88 



LAKES OF NORTH AMERICA. 



Hypothetical Composition of the Water of Mono Lake. 

 By T. M. Chatard.i 



As may be seen in tlie above table, sodium carbonate and bicarbonate 

 form 42.53 per cent of the total salts held in solution. The total quan- 

 tity of these salts contained in the lake is estimated at 92 million tons, 

 the total saline content being 245 million tons. 



Owing to the cost of transportation and the high price of labor, this 

 brine is not now utilized, but it forms a reservoir that may be drawn upon 

 in the future. The waters of Owens lake, situated a hundred miles south 

 of Mono lake, where the commercial conditions are somewhat more favor- 

 able, is already the basis of a large soda industry. Two small lakes on 

 the Carson desert, known as the Ragtown ponds, or Soda lakes, also 

 furnish large quantities of sodium carbonate and bicarbonate. There are 

 also several other lakes of the same general character in the western part 

 of the Great Basin which have not yet been found of economic impor- 

 tance. One of the most promising of these, from a commercial point of 

 view, is Soap lake, in the State of Washington. 



The great abundance of sodium carbonate and bicarbonate in Owens, 

 Mono, and other lakes on the west side of the Great Basin, in contrast 

 with the amount of these salts in the brine of Great Salt lake and of other 

 similar water bodies on the east side of the Great Basin, is due mainly to 

 differences in the character of the rocks of the two regions. The moun- 

 tains on the west are largely formed of volcanic rocks, and yield alkaline 

 1 Amer. Jour. Sci., 3d Ser., vol. 36, 1888, p. 149. 



