SEVIER, LAKE, in s.w. Utah. A considerable body of salt water in Millard co., at an elevation of 4,600 ft. above the level of the sea; 140 sq.m.; 20 in. in length from n. to s., 10 in. wide. Its position is 120 tn. s.w. of Great Salt lake, with no outlet; it is des titute of islands; Its shores have no trees and few bushes. The Sevier river, its only tributary, empties into the n. portion. It is in Pauvan valley, a part of the Sevier desert. It is open only on the n. side, the House range of mountains guarding the w. border, and the Beaver creek range the eastern. Gulls and other birds which feed on fish, frequent the mouth of the river, seeking fresh water fish which have come down through the river, and have died from the effect of the brine. Shrimps and insect larvae are found in the water. In 1872 the brine was found, on being analyzed, to contain 62.3 parts in 1000 of chloride of sodium, 13.4 of sulphate of soda, 10.3 of chloride of mag nesitun, and 0.4 of sulphate of lime. The action of the atmosphere determines its extent;
in dry weather its beaches reeede;.moisture in the air has the contrary effect. The water once occupied most of the Sevier desert, discharging into Salt lake, the channel being still visible 50 in. n. of the present boundary between the Sevier and Salt lake deserts. The track of the current is called the Old River bed, where the springs occur only in intervals of 50 miles. There was a time when the waters of Great Salt and Sevier lakes united in one large lake called Bonnerville, with outlets through Snake and Columbia rivers. The shore lines are defined by fresh-water shells, showing that it covered Great Salt lake, Sevier, and Escalante deserts, and overflowed into the valleys of Utah. Juab, Rush, Skull, Preuss, Snake, and Cedar. Its former level was 575 ft. above the level of Sevier lake in 1872, and 968 ft. above Great Salt lake in 1873, and it was 125 in. wide.