Page:The Overland Monthly Volume 5 Issue 3.djvu/72



marshy lakes. The waters' of these lakes are fresh, thus indicating the possibility of subterranean outlets. The saltness of the waters of Great Salt Lake, however, indicates that no such outlet exists. Four large rivers —the Jordan, Weber, Ogden, and Bear—pour their contents into this reservoir. The soil of Utah contains everywhere a slight proportion of salt, which impregnates, in an almost imperceptible degree, the waters of all these rivers. The evaporation, for ages, of the water of the lake concentrates the salt, and explains its saline character without the necessity of the theories of salt mountains, or springs, in its hidden depths. This lake was, in former times, of much greater extent than at present, covering a large proportion of the Great Basin, as is shown by the pebbly lines marking its former beach, more than seven hundred feet above its present level, and which stretch for hundreds of miles unbroken along the bases of the mountains. Mr. Clarence King, in his explorations during the year 1869, discovered and traced the former outlet of this vast inland sea, which was through the Snake, or Shoshone River, to the Pacific Ocean. Few places can vie with Salt Lake City in natural beauty of location. It is at the north-east corner of a valley nearly elliptical in form, about twenty-five miles in length and fifteen miles in breadth. Immediately behind the city, on the north and east, rise the lofty peaks of the Wahsatch range of mountains. This range extends southward, forming the eastern boundary of the valley, its highest peaks— within an easy day's ride of the city—being covered with perpetual snow. On the west, the Oquirrh range of mountains extends southerly, for some distance nearly parallel with the Wahsatch, but the two ranges, at the southern terminus of the valley, are only separated by the narrow canon through which the Jordan River

enters the valley. The Great Salt Lake forms the north-western boundary of the valley. Several large island mountains rise abruptly from the surface of the lake. From its great density —nearly one-fourth its weight being pure salt — the waters of this lake, viewed from a distance, are of a much deeper blue than any waters elsewhere found. The Jordan River flows from the south through the valley, the city being situated upon its eastern bank, and reaches the lake about ten miles northerly from the city. The Wahsatch Range, at several points near the city, is pierced by vast and rugged caftons, from which, fed by the snows upon the summits, flow the streams of water used in irrigating the land. The scenery in these cafons is of unsurpassed grandeur. A visit to any one of the half-dozen accessible from the city by a ride of a single day, will furnish an experience never to be forgotten by the student of Nature. i

In the northern portion of the city is a warm, saline, sulphur spring, possessing valuable medicinal virtues. The temperature of the water is 102° Fakrenheit. Comfortable bathing-houses have been erected by the city, and the baths are much frequented by residents and visitors. The waters seem highly efficacious for the treatment of rheumatism in its various forms, and for nearly all diseases arising from vitiated blood. The spring discharges a large volume of water, and, with increasing facilities for travel, will doubtless become a place of great resort.

The streets of the city, crossing each other at right angles, are 132 feet wide; the blocks, forty rods square, and containing ten acres each, are divided into eight lots, each containing one and onefourth acres. In the business portions of the town, these large lots have been, of course, subdivided; but nearly all the citizens own a full lot for a residence, which enables them to produce an am