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Lake George is in a rugged, densely wooded area in the eastern Adirondack Mountains of New York. Relict glacial sediment and modern sediment rich in organic matter floor the lake. The relict sediment includes Pleistocene varved lake clay containing iron-manganese nodules. Beneath a cover of modern organic-rich silty clay much of the lake is underlain by varved clay. A comparison of lake bottom morphology with both clay and organic matter content and sediment color shows that an interrelation exists between these variables. Sediment in the deeper parts of the lake is black, and clay and organic matter contents are generally high. In the shallower part of the lake sediment is brown in color, usually sandy, and low in organic matter. Tree bark, spore capsules, leaves, and needles compose much of the identifiable organic matter in the sandy near-shore bottom sediments. The organic material which enters the lake primarily in the fall is derived from vegetation in the drainage basin. The fabric of organic matter in the deeper parts of the lake cannot be identified because of advanced decomposition. The organic matter content of the bottom sediments of the southern basin of Lake George generally exceeds that of the northern basin, because pollution from permanent settlements along the shores of the southern basin accelerates accumulation of organic matter by enhancing phytoplankton productivity in the southern basin.

The total salt in the Bonneville basin in the form of salt crusts, salt water in clays, and salt in the Great Salt Lake brine is about 6 billion tons. The annual rate of addition of new salt by the inflowing rivers is about 1 million tons. Thus the time of accumulation since the last overflow should be 6000 years approximately, but C 14 analyses indicate a time in excess of 30,000 years. The writers believe that the wind is responsible for the removal of the salt from the basin floor. Should Great Salt Lake rise 20–30 feet it would spill at Lakeside into the Great Salt Lake Desert; the lake9s surface would suddenly increase two times and produce a stabilized lake level. A major beach about 45 feet above Great Salt Lake is vividly impressed on the topography; it is believed to be related to the Great Salt Lake Desert expansion. Cores from Great Salt Lake indicate that the last fresh-water lake existed from about 23,000 years to 13,500 years ago. This correlates with C 14 analyses of tufa at the Stansbury level. Soils of several ages and varieties are recognized and in their relations to the various lake deposits and associated river terraces support the other evidence from which the following chronology of lake stages is postulated: Alpine stage (5050 feet ±)—first high-level lake, possibly Kansan Low lake stage—possibly Sangamon-Illionian-Yarmouth Bonneville-Provo 1 stage (5135 feet ±)—Tazewell-Iowan, overflow stage Low-lake stage—Brady Provo 2 stage (4820 feet ±)—Cary Low lake stage—Two Creeks Stansbury stage (4470 feet ±)—about 23,000 to 13,500 years ago. Mankato Gilbert stage (4245 feet ±)—about 10,000 to 8000 years ago. May be a minor pluvial maximum or a stability level in the recession of the lake. Altithermal—about 6000 years ago

A PIONEER company of Mormons headed by Brigham .Young entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847, through the pass now known as Emigration Canyon. Among the first undertakings after reaching the present site of Salt Lake City was the diversion of water from City Creek and the planting of a few acres of potatoes, buckwheat, and turnips. Because of extreme dryness of the soil, plowing was at first difficult, but a dam was put across the Creek and the soil was well flooded, making plowing comparatively easy. In spite of late planting they harvested a fairly successful crop. During his life Brigham Young insisted that the Mormon people should make agriculture their chief occupation, rather than prospect for mineral resources, which in their richness and extent offered shortcuts to material wealth. He argued that quick wealth was unwholesome and tended to break down the ideal of sturdy character which he had set up as a mold for his people. His advice that they remain on their farms was religiously followed. As rapidly as new arrivals followed the first colonizers, exploring parties were sent out to find new sites for homes. Selection was exercised in the personnel of both the exploring parties and the settlers for the sites which had been chosen. It was Brigham Young's plan to settle the country as rapidly as possible and thus to form a new Empire in the west. In a short time along the entire east side of the Jordan River, wherever the wall of the Wasatch Mountains is cut by a canyon from which flows a mountain stream, was to be found a settlement. The same plan is being used today. Three miles from Malta, Idaho, one may see modern Mormon pioneering. The Mormon Church purchased a 4,000-acre ranch as a colony site and a group of Mormons, as pioneers, have moved in on the land. When the writer visited the settlement in September, 1937, it was apparent that Mormon pioneering of 1937 was virtually identical in philosophy and motive with Mormon pioneering of 1847. The colonizers went as agriculturists and yet they did not follow the practice of other agricultural communities in the settlement of the west. Instead of selecting and settling on a farm, they selected a townsite and settled in the town, arranging their farms around the townsite. Murray King (The Nation, June 28, 1922, p. 769) made the following observation: "The Church, the desert, and the canyon stream have conspired to produce a village concentration. The Church has created so many religious activities, and so monopolized social activities that it cannot carry out its program except in organized communities. There is little isolated rural living in Utah. The man who cultivates the soil is the main pillar of a highly structured town life. . . .. While the church may have wanted or desired such communities yet it is the environment which made this demand and desire possible. Their complete isolation from other settled parts of the United States made it necessary for them to furnish their own protection from the Indians. Necessity of artificially watering the soil made it imperative, at that time, that

