The Holt County Sentinel

WAS ONCE THE OCEAN.

Proof Conclusive That the Waters of the Pacific at One Time Extended as Far as Salt Lake.

A recent dispatch from Salt Lake City, Utah, states that Mrs. B. F. House, a former Cincinnati woman, has made a discovery which proves conclusively to scientists, according to the dispatch, that Salt Lake was once a part of the Pacific ocean, states the Cincinnati Times-Star.

For years geologists and learned scientists, including experts from the Smithsonian institution, have made vain efforts to discover some convincing proof that the inland sea was once a part of the great Pacific. Parties of scientists have lived on and traveled the shores of the big lake, but none of their discoveries was ever accepted as positive proof. The discovery made by Mrs. House which is accepted by many as proof positive is a piece of sponge-like coral, but contains salt sea periwinkles, which a number of scientists claim are only found in ocean coral.

Diligent search was made for other specimens, but the big coral rock, yellow with age, was all that could be found.

Prof. Henshaw, geologist at the Walnut Hills school, said that while the discovery was a great one and while it was the most convincing proof yet established, he would not accept it as positive, although he had never heard of any like specimens being found except in the ocean. O. W. Martin, professor of geology at Hughes high school, said: "The discovery is indeed the most important one ever made in that region and will undoubtedly interest scientists and geologists all over the world. Many efforts have been made to establish some positive proof that Salt Lake was once part of the Pacific, but they have all failed. While the discovery, as reported, would afford the most positive proof we have ever had, I could not accept it as conclusive proof. The question of whether the Salt Lake was once a port of the ocean has been agitating scientists and geologists for many years, and this recent discovery will no doubt be of great interest to all of them." Mrs. House is the wife of the chief engineer of the Western Pacific surveying corps. M. F. Guyer, the professor of geology at the Cincinnati university, when asked his opinion on Mrs. House's discovery, said: "While it is very strong evidence and probably the most important discovery to that end that has ever been made, I do not think it will be generally accepted as positive proof that the inland sea was once a part of the Pacific ocean. One thing is certain—it is the first piece of coral ever discovered in an inland body of water that contained periwinkles, and it is almost conclusive evidence that Great Salt Lake was once a part of the Pacific ocean."