EXAMINATION OF WATERS OF GREAT SALT LAKE. 235 



The water of Bear Eiver at the head of tlie upper overflow is turbid, 

 and ordinarily a large portion of the mud would be precipitated in the 

 shallow lagoons which retard the currents near the river's mouth, a part 

 of it being again taken ui^ and carried into the lake during the spring 

 and summer high water. Curiously, however, these lagoous are not 

 permitted to serve as settling reservoirs during the spring and fall, 

 owing to immense flocks of waterfowl which keep the muddy bottom 

 continually stirred up. During a large part of the year, therefore, the 

 river is discharging a heavy volume of sediment into Bear Eiver Bay, 

 which in its upper end, on this account, has become very shallow, with 

 a bottom composed in the main of soft, deep, sticky mud. In a few 

 places the bottom is firm enough to support oysters on the surface, 

 but in most places a person wading will sink to the knees. 



The water in the lagoous near the mouth of the river ^is quite fresh. 

 An analysis by F. W. Clarke of the water, at Evanston, AVyo., showed 

 the following probable constituents in grams per liter: Calcium car- 

 bonate, .1080; magnesium carbonate, .0438; sodium sulphate, .0155; 

 sodium chloride, .0081; silica, .0070. The quantities are so small that 

 the saliuometer is not appreciably affected even at the mouth of the 

 river, where it must be supposed that the proportions of the several 

 substances, or some of them, are greater, owing to the leaching out of 

 the salt lands near the lake. It was to this locality that some of the 

 preliminary correspondence pointed as a favorable place for the intro- 

 duction of the oyster, but the observations just noted make it evident 

 that these waters are entirely without the pale of consideration in this 

 connection. It is probable, however, that the cat-fish might be intro- 

 duced here with considerable hope of success and a fish suj)ply of 

 some commercial importance to the surrounding country- might be thus 

 obtained. 



JORDAN RIVER. 



Utah Lake, which is the reservoir from which the Jordan derives its 

 main suj^ply, lies in Utah Valley about 40 miles south of Great Salt 

 Lake. It is about 20 miles long with a maximum width of about 8 

 miles, its dimensions being subject to considerable seasonal and non- 

 periodic variations. It derives its main water supply from streams 

 entering the east side of the lake from the Wasatch Mountains. The 

 largest of these is Provo River, which rises in canyons on the west side 

 of the Uinta Mountains and, breaking through the Wasatch Range, 

 empties into the lake near its middle, in the vicinity of Provo City. 

 Four or five other streams enter it from the east and south, but they 

 are very small, except during April, May, and June. Fed as it is by 

 a fluctuating supply, the lake level undergoes great oscillations, in its 

 turn affecting the discharge of the Jordan, through which all of the 

 surplus water is carried. 



The Jordan leaves Utah Lake at its northern end and soon after 

 passes through a gap in the Traverse Mountains at a point where the 



