232 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



blending iu a manner which woukl satisfy the requirements so far as 

 the density was concerned. 



Preliminary experiments had shown that diatoms, which constitute 

 the chief food of the oyster, would grow in Salt Lake water when it 

 was reduced in density within the limits in which the oyster would 

 thrive, and it was believed that they would be actually found in the lake 

 under the same density conditions. This assumption was afterwards 

 verified by the investigation. Sulficient warrant w&s then apparent for 

 an investigation which, if it had no other results, would at least set at 

 rest any future agitation and uncertainty concerning the matter. 



The scope of the inquiry was enlarged to embrace the question of the 

 feasibility of introducing not only the oyster, but also crabs and fishes, 

 although probably nobody in the Commission had any expectation of 

 favorable results from either, and perhaps with the exception of the 

 writer none had much hope of a favorable report concerning the oyster. 



From its configuration, and from the information which it was pos- 

 sible to acquire by correspondence, Bear Eiver Bay was selected as the 

 first and principal j)oint for investigation, although, after the unfavor- 

 able result of the examination there, inquiry was directed to all other 

 places which offered any promise of success. xVbout three weeks were 

 consumed in the inquiry. 



In order to make the results intelligible considerable attention is 

 given in the report to a resume of the hydrographic, physical, and 

 chemical features of the lake and its drainage systems, as it is upon 

 these, rather than upon the imrely biological conditions, that the 

 unfavorable character of the conclusions is based. 



GREAT SALT LAKE DRAINAGE BASIN. 



The drainage basin of Great Salt Lake comprises about 54,000 square 

 miles, principally in northern and northwestern Utah, but including 

 also a small part of southwestern Wyoming and southeastern Idaho. 

 Practically all of the water discharged by streams into the lake is 

 derived from the eastern part of its drainage basin, where the high 

 peaks of the Wasatch and Uinta ranges interrui)t and cool the moisture- 

 laden winds and cause them to deposit their aqueous contents in the 

 form of snow and rain. During the winter great stores of snow 

 accumulate in the mountains to be released during the spring months, 

 and in some of the higher and more sheltered rayines snow banks per- 

 sist throughout the year. Owing to the late melting of the snows in 

 the mountains the rivers discharge their maximum amount of water 

 late in spring and the cumulative effect is to bring the lake to its 

 maximum elevation late in June. 



There are three principal drainage systems — the Bear, the Weber, 

 and the Jordan — all of which enter the lake on the east side. In addi- 

 tion, there are a number of small streams and creeks, which, in the 

 main, are more heavily charged than the rivers with saline materials. 

 Most of them flow from the Oquirrh and Promontory ranges. On the 



