USA > Utah > Cache County > Logan > Utah gazetteer and directory of Logan, Ogden, Provo, and Salt Lake Cities for 1884 > Part 24
USA > Utah > Salt Lake County > Salt Lake > Utah gazetteer and directory of Logan, Ogden, Provo, and Salt Lake Cities for 1884 > Part 24
USA > Utah > Utah County > Provo > Utah gazetteer and directory of Logan, Ogden, Provo, and Salt Lake Cities for 1884 > Part 24
USA > Utah > Weber County > Ogden > Utah gazetteer and directory of Logan, Ogden, Provo, and Salt Lake Cities for 1884 > Part 24
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MINERAL SPRINGS.
The mineral springs of Utah alone are sufficient to give her world-wide celebrity, were they advertised properly and made the most of. A painful indifference in this regard has made their reputation of slow growth, and to
175
UTAH GAZETTEER.
the present date no efforts have been taken to show that their health-giving properties are excelled by none. Not only are the waters from these springs recommended as excellent for drinking, but they are no less desirable because of their exhilarating effect upon bathers. There is no legitimate reason why, if proper steps were taken, the mineral springs should not yearly attract thousands in search of rest and health, while an industry could be built up by shipping to all parts of the world, bottled mineral water. Analyses show it to contain elements, the general effect of which is health- producing upon all, while in specific cases the effect is unsurpassed. As it is, they are visited more as a matter of curiosity than as a natural condition calculated to benefit mankind. The indifference of persons interested is something shameful. The same is true of the Great Salt Lake, of world- wide reputation, both as to pleasureable and to healthful effects resulting from bathing in its dense waters, and yet inadequate and few accommoda- tions are offered those who might reside months every year on its shore, were surroundings made pleasant and comfortable. The mineral springs are various: Salt, sulphur, soda and iron. There are, also, calcareous springs in different parts of the Territory, notably in Wasatch County, in the vicinity of Heber City, where the deposits have created a number of vessel-shaped calcareous formations, known as the "Pots.". Of the varieties of springs in the Territory, the most noted and the best known are the Warm Springs, within the corporate limits of Salt Lake City. The waters are limpid and smell very strongly of sulphureted hydrogen, and are charged with gas, as combined with the mineral basis and as absorbed by the waters themselves. Dr. Gale is authority for the assertion that it is a Harrowgate water, abound- ing in sulphur. Dr. Charles T. Jackson, of Boston, gives the appended analysis:
"Three fluid ounces of the water, on evaporation to entire dryness in a platina capsule, gave 8.25 grains of solid, dry, saline matter, as follows:
Carbonate of lime and magnesia, 0. 240
Peroxide of iron, . 0.040
Lime, , 0.545
Chlorine, 3.454
Soda, 2.877
Magnesia, 0.370
Sulphuric acid,
0.703
"It is slightly charged with hydro-sulphuric acid gas, and with carbonic acid gas, and is a pleasant, saline mineral water, having the valuable proper- ties belonging to saline sulphur springs."
It issues from the mountain side in large volume; temperature, 95° to 104°. The water is conveyed in pipes into two or three bathing houses, containing plunge, shower and tub baths and dressing and waiting rooms. The property is owned by the city, is connected with the leading hotels by the street cars, and is visited very generally, the waters being very effica- cious in the cure of many diseases, notably paralytic, rheumatic and scrofu- lous.
A mile and a half beyond the Warm Springs are the Hot Springs, which boil up from under a huge rock, forming a clear and transparent pool of a bluish shade. The water runs off into a lake, formed mainly by these waters, which is about two miles square. The temperature is about 1. 28, and the waters smell strongly of sulphur as they emerge from their cavern- ous source. They are not utilized for any purpose, though their healing properties are admitted by citizens, and the waters are often used in cases where experience has shown them to be efficacious.
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UTAH GAZETTEER.
