Postcard from Soap Lake

This image is of the northern end of Soap Lake. The lake got its name from the naturally occurring foam that occasionally appears along the shoreline. The water has a slick soapy feel because of its mineral-rich content, long thought to have healing medicinal powers. In fact, for many years, the VA Administration had a hospital at the south end of the lake to treat skin diseases.  

Compared to the ocean and other naturally occurring mineral resources in the world, Soap Lake still has the highest diverse mineral content of any body of water on the planet. Soap Lake water contains ichthyols, an oil-like substance sold over the counter in Europe to treat infections and abrasions. The icthyol in Soap Lake water most likely come from decomposition of tiny brine-like red shrimp that flourish in the water from late spring to mid-summer (as you might imagine, there are no fish in the lake). Like the Dead Sea, the high mineral content of the lake makes the water very buoyant.

Now, don’t let this scientific analysis take away from the beauty of this scene. Like many photos in my collection, I got lucky with the weather…not to mention no wind to disturb the reflections.

Soap Lake is located in North Central Washington, at the very southern end of the 60 mile-long Grand Coulee. At the northern end of the coulee is the massive Grand Coulee Dam. In the photo, you can see the walls of the coulee start to shrink in size as they go from right to left. By the time they get to the southern part of the lake, they disappear almost completely and you are left on the large, rolling plains that makes up central Washington. The city of Soap Lake lies at the southern end of the lake.

(To see a larger version of this photo, just click on the image)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com

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