A REMARKABLE LAKE by H. H. Baker

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, Cal. · Dec 23, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 51.

A REMARKABLE LAKE.

By H. H. Baker

[H. H. Baker in Sabbath Recorder.]

ONE of the most remarkable lakes in the world is situated near Obdorsk, Siberia, in the Russian Empire. The lake is seventeen miles long and nine miles in width, and is one of the saltest of salt lakes known. Some time, by the evaporation of the waters in this lake there were left great salt crystals on the surface. In course of time the crystals were so enlarged that they came together and the whole lake was covered with a crust of salt. Originally, evaporation played the most prominent part in forming this coating, but in later years the salt springs that surround the lake are adding constantly to the thickness of the crust, and within the last century the entire lake has been covered with a roof of salt, so that it completely conceals the water. It is a most wonderful sight to behold when the sun is shining on this large field of crystals, the like of which is not to be seen elsewhere, so far as known.

In 1878 an underground outlet for the water was discovered, the water in the lake subsiding and appearing again in the river Obi. Up to the present time the waters have lowered about three feet. The salt crust, however, has become so thick as to sustain its own weight, and retain its old level, thus presenting the spectacle of a lake curiously roofed over with crystals of salt. The many islands with which the lake abounds make sufficient divisions so that the roof is well sustained in its present position.

The flow of salt water over the surface from the surrounding springs is such, that with evaporation alone, it is increasing the thickness of this crust at the rate of six inches per annum.

The covering of this lake is surely one of the most remarkable and wonderful specimens formed by the crystallization of salt collected and manufactured by nature's process.