150 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



An unexpected difficulty was encountered after the construction 

 was well under way. It was found that the material which was 

 dumped into the. lake and which evidently sank deep into the mud 

 did not at once reach a firm and permanent foundation. Long after 

 the roadway had apparentlj^ been completed and trains had been run 

 by way of the new route, successive ^ 'sinks'^ occurred, especially 

 along certain portions of the route. The weight of the filling mate- 

 rial, with the added weight and vibration of passuig trains, seemed 

 to break throuerh some sustainino- laver in the lake bottom and then a 



whole section, track and all, would settle into the lake, and traffic 

 would have to be diverted to the old route until the ^'sink'^ could 

 be repaired. This happened so frequently that it might fairly have 

 discouraged the railroad company, but perseverance finally con- 

 quered. With the sinking of the track, ridges of mud appeared on 

 both sides, squeezed up from the lake bottom by the subsiding fill. 

 Just beyond Bagley, which is only a section house and side track on 

 the cut-off, remnants of these mud ridges can still be seen, although, 

 naturally, where they rise above the water they are being leveled by 

 the waves. The elevation of the track across the cut-off is 4,217 

 feet above sea level according to railroad figures; the lake is usually 



■ 



10 to 15 feet lower. 



A channel of open water 600 feet wide under a trestle at milepost 

 762 is now the only connection between Bear River bay and the 

 main lake. As Bear River, the largest tributary of Great Salt Lake? 

 enters at the north side of this bay, and as more water is evaporated 

 from the main lake than from the bay, there is usually a flow of water 

 from the bay into the lake through this passage. The water of Bear 

 River bay has for this reason become so much fresher that lately it 

 has frtMpiently frozen over to considerable thickness dm-mg the 



inter 



Wasatch 



the train proceeds. The high summit above Ogden is Observation 

 Peak, 10,103 feet above sea level; Ben Lomond, the summit on the 

 long, liigh ridge farther north, is stiU higher (10,900 feet). The 

 upper shore lines of the former Lake Bonneville show distinctly as a 

 series of clearly defined terraces on Promontory Point "and also 

 around Fremont Island. On Fremont Island only a smgle little 

 point like a cap, undercut by wave action on aU sides, rises above the 

 highest water level of the old lake. 



Milepost 759 is just at the west edge of the first section of the fill. 



River bay. This eastern part of the 



ear 



miles loner 



south 



i miles and then runs out on the second section 



miles lono: 