About eight miles north of Ogden, on the line of the Utah and Northern, exist what are known as the Red Springs, which cover quite an extended area of ground. They are in Box Elder County, but the ride there from Ogden is very pleasant and through a most delightful tract of country. The water is so strongly impregnated with iron that verv little vegetation grows in the vicinity. They flow from the base of the Wasatch Range, at a tem- perature of 131º Fahrenheit. Professor Spencer F. Baird, of the Smith- sonian Institute, gives the following analysis of the water :
Grains to the Gallon.
Silica,
2.687
Alumina,
0.234
Calcium sulphate,
18.074
Calcium chloride,
170.498
Potassium chloride,
97.741
Sodium chloride,
1,052.475
Magnesium chloride,
8.167
Magnesium carbonate,
11.776
And carbonate of iron in heavy deposits.
The springs are in the hands of private parties who are making exten- sive improvements, and are rapidly attracting a desirable class of people anxious to profit by whatever medicinal properties the waters may contain.
Further north, twelve miles from Bear River Gates, is a group of springs issuing from between strata of conglomerate and limestone, within a few feet of each other, of which one is a hot sulphur, a second warm salt, and the third, cool drinkable water. The volume from these springs is copious, but they run some distance before they become thoroughly mixed, although in the same channel.
LAKES.
The greatest attraction in Utah, both for the traveler and the invalid, is Great Salt Lake-the Dead Sea of America. It is not the only salt lake in the Territory, but it is the largest body of water of the kind known in the world. The Sevier Lake, or Sevier Sink, as it is called because the waters of the Sevier River flow into it and sink and evaporate, is over forty miles long, by some eight miles wide; while there are a number of smaller bodies of water, also salt, in other parts of the Territory. In the tops of the mountains in the most delightful and unexpected places, lovely sheets of water are to be found. This is the case in the Cottonwoods in Salt Lake County, near Mount Baldy, in Beaver County, in the mountains east of Cache Valley, in Garfield County-where a beautiful sheet of water, called Fish Lake exists --- and in other places. The Bear Lake and Utah Lake are the largest fresh water bodies in the Territory, and they are so situated as to be sources of profit, while lending an enchantment to the scene that cannot be measured. The attention centres first on
GREAT SALT LAKE,
and retains of it the strongest and most lasting impression. The first men- tion of Great Salt Lake was by the Baron La Hontan in 1689, who gathered from the Western Indians some vague notions of its existence. He romanced at length about the Tahuglauk, numerous as the leaves of trees, dwelling on its fertile shores and navigating it in large crafts. Captain Bon- neville sent a party from Green River, in 1833, to make its circuit, but they seem to have given it up on striking the desert on the northwest, lost their way, and after some aimless wandering found themselves in Lower California. Until Colonel Fremont visited it, in 1842, on his way to Oregon, it is prob- able that its dead waters had never been invaded or the solemn stillness of
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UTAH GAZETTEER.
its islands broken. He pulled out from near the mouth of the Weber River in a rubber boat eighteen feet long for the nearest island, which, when he had climbed it and found it a mere rock, as he says, fourteen miles in circuit, he named it "Disappointment Island." Captain Stansbury re-christened it "Fremont Island," and by common consent such it is called. Captain Stansbury found neither timber nor water on it, but luxuriant grass, wild onions, parsnips and sego. Near the summit the sagebrush were eight feet high and six or eight inches in diameter. Concerning this inland sea are various stories; there is conflict in dates, but they serve to show the interest that has ever been maintained regarding it. Among other writings of the sup- posed inland sea, is one recorded in the journeyings of the company of Jacob Aston, in 1820, when a few of the party, under the direction of a Mr. Miller, came into Cache Valley, on which occasion that gentleman discovered the Great Salt Lake, to which the whole party proceeded, and finding the water salt they concluded it was an arm of the ocean. In 1825 it was again discovered by a Mr. John Bedyear, and again in 1831 by Captain Bonneville, from which circumstances the ancient lake, when defined by the United States exploring party, received the name of Lake Bonneville, a great fossil lake of the Quarternacy period, the shores of which may be seen on the mountain slopes throughout the valleys. In 1836, Captain Stansbury made an exploration of the lake. General Fremont also visited it in 1846. From this time this region ceased to be a terra incognita. But, in April, 1849, an expedition was fitted out by direction of the government, and placed under the command of Captain Howard Stansbury of the United States Topograph - ical Corps of Engineers. The results of this expedition were that a regular exploration of this region was made, a very large amount of information obtained respecting the Rocky Mountains generally, a complete survey made of the Great Salt Lake, and a report of the same published by order of the House of Representatives in 1851.
