In the centre of the Rockies, occupying a large portion of Utah and
adjacent States, is the "Great Basin," which, as remarked, has no
drainage outlet for its waters. The geologists tell us that in ancient
times this region was covered by two extensive lakes, one of them in
the Pleistocene era occupying the now desert interior basin of Utah.
This extinct lake, whose ancient shores can be distinctly traced, has
been named Lake Bonneville. When at its greatest expansion, it covered
twenty thousand square miles, and the waters were nearly a thousand
feet deep, overflowing to the northward into a branch of Shoshoné
River through a deep pass, and going thence to the Pacific. The waters
of this lake, by climatic changes, gradually dwindled, the loss by
evaporation overcame the rainfall supply, the overflow ceased, and
then the lake dried up, revealing the desert bottom. Of its waters
there now remain the Great Salt Lake of Utah, about eighty miles long
and from thirty to fifty miles wide, very shallow, averaging only
twenty feet depth, and not over fifty feet in the deepest place,
having monotonously flat shores on the desert plateau, elevated
forty-two hundred feet above the sea. Its dimensions vary according to
the rainfall, the surface rising and falling in various periods of
years. Several streams flow in, among them the Jordan River, forty
miles long, draining Utah Lake to the southward. The waters are
densely salt, varying from fourteen to twenty-two per cent. as the
lake is high or low (compared with three to four per cent. in the
ocean), and it is estimated to contain four hundred million tons of
salt. Not a fish can live there excepting a small brine shrimp. A bath
in the lake is novel, as the density makes the body very buoyant,
easily floating head and shoulders above the water.
To this desert region, after being driven from Nauvoo on the
Mississippi, Brigham Young brought his first Mormon colony by a long
journey across the plains and mountains, a band of one hundred and
forty-three persons, arriving in July, 1847, Utah then being Mexican
territory. They organized the State of Deseret, and it afterwards
became a Territory of the United States. By prodigious labors,
constructing irrigation canals to bring in the mountain streams, they
made the soil productive, and now it is one of the most fertile
valleys in the country. Almost the whole flow of the Jordan River is
thus used for irrigation. Colonies and proselytes were brought in from
various parts of the world, until two hundred thousand Mormons came to
Utah, and after protracted conflicts with the Government, polygamy was
declared illegal, and its discontinuance was ordered by proclamation
of the Mormon President. Twelve miles from the Great Salt Lake is the
Utah capital and Mormon Zion, Salt Lake City, where the Latter-Day
Saints and Gentiles together exceed fifty thousand. Its prosperity is
largely due to the extensive mining interests of the surrounding
country. The lofty Wahsatch Mountains are close to the city on the
northern and eastern sides, while to the south, seen over a hundred
miles of almost level plain, is a magnificent range of snow-covered
mountains, this being the perpetual and awe-inspiring view from all
parts of the city. The streets are wide and lined with shade trees,
the residences surrounded by gardens, and irrigation canals border all
the thoroughfares, so that the whole place is embosomed in foliage,
and the delicious green adds to its scenic attractiveness. The Temple
Block of ten acres, the sacred square of the Mormons, is the centre
from which the streets are laid towards the four cardinal points of
the compass. A high adobé wall surrounds it, and here is the great
Mormon Temple of granite, which was forty years building, and cost
over $4,000,000, having three pointed towers at each end, the loftiest
being surmounted by a gilded figure of the Mormon angel Moroni. Here
is also the Mormon Tabernacle, a huge oval-shaped structure,
surmounted by a roof rounded like a turtle-back, the interior
accommodating twelve thousand people. This is their great
meeting-place, and they also have a smaller Assembly Hall for
religious services. These are the chief buildings of Salt Lake City.
To the eastward in the suburbs is the military post of Fort Douglas,
where the troops are barracked that guard the Mormon capital. In the
earlier period, when there were fears of trouble, a large garrison was
kept at this extensive fortification to maintain government control.