158 ANTELOPE ISLAND — FORMATION OF SALT. 



early part of summer, they are supplied by the percolations of the 

 melting snows from the neighbouring hills, which at this season 

 are generally copious, and render the water sweet and palatable. 

 As soon as their supplies from a higher level begin to fail, the soil 

 through which they run, or from the depths of which they rise, 

 being strongly impregnated with minerals, imparts to the water 

 saline or mineral qualities, which in the autumn and winter render 

 them totally unfit for use. Such we found to be the case in the 

 latter part of the succeeding summer. 



The rocks among which we had now encamped consisted of 

 granite, or perhaps an altered sedimentary quartz or siliceous sand- 

 stone. Drift-wood is scattered along the shores at an elevation 

 of four or five feet above the present level of the lake, which must 

 have maintained that height for a considerable period, since in 

 numerous spots along the drift line unmistakable evidences of a 

 well-defined beach are still to be traced with perfect precision. 

 The wood is small and generally sound, but very dry, and must, 

 from its appearance, have been deposited there for many years. 

 It came, doubtless, from Bear River, the Weber, and the Jordan. 



Antelope Island is the largest of the islands in the lake. It is 

 about sixteen miles in length and five miles broad in its widest 

 part. Like all the other islands in the lake, and, indeed, all the 

 prominences observed west of the Wahsatch range and within its 

 valley, it consists of a long rocky eminence, ranging from north 

 to south, rising abruptly from the water, and attaining an eleva- 

 tion of about three thousand feet above the level of the lake. A 

 party was sent up the mountain to erect a triangulation station 

 upon its highest peak. The officer charged with that duty de- 

 scribes the view from this elevation as grand and magnificent, 

 embracing the whole lake, the islands, and the encircling moun- 

 tains covered with snow — a superb picture set in a framework of 

 silver. 



The southern part of the island is connected with the main 

 shore by an extensive sand-flat, which, in the summer, is for the 

 most part dry, but is frequently flooded to the depth of eighteen 

 inches, the water of the lake being driven over it by every gale 

 from the north. Upon the cessation of the wind the water recedes, 

 and then the depressions of the beach are filled with pools of shal- 

 low water, which, evaporating under the influence of the sun, 

 leave extensive deposites of salt upon the sand. The beach is at 

 all times sufficiently hard to allow the passage of wagons from the 