There have been many analyses made of the Great Salt Lake. All of them agree that it is a solution consisting mainly of chloride of sodium, or common salt. The sulphates of soda, potash and lime and chloride of magnesium are variously reported by different analysts, the variation in results probably arising, in part, from the difference of locality where the waters were obtained. In many results our lake water differs from that of other salt lakes. This may arise from the fact that it is the residuum of the larger ancient lakes referred to above, its soluble constituents being concen- trated and continually added to by the influx of saline springs and the drainage of a large mineral region.
The analysis given by Dr. Gale, as found in the Stansbury report, is as follows: One hundred parts, by weight, gave a solid residuum of 22.422, or in simpler terms, water rather more than 7772 per cent. solid matter, nearly 221/2 per cent. This solid matter was found to be :
Chloride of sodium (common salt),
20. 196
Sulphate of soda (glaubers salt),
1.834
Chloride of magnesium, .
0.252
Chloride of calcium, a trace,
Total,
22.282
The specific gravity of the water was then found to be 1. 170.
To institute a comparison, subjoined are the main results of several examinations:
Solid Contents per cent.
Specific Gravity.
Great Salt Lake water,
13.8
I. 107
Dead Sea water,.
21.0
1.116
Ocean water,
3.5
I.026
22
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UTAH GAZETTEER.
One of the most recent reliable analysis of the waters of the Great Salt Lake, by Professor O. D. Allern, of New Haven, gave the following results:
Per cent.
Chloride of sodium, 79.II
Chloride of magnesia, 9.95
Sulphate of soda, 6.22
Sulphate of potasia, 3.58
Sulphate of lime,
0.57
Excess of chlorine, 0.57
Total,
.
100.00
The following analysis was made by Dr. Smart, U. S. A .:
Jordan Water.
The Jordan River sample, which Dr. Vallum stated might be viewed as identical with that of Utah Lake, contained thirty-three grains of saline matter per gallon, the constituents being as follows:
Grains per Gallon.
Lime carbonate,
3.654
Lime sulphate, . 9. 184
Magnesia carbonate, 5.761
Sodium chloride, .
10.500
Silica, .
1.729
Iron and phosphates,
2. 191
Total,
33.019
This water was tainted with sulphureted hydrogen; it was also very turbid, on account of rain and snow meltings, containing twenty-one grains of sediment per gallon, mainly consisting of inorganic matter washed down from the mountains; and containing many diatoms and infusorial animalcules. Great Salt Lake Water.
The Salt Lake water, on the contrary, was clear and free from odor. Its specific gravity was 1. 107, distilled water, being unity; this density being given to it by the 10.683 grains, or nearly twenty-four and a half ounces avoirdupois of saline matters which each imperial gallon held in solution :
Grains per Gallon.
Common salt,
9091.0
Lime carbonate, II.9
Lime sulphate, 56.8
Epsom salt,
870.0
Magnesian chloride,
653.5
Iron, etc., traces,
Total, IO.683. 2
As these large numbers of grains per gallon present a rather vague idea to the mind, the analysis is herewith given in grains of solids per 100 grains of the water sample; that is, in percentage by weight:
Grains per Hundred Grains of Water.
Common salt, .
