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Show [ 148] 8 and some in the belt of a1luviul soil at the base; for these mountains have very uniformly this belt of alluvion, the wash and abrasion of their sides, rich in excellent grass, fertile, and light and loose enough to absorb small streams. Between these mountains are the arid plains which receive and deserve the name of desert. Such is the general structure of the interior of the Great .Basin, more Asiatic than American in its character, and much n~ sembling the eleYated region between the Caspian sea and northern Persia. The rizn of this 'Basin is massive ranges of mountains, of which the Sierra Nevada on the west, and the Wah-satch and Timpanogo~ ' chains on the east, are the most conspicuous. On the north, it is separated from the waters of the Columbia by a branch of the Rocky mountains, and from the gulf of California, on the south, by a bed of mountainous ranges, of 'vhich the existence has been only recently detennined. Snow abounds on them aJJ; on sotne, in their ' loftier parts, the whole year, with wood and grass; with copious streams of water, sometimes amounting to considerable rivers, flowing inwards, and forming lakes or sinking in the sands. Belts or ben ches of good alluvion art> usually found at their base. Lakes in the Great Basin.-The Great Salt lake and the Utah lake are in this Basin, towards its eastern rim, anrl constitute its most interesting feature-one, a saturated solution of common salt-the other, fresh-the Utah about one hundred feet above the level of the Salt lake, ;wl1ich is itself four thousand two hundred above the level of the sea, and connected by a strait, or river, thirty-five miles long. . .These lakes drain an area of ten or twelve thousand square m1les, and have, on the east, along the base of the mountain, the usual bench of alluvion, which extend8 to a distance of three hundred miles, with wood and water, and abundant grass. The Mormons have established thetnselves on. the strait between these t"wo lakes, and will find sufficient arable land fo"r a laro-e settlementimportant from its position as intermediate betweenbthe Mississippi valley and the Pacific ocean, and on the line of communication to California and Oregon. · The Utah is about thirty-five miles long, and is remarkable for · the numerous a~d bold streams which it receives, coming_ do·wn from the mou.nta1ns on the sout~east, all frfsh water, although a la.rg~ formation of rock salt, Imbedded in red clay, is found Within the area on the southeast, which it drains. The Jake and its .affiuents ~fford large trout and' other fish in great numbers, wh1ch constitute the food of the ' Utah Indians duri.ng the fishing season. Th~ Great Sal~ lake h.as a very irregular outline, greatly extended at time of melt.tng sno\vs. It is about seventy miles in length; both lakes ranging.nearly ~orth and south, in conf.ormity to the range of the mountains, and IS remarkable for its predoinin~ n ce .of salt. The whole l~k e waters seem thoroughly saturated w1th It, and every evaporation of the water leaves salt behind. The rocky shores of t?e i~lands' are whitened by the spray, ·which leaves salt on every t h 1 n g 1 t touches, an d a covering I ike ice forms over the water, 'vhich the waves throw among the rocks. The 9 [ 148 } shores of the lake in the dry season, when the 'vaters recede, and especia11y on the south side, are whitened \vith encrustation.s of fine white salt; the sha1low arms of the lake, at the satne time, under a slight eovering of briny water, present beds of s~lt for miles resembling softened ice, into which the horses' feet Sink to the f~tlock. Plants and bushes, blown by the wind upon these fields are entirely encrusted with crystallized salt, more than an inch in thickness. Upon this lake of salt the fresh ·water received, though great in quantity, has no perceptible etfect. No fish, or anitnal life of any kind, is found in it; the l arv ce on the shore being founu to belong to 'vingeu insects. A geological examination of the bed and shores of this lake is of the highest interest. Five gallons of 'vater taken from this lake in the month of September, and roughly evaporated over a fire, gave fourteen pints of salt, a part of \vhich being subjected to analysis, g ave tbe following proportions: Chloride of sodium (common salt) •••.••.••••••••••• 97.80 parts. Chlorine of calcium .••• ~·· · ••••••.•••••••••••.•.•. 0.61 " C h 1 o r i d e of m a g n e s i u zn • • • • • • • • • • . • • • . • • • • • • • • . • • • • 0 . 24 ' ' S u l p l1 a t e o f s o d a .. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 0 . 2 3 ' ' Su1phate of lime ..••••. · .••••••••.•••.•••••.• ~ ••••.• 1.12 '' 100.00 Southward from the Utah is another lake of which little rnore is now kno~r n than when Humbo''ldt published his general 1nap of Mexico. It is the reservoir of . a handsotne river, about two hundred miles long, rising in the Wahsatch mountains, and discharging a considerable volume of water. The river and lake 'vere called by the Spaniards, Severo, corrupted by the hunters into Sevier. On the map, they are called Nicollet, in honor of J. N. Nicollet, whose premature death interrupted the publication of the 'learned work on thP physical geography of the basin of the Upper Mississi. ppi, which five years of labor in the field had, prepared him to g1 ve. On the \vestern side of the basin, and immediately within the first range of the SierraN evada, is the Pyram irl lake, receiving the water of Salmon Trout river. It is thirty-five miles long, between four and five thousand feet above the sea, surrounded by moun b1 ins, is remarkably deep and clear, and abounds with uncorr1monly large salmon trout. Southward, along the base of the Sierra N evada, is ·a range of considerable lakes, formed by many large streams from the Sierra. Lake Walker, the largest among these, affords great nutnbers of trout, similar to those of the Py ramiu l ake, and is a place of resort for Indians in the fishing season. There are probab1y other collections of 'vater not yet kno·wn. The nutnber of small lakes is very great, many of them tnore or less salty, and all, like the rivers which feed them, changing their appearance and extent under the influence of the season, rising with th~ melting of the snows, sinking in the ~ry 'veather, anJ distinctly presenting their high an-d low water mark. These gen- |