SALT LAKE CITY. 



425 



Pennsylvania to the Mississippi in the Lower Coal 

 measures, while in Louisiana beds of rock salt occur 

 in the Tertiary. The salt district of Pennsylvania 

 is found along the Allegheny and other rivers of the 

 western part of the State. The yield of those wells 

 was over 1,000,000 gallons in 1860, but has declined 

 since. West Virginia has important deposits in the 

 valley of the Great Kanawhn, which in 1870 yielded 

 4,633,750 bushels, though the yield here too has 

 fallen off. In 1887 it was estimated at 1,125,000 

 bushels. In Southwest Virginia beds of rock salt 

 occur, and there are brine wells of no great import- 

 ance in this State and North Carolina. Ohio pos- 

 sesses some important wells, which in 1887 yielded 

 1,125,000 bushels. But the most important of our 

 salt-yielding States is Michigan, whose salines are 

 of remarkable richness. The wells of this State lie 

 in the vicinity of Saginaw Bay. They seem inex- 

 haustible in supply, and have been opened in con- 

 siderable numbers, many of them being sunk to a 

 depth of more than 1000 feet below the surface level 

 of Lake Michigan, and some to 1900 feet. The 

 Michigan wells yielded in 1870 3,106,760 bushels, 

 in 1880 12,425,885 bushels, and in 1887 19,721,545 

 bushels. This very rapid development is due to 

 the great strength of their brine, which is twice 

 that of the New York wells, and more than twice 

 that of the other States mentioned. The cheapness 

 of fuel is also an important item. It is to this 

 unequal competition with Michigan, and with the 

 equally rich brines of Goderirh, Canada, that the 

 falling off in the produce of New York, West Vir- 

 ginia, Ohio, and other States is due. 



Saline springs and salt wells are common in the 

 valley of the Mississippi, being found in Illinois, 

 Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee. West of the 

 river they occur in Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska, 

 and Kansas, the latter State having valuable saline 

 springs, rich in salt, in the valley of Solomon River. 

 In Louisiana salt is also abundant. In the north- 

 western part of the State are the " licks," so named 

 from the habit of forest animals to resort there to 

 lick the salt. They consist of springs of weak brine. 

 Near the Gulf border of the State, on an island in 

 a sea marsh near New Iberia, named Petite Anse or 

 Avery's Island, is an immense deposit of rock salt 

 of unusual purity. This salt is mined by the aid of 

 a shaft sunk to the depth of 190 feet, and passing 

 through 165 feet of solid salt. From the shaft 

 chambers extend in various directions, they being 

 35 to 40 feet wide, and 65 feet high. Above them 

 is a roof of rock salt 55 to 60 feet thick which is 

 supported by columns of salt 42 feet square. The 

 area of the mass is 144 acres, and its quantity of salt 

 is estimated at 28,600,000 net tons. The production 

 has increased from 2"). 550 tons in 1882 to 47,750 tons, 

 valued on the spot at $118,735, in 1887. 



Through Kansas, Western Arkansas, Indian Ter- 

 ritory, Northwest Texas, New Mexico, and Utah, 

 extends a vast plain of Cretaceous age, in nearly 

 every part of which salt lakes and incrustations 

 appear along with vast masses of gypsum. Of these 

 lakes much the most extensive and famous is Great 

 Salt Lake, about 75 miles long and 30 wide, its 

 waters containing 20.2 per cent, of common salt and 

 2 per cent, of other salts. Northward from this 

 region, in the Rocky Mountain district, salt springs 

 occur, and beds of rock salt of great extent and 

 purity are reported'in the Yellowstone Valley. In 

 the southern part of Utah large deposits of rock salt 

 are said to exist, their supply practically unlimited. 