II.735
Lime carbonate, .016
Lime sulphate, .073
Epsom salt,
1.123
Chloride of magnesia, .843
Percentage of solids, . 13.790
Water, 86.210
Total,
100.000
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UTAH GAZETTEER.
The dry salt in every hundred grains contains:
Grains.
Common salt, .
85.089
Lime carbonate, . II7
Lime sulphate,
.531
Epsom salts, .
8.145
Magnesia chloride,
6.118
Total,
100.000
Thus, according to this analysis, the water of the Great Salt Lake gives nearly 14 per cent. of solid matter, or, in other words, seven pounds of lake water yields one pound of salt, 85 per cent. of which is common salt.
This by no means agrees with the popular idea of the strength of the Salt Lake brine. On the street any day, in discussing the lake question, we may hear the assertion made, that five gallons of water yield one gallon of salt, (that is 20 per cent. instead of fourteen as given by the above analysis). Yet this may have been the result of an honest experiment, but it is to be remembered that a measure of salt is not the accurate test of quantity which the above stated weight of salt claims to be. The crystal- line particles of the salt always preserving the same weight may occupy more or less space according to the mode of aggregation of their crystals. Every one knows that by filling a bottle or measure with a rough-grained angular powder, it may be made, when apparently filled, to hold an additional quantity by knocking it on the table so as to cause the particles to adjust themselves closer to each other and exclude air lacunar. And in this con- nection due weight must be given to the tendency of the human mind to exaggeration. On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that the salt water of the ocean is markedly less salt for miles around a fresh water estuary, and even near a coast line, than it is in midocean; and that in the absence of personal knowledge concerning the point whence the sample analyzed was collected, it might be possible that another sample less diluted by the fresh water inflow from the land would yield a large percentage of saline ingredients.
It has been claimed that of late years the rainfall on the mountains which dominate the Salt Lake valley has increased to such extent as to raise the level of the lake at certain points, and to flood parts of the country which in former years were dry. Were this so it would account for a diminished percentage of salt in the lake brine, but it is doubtful if the observations on which this opinion is based are accurate enough to sustain it. Rain gauge reports from Fort Douglas and city observers are of no value in the question for many a thunder-cloud discharges its waters into the lake by means of the mountain slopes and rivulets, without, as this present summer has demonstrated, giving a drop to lay the dust either at the Post or the city; while on the other hand, the slightest tilt of the lake bottom by volcanic action would account for a local overflow or an unbound margin, or an increased depth where the waters were confined.
The popular idea that the salt of the lake is a pure one, or consisting mainly of common salt, is borne out by the analysis, which gives 85 per cent. of chloride of sodium. Erroneous ideas as to the strength and char- acter of the Salt Lake brine have also been propagated by some of our best chemical text books-as witness, Brand and Taylor give the saline matter in the lake at 22 per cent. (authority not stated), or somewhat more than is claimed by our most enthusiastic citizens. The same passage states only 20 per cent. of the total solids to be pure salt. Imagine the chagrin, on read- ing this, of the said citizens who conceive that every crystalline particle which they see on the evaporation of the water is pure salt, without thinking
180
UTAH GAZETTEER.
of the presence of 8 per cent. of Epsom salt and six of the bitter chloride of magnesia.
The Jordan river carries into the Great Salt Lake ten grains of salt per gallon of water, which is no doubt owing to the concentration by evapora- tion which takes place from the surface of Utah Lake, for the Fort Douglas brook, which may be looked upon as an average sample of the mountain feeders of the valley lakes, brings down but half a grain of common salt per gallon of water.
