Image Description from historic lecture booklet: "The Jordan rises west of Mt. Hermon and after spreading out into Lake Mermon and the sea of Galilee, discharges its waters into the Dead Sea, 1292 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. From Lake Mermon to the Dead Sea, which has no outlet and is a body of salt water, the course of the Jordon is below sea level. The Valley of the Jordon the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee occupy a portion of the long narrow depression in the surface of the earth. At the east and west margins of the depression there are great fissures of breaks in the rocks and the land between these fissures has fallen or been drawn in toward the center of the earth. The Jordon varies in width from 30 to 70 yards, but in January and February it over flows its banks and is from a half-mile to two miles wide. The soil in the valley is very rich except near the Dead Sea. In Mid-winter the landscape is green with grass and bright with flowers, but in summer it has the general appearance of a desert."