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| The Lake of Death. 811 Mono Luke lies ten miles south- 0 ' ‘mat of the dividing line between *»iC'alitornia and Nevada, and is about ** - fourteen miles long and nine wide, j ! It has never been sounded, hut atrial said to have been made with m j |jline three hundred feet long failed to i reach the bottim By chemical jf - analysis a gallon of water weighing *! e5glit pounds this fouud to contain |* 11 1,200 graiu* of solid mailer, con*Ut- ^ ng principal ly of chloride of sodiumcarbonate of sulphate of soda, borax. I. and silicia. These substances render jJ' the water so acrid and nauseating '• that it is unfit for drinkiug or even I, bathing. Leather immersed initial0 11 soon destroyed by its corrosive pro- 1 I per tie*, and no shims I. even fish or! I j frog, can exist in the water for morel* than n abort lime. The only thingable to live within oi upon ihe water of this lake is n *|ecie» of ?ly, which • J springs from larvae bred in ils bosom, ^ jailer an ephemeral life, dies, and,.I collecting on the surface, Is driftedII Ui the shore, where ihe remains col '| |eclt; in vast .pianmiea. and are fed j ^11 upon *-y the ducks or gathered by I * j the Indians, with whom they area ‘! staple article of food. Nestling uq*|J der the eastern water shed of Sierra,Mono Lake receives several consid- 11, erabie tributaries; and, although deb- J ' titute of any outlet, such is the acid (itjr of the atmo*i*j»*re that it is always kept at a nearly uuiform level s ► I by the process af evaporation. So dense and sluggish the water rcu-j dered through aupersa;uraliou with* various salts and other foreigu,” ! matter, that onlv the strongest winds •raise a ripple on its surface. As the Sierra in I liia neighborhood reachesftIf| nearly its greatest altitude, llie scenery about Mono Lake is varied 1 ‘ j and majestic, some parts ot it being 3{at the same time markvd by a most . !cheerless and desolate aspect. The) J bitter and fatal waters of this lake ( render it literally a dead sea, and its surroundings — wild, gloomv M«l|I foreboding—are suggestive oi sterili- g ty and death. The decomposing i0 action of ihe water is shown in its _ ‘ effects upou the bodies of a company n iof Indians, twenty or thirty in mini j w i her. who. while seeking to escape {\ trotu their white pursuers, took ^ refuge in the lake, where they were c] shot by their enemies, who left them p •in the water. In the course of a few u .weeks not a vestige of their bodies t was to be seen. even their bones ;n having Imjcii decomposed in this „ powerful solvent Mineral curiosi a ltiea abound in the neitfhlorhoolt;l of* n Mono Lake, among which are num-!c| bcrless depoaifcans in the shape of ^ tiny pine trees. j ^if
Newspaper Details
The Hancock Jeffersonian
Findlay, Ohio, US
Fri, Mar 05, 1869
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Dean T.
USA 30 Nov 2022
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