Few of the rivers which run into the ocean contain more than one or two grains of chloride of sodium per gallon, but they all contain a much larger proportion of salt, lime and magnesia. Repeated analyses of the ocean water have shown the persistence of common salt carried down by the rivers, as also of the soluble magnesia salt, the sulphate and chloride ---- with diminution of the lime by precipitation. The same holds good in the case of Great Salt Lake; the common salt and the soluble magnesian salts accumu- late, while the insoluble lime salts are deposited at the bottom. In view of this it would seem that the waters of our Salt Lake are only a concentration of the waters of the ocean; and this is what the above analysis shows. The practical deduction from this (for which, however, I am indebted to Major Goodspeed) is that by diluting the lake water with that of the Jordan River the ocean water can be approximated, and such life as the ocean can support can be cultivated in the Salt Lake Valley, if citizens are energetic enough to mix the one with the other in due proportion, and stock the admixture with the oysters and fish required.
It compares with other saline waters about as follows:
Water.
Solids.
Atlantic Ocean,
96.5
3.5
Mediterranean,
96.2
3.8
Dead Sea, 76. 24.
Great Salt Lake, 86. 14.
And in specific gravity, distilled water being unity:
Ocean water, . I.026
Dead Sea, I. 116
Great Salt Lake, 1.170
-
TABLE OF ANALYSES
Of the Atlantic and other saline waters, showing the percentage of the salts and other constituents held in solution, from the United States Government Reports.
CHLORIDES OF METALS.
BR'MIDES OF METALS.
SULPHATES OF METALLIC OXIDES.
SOURCE OF SUPPLY.
REMARKS.
Sodium
Magnesium
Potassium
Calcium.
Aluminum .
Sodium.
Magnesium
Soda.
Potassa
Lime.
Magnesia.
Carbonate of Lime ..
Other Ingredients ..
Water ..
.
Atlantic Ocean.
2.6730 0.3229 0, 1290
0.0417
0, 1629 0. 1975 ..
96.4730 96.2300
Lake Oroomiah
Mediterranean Sea
2.9460 0.3223 0.0505
0.0558
0.1357
0.2480 0.0113 0.0004
Dead Sea, Palestine
12. 1100|7. 8220 1 . 2170 2.4550 0.0560
0.251
0,0680
0.0770
75.9440 79.4500
Contains
Salt Lake, Persia.
19.0500 0.5200
0. 1800 0. Sooo
Ferric Oxide
Great Salt Lake, Utah
II. 862S 1.4908
0.9321 0.5363 0.085S
0.0862
$5.0060
Free Chlorinc.
Sevier Lake, Utah
6.2300 1.0300
1.3400
.. 0.0400
91.30.00
UTAH GAZETTEER.
181
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UTAH GAZETTEER.
The appended is Professor G. K. Gilbert's theory of the ancient outlet of Great Salt Lake:
"Great Salt Lake has no outlet, and its fluctuating levee is determined by the balance between inflowing streams and solar evaporation. On the surrounding mountains there are water lines rising in steps to a thousand feet above its surface, and showing that in ancient times a great body of water occupied its basin. This ancient body, known as Lake Bonneville, was 345 miles long, from north to south, and 135 miles broad, and its ves- tiges are on so grand a scale that they have attracted the attention not only of geologists, but of every observant traveler. It naturally occurred to many persons to inquire whether the lake waters did not, in their flood stage, find an outlet, and several theories have been advanced in regard to it; but pre- vious to 1876 the outlet was not discovered, or if discovered its position was not announced. In the summer of that year I left Ogden for the purpose of seeking the, outlet at the north, and in a few days had the great pleasure of finding it in Idaho, at the north end of Cache Valley, the locality being known as Red Rock Pass. The circumstances were such as to leave no doubt in my mind that I had determined the actual point of outflow, and on my return to the East I made the announcement, without reservation, in a communication to the Philosophical Society of Washington. The announcement was also made for me in the same unequivocal manner by Professor Joseph Henry, in the Smithsonian report for 1876 (page 61), and by Professor J. W. Powell, in Baird's Annual of Scientific Discoveries for 1876 (page 260), and there seemed no occasion for further publication until the matter should receive its full discussion in the reports of the survey of which Professor Powell has charge. But in the American Journal of Science for January, IS78 (page 65), there appears a statement-apparently on the authority of Dr. F. V. Hay-" den, but without signature-that 'it is believed that the explorations of the survey, under the direction of Dr. Hayden, the past season, have deter- mined the probable ancient outlet of the great lake that once filled Salt Lake Basin;' and there is so much doubt implied by the use of the phrases; "it is believed' and 'probable outlet' that it seems proper for me to defend my positive assertions by setting forth the facts which appear to me to place the existence and position of the ancient outlet beyond question.