THE annexed illustration is reproduced from a photograph taken by me on August 16, 1890, when the lake was empty. How long it had been so, or how long it continued, I cannot say. So far as my memory serves me, there was no water whatever in it, and I distinctly recollect noticing the icebergs lying high and dry on the bottom. I walked along what had been the margin of the lake on my way to the Aletsch glacier, which I ascended to the Concordia Hut. I hope the photograph may be of interest to Dr. Preller, and others who know the lake.

Core samples taken from the deeper parts of Lake Michigan show a complete sequence of clay deposits from glacial to present time, whereas samples taken from depths less than 350 feet show that a part of this deep water sequence is missing and replaced by a shallow-water deposit of sand and shells, overlain by normal deep-water clays. The shells are of species of gastropods and pelecypods whose living representatives inhabit water 1–15 feet deep. The level of this low-water stage is placed at 350 feet below the present lake surface, and the time of the low-water stage at post-Algonquin and pre-Nipissing. This low-level Lake Michigan drained through the Straits of Mackinac into a low-level Lake Huron, as was proposed by G. M. Stanley in 1936. Features of the low-water stage in the Lake Michigan basin are named Southern Lake Chippewa, Grand Haven River, Lake Chippewa, and Mackinac River. The low-water stage in the Lake Huron basin is named Lake Stanley.

A CORRESPONDENCE which I was recently the innocent cause of initiating in the Standard, revealed a very remarkable conflict of evidence touching the question of how often and to what extent the Maerjelen Lake1 has of late years emptied itself. As I pointed out, the rare phenomenon of a total discharge of the lower basin through the Aletsch glacier recurred last September; whilst in the great majority of cases, a pool more or less deep is left in that basin, and the upper, more shallow basin is never quite empty.

Playa lakes of the High Plains region receive runoff from well- defined watershed areas. Data are presented from a study' of two playa lakes and microcosms developed from the lakes. Nutrient agar plate counts of viable bac- terial populations ranged from 104 to 106/ml in the lakes and to 107/ml in the microcosms. Of 22 bacterial types isolated, 10 were actinomycetes-like and 9 of the 22 were chromogenic, gram-negative rods. No bacterial succession was observed in the lakes although a definite succession was present in the microcosms. Bacteria were apparently little affected by changes in water temperature, pH changes (from pH 7.0 to 8.2), or in water levels of the lakes. Uptake of 14C-U-glucose had value as a relative measure of heterotrophic activity and was closely related to viable plate counts of bacteria. Phytoplankton photosynthesis was negligible as based on uptake of NaH14CO3. Evidence was obtained for antibiotic production by an actino- mycete isolate. Vascular plants covered approximately 75% of the playa dry lake bed. Following the influx of runoff, most of these plants were degraded, in part by microbial action. Thus, a food web was initiated which supported high numbers of animals, including water fowl. The playa lake ecosystems are highly productive and may represent an example of detritus agriculture. The Llano Estacado of Texas features flat, windswept plains. De- pressions have formed in the plains and these "playas" are as frequent as 1 per mile2. During the spring and summer the playas receive run- off from the heavy rainfall and the resulting semi-permanent ponds are called "playa lakes". Playa lakes range in size from a few to hundreds of acres and are from inches to several feet deep. The dura- tion of the lakes may be from a few days to semi-permanent. Common features of the lakes include well-defined, circular, gently sloping drainage basins and colloidal sediment bottoms which prevent seepage; thus evaporation and transpiration account for an estimated 85-90% of the water loss. Definite plant zones are typical during the growing season in temporary playas. The lakes influence the produc- tivity and ecology of the surrounding grazing or agricultural lands.