 Nevada is credited with deposits of extraordinary 

 extent. On Virgin River, in the southeast part of 

 the State, there is a bed of rock salt resting on 

 granite which is said to extend as a bluff for more 

 than 25 miles along the. river, being in some places 

 several hundred feet high. More than 60 per cent. 

 of the entire cliff is rotek salt of a purity of 90 per 

 VOL. IV J B 



cent. This remarkable outcrop is of a pale green 

 color and ice-like transparency. Further up the 

 river, on its west side, is a less extensive salt hill of 

 a dazzling while color. These beds are not yet 

 worked, the salt needed being obtained from saline 

 springs and from an extensive saline marsh which 

 deposits an incrustation of impure salt as fast as it 

 is removed, several crops being obtained in a year. 

 This is used in metallurgical processes. In Eastern 

 Arizona is a shallow salt lake whose salt is precipi- 

 tated by evaporation at one season, while salt water 

 accumulates again at another season. The inhabi- 

 tants bring their wagons here and help themselves 

 freely. California has saline springs and salt 

 marshes nearly as extensive as those of Nevada, 

 but obtains its principal supply from the evaporation 

 of sea-water in lagoons along the coast. The lagoons 

 of the Bay of San Francisco yield not less than 

 25,000 tons annually. There is a very large demand 

 for salt in this State as an aid in the reduction of 

 silver ores and similar operations, which consume 

 about 30,000 tons annually. The remaining Stater 

 and Territories of the Pacific slope have abundant 

 salt within their borders for local purposes. The 

 United States indeed has an inexhaustible quantity 

 of this important and necessary mineral, while the 

 coast region affords many facilities for the obtaining 

 of abundant supplies by the evaporation of sea 

 water. The total product of salt in this country m 

 1880 was 29.805,298 bushels. Of this the great bulk 

 came from four States, Michigan yielding 12,000,425 ; 

 New York, 8,742,203 ; Ohio, 2.650,301 ; and West 

 Virginia, 2,6711,4:38 bushels. The total product for 

 1<S7 was 39,159,810 bushels, of which Michigan 

 produced 19,721,545, New York 11,767,845, Ohio 

 1,815,000, Louisiana 1,705,465, Utah 1,625,000, and 

 West Virginia 1,125,000. (c. M.) 



SALT LAKE CITY, the capital of Utah Terri- 

 tory, and capital of Salt Lake co., is at the base of 

 the Wahsatch Mountains, 11 miles from Great Salt 

 Lake. The area of the city proper is about 12 

 square miles, but the corporate limits include about 

 50 square miles. Through it runs the Jordan River, 

 and besides the water derived from City Creek 

 Canyon and other streams for household purposes, a 

 canal 25 miles long brings water from the upper 

 part of the river for irrigation. The streets are 137 

 net wide and the blocks 40 rods square. There are 

 13 miles of main water pipes, and about 12 miles of 

 gas mains. The city is lighted by both gas andelec- 

 tric light. Places have been reserved for four or 

 five large parks, but they have not yet been improved. 

 The Utah Central, and the Denver and Rio Grande 

 Railroads connect the city with the Union Pacific 

 and the Central Pacific Railroad at Ogden. The 

 Utah and Northern Railroad runs into Idaho and 

 Montana. The other railroads are the Utah and 

 Nevada, the Salt Lake and Western, the Bingham 

 Canyon (narrow gauge), the Wahsatch and Jordan 

 Valley. Street cars run to all parts of the city. 

 The Western Union Telegraph Company gives com- 

 munication with all the world, and the Deseret Com- 

 pany with the territorial towns. 



The city government is vested in a council, com- 

 posed of the mayor, five aldermen, one for each of 

 the wards, and nine councillors, elected triennially. 

 Great Salt Lake City was incorporated by the As- 

 sembly of the provisional State of Deseret, Jan. 19, 

 1851, and this Act was adopted by the legislature 

 of Utah Territory in October of that year. Its 

 bounds were enlarged in 1867 to include the district 

 west of the Jordan, but in 1872 they were diminished 

 on the southern side. In 1868 the name was short- 

 ened to Salt Lake City. It has been the seat of the 

 territorial government since 1856, and has always 

 been the most important city in the Territory com- 

 mercially. It was settled by the Mormons under 

 Brighaui Young in July, 1847, after they had bcfen 



