SALT ON SEA 



5178 



SALTS 



(untile Institution. The state capitol, com- 

 pleted in 1915 at a cost of $2,000,000, occupies 

 a prominent position on a hill in the northern 

 part of the city. Other noteworthy structures 

 are the Federal building, the city and county 

 building, the Utah and New House hotels, Salt 

 Lake Theater, Holy Cross, Deseret and Saint 

 Mark's hospitals, Saint Mary's Cathedral (Ro- 

 man Catholic), the Union and Denver <fc Rio 

 Grande depots, fine office buildings, banks, 

 churches and schools. 



Institutions and Parks. Salt Lake City is 

 the seat of the University of Utah, which oc- 

 cupies a splendid site in the eastern part of the 

 city. It has also a state normal school, All 

 Hallow College (Roman Catholic), Gordon 

 Academy (Congregational), the Latter Day 

 Saints' University, Rowland Hall (Protestant 

 Episcopal) and the Salt Lake Collegiate Insti- 

 tute (Presbyterian). Here also is located the 

 state penitentiary. Among the largest parks 

 are Liberty (100 acres), Pioneer, Majestic and 

 Wandamere. 



Industries. Salt Lake City is an important 

 commercial city, the supply center of a vast 

 mining, agricultural and stock-raising country. 

 Its largest industrial establishments are smelters 

 and mineral mills, iron works, marble works, 

 sugar factories, canning establishments, flour 

 mills, woolen mills and manufactories of shoes, 

 crackers, cereals, chocolate and candy, salt, 

 pickles and soap. The value of manufactured 

 products averages $35,000,000 a year. 



History. Under the leadership and guidance 

 of Brigham Young, a party of. Mormons arrived 

 in the valley of the Great Salt Lake on the 

 24th of July, 1847. The city was organized in 

 1851 and was called Great Salt Lake City until 

 1868. The commission form of government 

 was adopted in 1912. The water system has al- 

 ways been owned by the city. Salt Lake City 

 is the birthplace of the stage favorite, Maude 

 Adams. S.H.C. 



Consult Powell's Historic Towns of the Western 

 States; Fohlin's Salt Lake City, Past and Present. 



S ALTON, sawl'ton, SEA, a temporary lake 

 formed in the southeastern part of California, 

 chiefly in Imperial County, between the Santa 

 Rosa and Chocolate mountains. Its basin is 

 about 500 square miles in area and is between 

 200 and 300 feet below sea level, and is be- 

 lieved at one time to have been covered by 

 waters from the Gulf of California, which have 

 since receded. However this may be, this low 

 area is now separated from the gulf by a broad, 

 fertile ridge, at the top of which the Colorado 



River flows. Early in the twentieth century a 

 company of American capitalists began exten- 

 irrigation operations in this territory, and 

 excavated a channel to conduct water from the 

 Colorado to the Imperial Valley. In 1905 and 

 in 1906 the river flooded the valley through the 

 canal, emptying great quantities of water into 

 the basin. It took many millions of dollars to 

 repair damages to property and to guide the 

 river back to its course. Subsequently the 

 disappeared through evaporation. 



SALTPE'TER, or NI'TER, a compound of 

 potassium and nitric acid, which bears a close 

 resemblance to common salt in its outward 

 appearance. In chemistry it is known as potas- 

 sium nitrate. Saltpeter is found native in the 

 earth in some localities in Spain, Egypt and 

 India, and in caverns in Kentucky and Tennes- 

 see. Large quantities were prepared from earth 

 in Mammoth Cave during the War of 1812. 

 A part of the supply for use in the arts is ob- 

 tained from these natural sources, but a much 

 larger part is made by treating sodium nitrate 

 with potassium chloride. 



Saltpeter crystallizes in six-sided prisms. It 

 dissolves readily in water, to which it imparts a 

 salty taste. It is a mild antiseptic, and small 

 quantities are sometimes put into brine em- 

 ployed in preserving meat. Its most extensive 

 use in the arts is in the manufacture of gun- 

 powder (which see). It is also employed in the 

 manufacture of fireworks and matches. It is 

 valuable as a flux in smelting certain ores, and 

 is employed so some extent in dyeing. 



Chile Saltpeter is a nitrate of sodium which 

 obtains its name from the fact that extensive 

 beds of it are found in Northern Chile and 

 Bolivia. It is also called soda saltpeter. It is 

 extensively employed in the manufacture of 

 saltpeter and as a fertilizer. Antofagasta is the 

 port from which most of it is shipped. 



SALTS, a name given to saline laxatives 

 generally. The more important are Epsom 

 salts, or magnesium sulphate, Glauber's salt, 

 or sodium sulphate, and Rochelle salts, or 

 sodium and potassium tartrate. They produce 

 copious bowel movements and have the com- 

 mon property of drawing off water from the 

 blood. In cases of emergency and in the treat- 

 ment of certain diseases these salts are pre- 

 scribed by physicians, but best authority ad- 

 vises against indiscriminate use of any saline 

 laxative. C.B.B. 



Related Subjects. For further information on 

 this subject the reader is referred to the follow- 

 ing articles in these volumes : 



