Great Salt Lake
in Utah, a sheet of water stretching along the W. base of the Wahsatch Mountains, about 4,200 feet above the sea, forming a principal drainage center of the Great Basin. The lake has well-marked shore lines on the mountains around, reaching 1,000 feet higher than the present level, show that the lake had formerly a vastly greater extent; this prehistoric sea has been named Lake Bonneville. Great Salt Lake is over 80 miles long and from 20 to 32 broad, but for the most part exceedingly shallow. It contains several islands, the largest, Antelope Island, about 18 miles long. Its tributaries are the Bear, Ogden, Jordan, and Weber, the Jordan bringing the fresh waters of Lake Utah; but Great Salt Lake has no outlet save evaporation, and its clear water consequently holds at all times a considerable quantity of saline matter in solution; in 1850 the proportion was 22.4 per cent., in 1869 it was only 14.8. Between these dates the annual tribute exceeded the evaporation, and the area of the lake increased from 1,700 to 2,360 square miles; more recently, it has again been GREAT SEAL slowly receding. Several species of insects and a brine-shrimp have been found in its waters, but no fishes; large flocks of water-fowls frequent the shores. The first mention of Great Salt Lake was by the Franciscan friar Escalante in 1776, but it was first explored and described in 1843 by Frémont. A thorough survey was made in 1849-1850 by Capt. Howard Stansbury, U. S. A. See SALT LAKE CITY; UTAH.