from a flowing floN ving stream and one anich receives no moisture from artificial sources it is bell believed eyed filat the annual growth of this atee would bear a direst direct relation to the of precipitation which fell during tho the cintel wintel just prior to atie growing season the amount ol 01 groota made each year may oe le by measuring tile the Knets of tile the annular rings ine i lie tempera tule tuie ane gi owing season would llave its effect upon tue of tae tree and ana it 1 ls tn eremie not ex 11 1 that ane data nom L tile the thiel bess uess ot of f ling v d give lecarus for successive bucce sive years it if hueie I 1 ia a lieeie vart vari in the annual precipitation it seems reasonable to believe tuat the ligh normal and low years can call bo be determined uhe lite forest service has extended its assistance in interesting in vesti esti gation by cutting a big tree lium the big Cotton cottonwood mood drainage 4 area r rea which lieb idoft ten tell nines southeast of salt lake city citi utah this tree is ia bet between tour four and five fine hundred years ears old A section will bo be cut and polished in biter tuat that tile the thi cliness of the annular lings may be easily measured A thorough tudy will be made of the filst sixty alln annulis ular rings and a comparison made the GO 60 5 car ichord of the th levels of great salt bait lako if a definite to ie lotion can call be determined showing that a certain amount of precipitation produces pio plo ducos duces a ring kofoet tain thick ness this i elation can jappu U itic 1 ed back to tile the c cen ent er r V and an all estimate thereby oi the annual precipitation for a period of four bundled to flae five bundled years an ali effort will mill bo be made to complete fa this study during the next months any ally information con Leining the plo pio gress of this work vork can call be secured by writing or calling upon U E C lahue district engineer wat ces branch dradi h U S geological survey salt lako cit utah |