THE SALT LAKE.

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1303, 28 September 1883, Page 4

THE SALT LAKE.

w TlieLeadercorrespondentin America writing from Utah Territory says : — In the afternoon crowds, including Mormons and Gentiles, go to bathe in j Salt Lake. A light railway runs down to the bathing-place (20 miles) ; fare 50 cents (2s), and bathing-dress 25 cents. Over 1000 batheis went clown during the Sunday, and this, I am told, is the usual average during the summer. A t the bath-place, such a scene ! An old river steamer, the General, is fitted up with hundreds of boxes in which you dress and join the crowd of bathers, men and women all together. Some of the gentle maidens scorn the 25-cent bag-like dress dealt out to males and females alike, and bring their own suits, which are of the latest l-rench pattern, and attractive of a larger share of interest on the part of the non-bathers, who are accommodated with seats on the hurricanedeck of the old steamer. This Great Salt Lake is an extraordinary feature of Utah. It is 80 miles in length by 50 wide, and is 4200 ft above the level of the sea, thus being 100 ft lower than the site of the. city, and although pure and limpid, it is of brine so dense that five gallons of it evaporates to one gallon of common salt. A bathe on its surface is luxury itself. You cannot make yourself sink. At breast high it is all but impossible to keep your feet down. Up they come, and you swim about or lie on your back* light a cigar, aud revel in enjoyment. The place is becoming j a great summer resort for invalids and pleasure-seekers from the Eastern States. The surprising feature of the lake is that it forms the " sink " for the watershed of Western Utah. A half-dozen tolerably large fresh -water rivers are continually flowing '"nto it, ani there is no visible outlet. The geological theory is that the desert passed over -between Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Mountains was onco a large inland sea, of which the present Great Salt Lake is but the remains. Over 12,000 tons of salt are collected by evaporation process annually, and sold to the ore-suielters of Colorado, Nevada, Montana, and Utah at sdols. (205.) a ton. i i