"If Lake Erie were to dry away, and a geologist of the future should examine its basin, he would easily trace the former shore line around it. At two points he would find this line interrupted. At Detroit and at Buffalo he would meet with narrow, trough-like passes, depressed somewhat below the level of the shore line, and leading to other basins. Following the Detroit Pass he would be led to the Huron Basin and would find there a shore line so nearly on a level with the Erie that he could not readily deter- mine which was the higher. Following the Buffalo Pass he would find a continuous descent for many miles to the Ontario Basin, and in that basin he would find no water line at the level of the Erie shore. In each case he would learn from the form of the passage that it had been the channel of a river, and in the latter case he would learn from the direction and continu- ity of descent, and from the absence of corresponding shore lines, that it had been the channel of an outflowing river.
"So in regard to Lake Bonneville .. To discover its outlet it was necessary to find a point where the Bonneville shore line was interrupted by a pass of which the floor was lower than the shore line, and which led to a valley not marked by a continuation of the shore line. These conditions are satisfied at Red Rock Pass, and, in addition, there is continuous descent from the Pass to the Pacific Ocean. All about Cache Valley the Bonneville shore line has been traced, and it is well marked within a half mile of the Pass. The floor of the Pass at the divide is 340 feet below the level of the shore
.
183
UTAH GAZETTEER.
line, and its form is that of a river channel. The gentle alluvial slopes from the mountains at the east and west, which appear once to have united at the Pass, are divided for several miles by a steep-sided, flat-bottomed, trench- like passage, 1,000 feet broad, and descending northward from the divide. At the divide, Marsh Creek enters the old channel from the east, and turning northward runs through Marsh Valley to the Portneuf River, a tributary to the Columbia. In Marsh the eye seeks in vain for the familiar shore lines of the Salt Lake Basin, and the conclusion is irresistible that here the ancient lake outflowed.
"At the divide a portion of each wall of the ancient channel is composed of solid limestone, and its flow is interrupted by knolls of the same material. It is evident, too, that the channel has lost something in depth, for Marsh Creek and some smaller streams at the south have thrown so much debris into it as to divide it into several little basins occupied by ponds and marshes. It is not improbable that twenty or thirty feet have thus been built upon the floor and that the original bed of the channel, where it crosses the limestone, is 360 or 370 feet lower than the highest Bonneville beach. Still we must not suppose that the floor of the outlet was ever 270 feet below a coexistant level of the lake, but rather that during the existence of the outlet the channel was slowly excavated to that extent, while the lake was to the same extent drained. This view is sustained in a very striking manner by the phenomena of the shore line.
"From the highest shore line, known as the 'Bonneville Beach,' down to the level of the modern lake, there is a continuous series of wave-wrought terraces recording the slow recession of the water. As many as twenty five have been counted on a single slope. Some are strongly marked and others faintly, and some that are conspicuous at one point fail to appear at other points; but there is one that under all circumstances asserts supremacy and clearly marks the longest lingering of the water. It has been called the ‘ Provo Beach,' and it runs about 365 miles below the Bonneville beach. When the discharge of the lake began, its level was that recorded by the Bonneville Beach. The outflowing stream crossed the unconsolidated gravels that overlay the limestone at Red Rock Pass, and cut them away rapidly. The lake surface was lowered with comparative rapidity until the limestone was exposed, but from that time the progress was exceedingly slow. For a long period the water was held at nearly the same level and the Provo Beach was produced. Then came the drying of the climate, and the outflow ceased; and slowly. with many lingerings, the lake has shrunk to its present size.
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