There are a number of islands in Salt Lake, the two largest being Antelope and Stansbury, which rise abruptly to a height of 3,000 feet, terminating in rocky ridges that range north and south, and from which a marvelously beautiful view is had of the surrounding scenery, varied by towering peaks, boundless plains, fields of grain, irrigating ditches, prosperous farm houses, and away to the southeast a delightful vision of Salt Lake City. Other islands in the lake are those known as Gunnison, Fremont, Carrington, Dolphin, Black Rock, Mud, Egg, Hat, and several others that are so insignificant as to appear to be unworthy of any name. The total area covered by the lake is about 2,500 square miles, or nearly 400 square miles more than the State of Delaware, and its elevation above the sea is 4,000 feet. But if Great Salt Lake is one of the prime curiosities of America, its municipal namesake may well claim the distinction of being one of the artificial wonders of our land. Salt Lake City is the sublime result of Mormon persecution, having been founded by that alien sect in 1847. The history of their expulsion from Nauvoo, Illinois, and Gallatin, Missouri, is familiar to every school-boy, yet there will ever linger about the story of their flight, across the winter-swept plains of Iowa and the icy prairies of Nebraska, to the desert lands of Utah, a glamour of romance, second in interest to that of the exile of the Acadians, as told by Longfellow in _Evangeline_. In this valley of desolation, as it then appeared, Brigham Young, the Moses of his people, founded a city and re-established a hierarchy which has persisted and prospered to a degree that invites the world’s amazement. By industry as remarkable as it was well directed, the desert was converted into an oasis, and the bare earth, with its poverty of sand and sage-brush, was made to cover its nakedness with the green vestures of almost unexampled fecundity. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: PROVO FALLS, NEAR PROVO CITY, UTAH.—There is perhaps not in the whole world a more beautiful sheet of water than Provo Falls. It plunges over a precipice forty feet high, striking boulders on the way that break it into jets and misty lace-work which reflect and re-reflect the sun’s rays in a thousand brilliant and ever-varying colors and tints, until the beholder is entranced with the loveliness of the vision. During the wet season, when the volume of water is greater, the falls are even more beautiful than they are represented in this photograph, but under the most adverse circumstances they are lovely enough to satisfy the most critical taste. Provo Falls constitute one of the chief attractions of Utah scenery. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------