122 CAMP FIRE REMINISCENCES 
We are told that the Great Basin in which Great 
Salt Lake is the largest remaining body of water, 
is over two hundred thousand square miles in ex- 
tent, while Lake Bonneville, which originally ex- 
isted in the basin, and of which Salt Lake is a rem- 
nant, had an area of over nineteen thousand. It 
is interesting to view the old shore lines high up 
on the mountain sides, to wander along these and 
to note the ripple marks and pebbles found on the 
ancient beaches. It is fascinating to speculate on 
the changes which took place during the rapid low- 
ering of the original lake as erosion enlarged its out- 
let. Did such another reservoir ever burst? 
The present Salt Lake is over four thousand 
feet above sea level and some seventy miles long 
by fifty broad. It owes its name to the fact that 
it holds in solution a greater percentage of solids 
than any other large body of water in the world 
excepting the Dead Sea. These salts are princi- 
pally chloride and sulphate of sodium, and chloride 
of magnesium, and the solution is so concentrated 
that the hair and dress of the bather become in- 
crusted with them a few minutes after emerging 
from the water, while the skin looks as though it 
had been dusted over with flour. As the lake is 
very shallow around its edge, a rise or fall of a 
few feet—which can easily occur—makes a great 
difference in its area. There being no outlet, its 
depth depends upon precipitation and evaporation 
and the balance is tolerably well-preserved. Salt 
Lake is surrounded by high mountains, except on 