Hershop Bog, a domed-quaking peat bog, 5.4 m deep located near Ottine, Gonzales Co., Texas, has provided a pollen record dating to 12,000 BP. The pollen profile has been interpreted to indicate a definite change about 10,000 BP in the upland regional vegetation from an oak-parkland to an oak savannah, reflecting a climatic change from mesic to less mesic. After 10,000 BP, pollen of a species of Betula is no longer present in the profile, and its loss parallels a definite reduction in total arboreal pollen. Picea pollen present at 10,000-12,000 BP time interval in bogs 48 km to, the NE is absent from Hershop Bog, suggesting that the southern limit of spruce in central Texas was N of the Hershop Bog area. INTRODUCTION Late glacial and postglacial pollen records from Texas are infrequent and those which have been published are difficult to correlate because of geographic separation, differences in environments of deposition and lack of radiocarbon dating in the earlier studies. This lack of adequate palynological data has limited our understanding of late and postglacial vegetations and climates in Texas and their influences on early man, and the past and present distributions of animals and plants. An intensive search for additional pollen sites was initiated in 1967. Several archeological sites, including Bonfire Rock Shelter which has sediments dating to the late glacial, and two peat bogs deep enough to warrant study were found. Hershop Bog, the subject of this paper, is in S-central Texas about 1 mile S of the Soefje Bog studied by Graham and Heimsch (1960). Published pollen records have come from peat bogs, archeological sites and playa lake sediments. The earliest are those of Potzger and Tharp (1943, 1947, 1954) on undated peat bogs from E-central Texas. They identified pollen of Picea, Abies, Betula, Tilia, Acer, Castanea, Corylus and Alnus in the lowermost strata of Patschke Bog in Lee Co,. These pollen types were interpreted to indicate a boreal forest vegetation and a cool moist climate during the late glacial period of Texas. On the basis of the total profile, Potzger and Tharp proposed a four-stage post full-glacial climatic sequence (cool-moist, warm-dry, warm-moist and warm-dry) for central Texas. Additional profiles from the nearby Gause and Franklin bogs were interpreted by Potzger and Tharp (1954) to substantiate the climatic sequence derived from the earlier study of Patschke Bog.

Pickerel Lake formed on the Coteau des Prairies, northeastern South Dakota, prior to 10,670 ± 140 years ago. The lake was probably initially underlain by an ice block; it was insulated from the ice first by an undetermined thickness of outwash, and then also by sediment. Fossil pollen, spores, seeds, leaves, and mollusks of a core from Pickerel Lake were analyzed in order to work out the limnological history of the lake and the vegetational history of the nearby upland. The data were then compared with ecological data from modern vegetation and the lake. The following chronology was deduced from these studies: (1) Prior to 10,670 years ago, boreal forest existed around Pickerel Lake and on the nearby upland, the climate was cool and moist, there were a few marshes around the lake margin, and the lake was less than 3 m deep at the coring site. The lake water was alkaline but not very hard. (2) Between 10,670 and about 8000 years ago, there were mixed deciduous trees around the lake, in gullies, and on the upland; however, tree cover on the upland was less dense and had numerous prairie-like openings with grass and perhaps bracken fern. The climate was warmer than that of the previous age. The lake was probably deeper at the study site, and was probably slightly harder. (3) From about 8000 to 4000 years ago, blue-stem prairie dominated the upland. Deciduous forest was almost absent, except perhaps for a few groves around the lake or in gullies. The climate was characterized by recurring summer drought, and the level of Pickerel Lake consequently fluctuated markedly. The depth of the lake at the coring site was less than 3 m, and the water was hard with high carbonate content. Reed marshes were common around the lake margin, and during low water levels a rich herbaceous vegetation invaded the exposed lake sediments. (4) Since about 4000 years ago, the upland and lake vegetation has been about the same as now, with prairie dominating the upland and with an abundant oak and ash deciduous forest common around lakes and in gullies. Summer droughts were not so common as during the preceding period. The lake was less than 3 m deep at the study site. It was also alkaline, hard, and had reed marshes flourishing in places around its margin.

Silver Lake is located in the Mojave Desert north of Baker, California. It was formed within a period of three days as a result of a flood in the Mojave River in March 1938. Previously the lake had been dry for several years. Its maximum size was seven miles long and three miles wide. After this flood, daily observations were made of temperature, humidity, wind movement, precipitation, and pan evaporation at a Class A Weather Bureau evaporation station established adjacent to the lake, and of changes in water level and temperatures of the lake from May 1938 to April 1939. This paper presents a summary of these measurements. No inflow or outflow occurred during the study and the lake was entirely dry at the end of the following year. Borings in the tight clay lake bottom indicated there were no losses by seepage. The purpose of the study was to determine coefficients for converting pan evaporation to lake evaporation and to develop an empirical relation between evaporation and meteorological factors, under desert conditions. The results show that annual evaporation from Silver Lake was about 79 inches for the period of observation, and that a coefficient of 0.60 could be used in reducing Weather Bureau pan evaporation to lake evaporation in desert areas with similar climate.