THE ALKALINE AND BORACIC LAKES OF CALIFORNIA. 155 
miles, and the difference of level between the highest point of 
the pass and the valley being from 10,500 to 11,000 feet. 
On the eastern side of this valley are the Inyo Mountains, 
towards its southern end, and the White Mountains further 
north. This range is dry and desert-like, and not a single 
stream of any size flows from it into Owen’s Valley, which is 
exclusively watered by the melting of the snows accumu- 
lated during the winter months on the eastern slope of the 
Sierra. Owen’s River rises a short distance from the source of 
the San Joaquin, and, after flowing for a distance of 1 20 miles, 
falls into Owen’s Lake in lat. 36° 20' N., long. 118° W. from 
Greenwich. This lake, of which the water is exceedingly saline 
and strongly alkaline, is twenty miles long and eight wide. 
It has no visible outlet, and its shores are often thickly coated 
with a snow-like alkaline incrustation. 
No fish inhabits its waters, but Koo-cha-bee is abundant, 
and at certain seasons is carried in by the waves and de- 
posited on the shores in layers of several inches in thickness. 
This was formerly collected in large quantities by the Indians, 
•and, after being dried in the sun, rubbed between the hands and 
roughly winnowed, was crushed in a stone mortar, and made 
into a sort of bread, which furnished an important article of 
food. This insect, which has been described as a white grub, 
is also found abundantly in the waters of Great Salt Lake, 
Utah, and those of other saline and alkaline lakes of the west, 
and appears to be the larva of a two-winged fly which is described 
by the late Professor Torrey under the name of Ejphydra call - 
fornicci , and by Dr. A. S. Packard as Ejphydra gracilis .* 
A specimen of water taken from Owen’s Lake, in January, 
1866, had a specific gravity of 1*076, and contained 7128*24 
grains of solid matter per gallon. The composition of this 
residue was found, calculated on an imperial gallon, to be as 
iollows : — 
Chloride of sodium 
294205 
Sulphate of sodium 
956-80 
Carbonate of sodium 
2914-43 
Sulphate of potassium . 
122-94 
Phosphate of potassium 
35 74 
Silicate of potassium 
139*34 
Organic matter 
16-94 
7128-24 
In addition to the substances above enumerated, iodine was 
present, but only in such minute proportion that its amount 
* See Hayden, 11 Geological Survey of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and 
■Utah, 1872/’ p. 744. 
