OCR Text |
Show prevent erosion by wave action. Spillways would be required and in addition a battery of sluiceways should be constructed at lake bed elevation to expedite freshening of the embayed water. The supply of water would be the residual flow of the Bear, Jordan. and Weber Rivers, the Surplus Canal, and the several small streams entering the lake between the mouth of the Jordan River and Promontory Point, together with surface run- off and underground seepage from the lands lying to the east and north, plus natural precipitation on the surface of the reservoir itself. Manifestly, when the dikes are first constructed, the water in the reservoir area would be approximately as salty as that in the lake proper. The freshening of the water in the reservoir would be accomplished in three ways. First, the inflow of fresh water and natural precipitation would dilute the embayed water by from two- thirds to three- fourths. Second, any commingled water discharged over the spillways would carry out salt in solution. Third, and of chief importance, brine would be displaced by fresh water directly by permitting a flow through the sluiceways, and allowing an equivalent amount of fresh water to take the place of the brine. A carefully controlled experiment has demonstrated that, such process of displacement would reduce the salinity of the embayed water to a satisfactory degree in about two years time. When the water in the reservoir shall have been so freshened, it would be feasible to construct large steam- electric power plants on the shores of the reservoir which, using Utah coal as fuel, would be able to produce electric energy at a unit cost of approximately one- third of the present lowest rate here. With such rate available it would be feasible to construct plants for the refining of copper, lead, and zinc; plants for the treatment of other metallic and non- metallic materials and plants for the manufacture of numerous chemical compounds. But the Great Salt Lake Diking Project has other aspects than the purely industrial. First of all, a scenic highway could be built along the dikes and along the island beaches. The reservoir could be stocked with fish. Breeding and shooting grounds for waterfowl could be developed along the mainland shore of the reservoir. Accommodations could be provided for boating and yachting and swimming in the summer time, and for skating and ice- boating in the winter time. Water would be available for irrigation, not only on the adjacent mainland but on Antelope Island and it is not difficult to visualize the island as developed into a second Catalina presenting the unique features of providing both fresh and salt water. Provision could be made for transferring boats from the reservoir to the lake proper and vice- versa so that navigation between the reservoir and Saltair Beach and the other islands in the lake would be made possible. The Great Salt Lake Diking Project is one that challenges the imagination. Its projection has developed world- wide interest already* It has no counterpart and has nad no counterpart in all history. It presents features that intrigue the scientist and engineer as well as the layman. It - 35 - |