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National Geographic : 1936 May
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UTAH, CARVED BY WINDS AND WATERS62 Photograph by Richard H. Stewart OIL BUBBLES RAFT COPPER THROUGH THE ccLAUNDER 7) TROUGH In the Magna mill of the Utah Copper Company modern methods produce concentrates from low-grade ore (page 617). It is a paradox that the lighter waste material sinks to the bottom while the heavier metal, because of its affinity for the flotation agents, rides on the surface. to Park City for a trip through the deep Silver King mine, where men were taking rich silver ore from the tunnels. It was interesting to wander around hundreds of feet underground, but, strangely, the thing that delighted me most at Park City was the mountainside flower garden the mine manager had planted around the dining hall and sleeping quarters. Without a sail on Great Salt Lake a trip to Utah is incomplete. My most interesting voyage was one with a party headed by Dr. T. C. Adams of the University of Utah. There are 16 islands in the Lake, the most important of them Antelope, Stansbury, Fremont, Carrington, Cub, Gunnison, and Dolphin. A graduate student of ornithology from the University of California joined our group for the purpose of banding pelicans and other waterfowl that nest on Bird Island and elsewhere in the lake. The following winter he would have reports of these birds from sanctuaries in Florida, Mexico, and elsewhere, and would be able to chart their migration. Until recently Great Salt Lake, a remnant of ancient Lake Bonneville, which once filled most of the present site of Utah and much of Idaho, was about 75 miles long and 50 wide, with an average depth of 50 feet and a salt content of 22 per cent. Several years of drought, however, have lowered the water and increased the salt to 28 per cent. Salt air, the huge bathing and dancing resort, buildings of which were set on piles in the edge of the lake 15 miles from Salt Lake City, was nearly a mile from the water at the time of our visit, and the lake was so shallow that our boat ran aground at fre quent intervals on the way to Antelope Island. We took off our shoes and stockings and waded out to Dr. Adams' small yacht, the precipitated salt near shore pricking our feet as we walked. Lately Dr. Adams has discovered that salt has been precipi tated over almost the entire lake bottom. Our sails carried us about five miles to Antelope Island, home of one of the few re maining herds of wild buffaloes in the United States, but from there to the nesting islands of the birds we sought we used auxiliary motors. As we neared Bird Island, we saw a long, straight line of white pelicans strung out in single file behind a leader headed shore- 621
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