154 



GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



agam^ and the route is boimded on both sides by barren areas of 

 white clay, or playas,* and low dunelike or lumpy areas of clay soil. 

 At milepost 718 is the beginning of a straight piece of track (tan- 

 gent), 38 miles long, which extends to the junction with the old route 

 around the north end of the lake near Lucin. 



At Loy, a siding ami section house only, the route is still bordered 

 by bare mud playas on each side. A dark rocky range, the Newfound- 

 land ^louutains, juts out of the flat desert ahead to the 

 south. These mountains were formerly islands, as is 

 sho^^'n by the traces of old shore hues higli about their 

 rock slopes. The desert here is only a little — perhaps 5 

 le level of the tracks on the cut-off over Trrefl t S:i.lt T.ake. 



liOy. 



Elevation 4,221 feet. 

 Omaha 1.066 milfts. 



feet 



and a slight rise in tliat lake would again cover this extensive flat. 

 Another railroad siding and group of section houses situated in the 



Newfoundland. Tavo 



name 



Newfoundland. 



Elevation 4,221 feet. 

 Omaha 1,07G miles. 



mar 



old Lake Bonnovillej may be seen on the front of the 



Newfouudl 



Hills of some 



of the older maps) to the south, and the upper hench 

 was evidently cut by waves into the sohd rock. 



At Lemay, a pump station with section houses, a long pipe line 

 which comes from a spring in the mountains 27 miles to the north, 



reaches the railroad. This line furnishes an excellent 



.080 



1 



prestiion, characteristic of valleys having 

 no regular drainage to the sea, in which 



Lemay, i r i 



supply of clear, freshwater along the route across the 

 Great S"alt Lake Desert. About 1903 a well was bored 

 at Lcmay to a depth of 2,340 feet. For about 1 ,000 feet the well pene- 

 trated desert mud hke that at the surface, with intercalated layers of 

 clear crystalhiio gypsum. Below this material the hole was bored in 

 hmestone and brown sandstone. This record is interestmg in showing 

 the depth of the former lake o r desert deposits in this part of the valley. 



A playa is a .hallow, flat-floored de- forma to the mountains, and sometimes 



tran.sfigure them beyond recognition. A 

 pack train crossing the desert a few miles 

 distant may appear like some strange 

 caravan of grotesque beasts fording a 

 shallow lake, the shores of which advance 

 as one rides away. The monotony of 

 midday on the desert is thus broken by 

 elusive forms that are ever changing and 

 suggest a thousand fancies which divert 

 the attention from the fatigues of the 

 journey. The cool evenings and morn- 

 ings in these arid regions, when the purple 

 shadows of distant mountains are thrown 

 across the plain, have a charm that is 

 unknown beneath more humid skies, 



storm 



It 



may be a shallow lake or a salt-incrusted 

 mud flat. 



Rufisell 



Lahonta 



'*The scenerj^ on the larger playas is 

 peculiar and is usually desolate in the 



crossing these 

 e for miles ov* 



cham: 



iky 



on the 



cast 



like 



expanse. Mirag 



«pi-- 1, „ 1 " ^""> "xt^MUHu ucneaia more nunuu c»^— -t 



ZT.l, 7 _! ""'"^ ^''^'^ ^'^y ^^ *^^^^ ^^d the profound stillness of the night in 



heated deserts, give 



strange 



fanciful 



pressiv 



