F. GEOGRAPHY. 153 



On the way down the party explored the region to the 

 west of the Green and Colorado, tracing the courses of the 

 larger streams emptying into the two great rivers to their 

 sources in the "Wasatch Mountains and Sevier Plateau, and 

 examined the geology of the great mesas and cliffs. 



Early in the winter a base-line 47,000 feet in length was 

 measured on a meridian running south from Kanab, and the 

 party is now engaged in extending a system of triangles 

 along the cliffs and peaks among lateral canons of the Col- 

 orado. 



During the past season the party has discovered many 

 more ruins of the communal houses once occupied by the 

 pre-historic people of that land. Many of these houses stood 

 on the cliffs overhanging the canons, and many more are 

 found in the valleys among the mountains to the west. Stone 

 implements, pottery, basket-ware, and other articles were 

 found buried in some of the ruins. 



The major found a tribe of Utes on the Kaibab Plateau 

 who still make stone arrow-heads and other stone imple- 

 ments, and he had opportunity to observe the process of 

 manufacturing such tools. 



PROFESSOR MARSH'S EXPLORATIONS IX 18*71. 



A late number of the College Courant, of New Haven, con- 

 tains a detailed account of the exploring expedition under 

 Professor Marsh, which occupied the greater part of the warm 

 season of 1871, and of which Ave have already furnished occa- 

 sional notices to our readers. The general plan, as already 

 stated, embraced excursions from several points, exploring as 

 many different fields, with special reference to the examina- 

 tion of regions comparatively little known. 



The first starting-point of operations was Fort Wallace, and 

 from this post the cretaceous deposits of Southwestern Kan- 

 sas and the region of the Smoky River were investigated. 

 The second proceeded from Fort Bridger, in Western Wyo- 

 ming, to examine the ancient tertiary lake basin previously 

 discovered by Professor Marsh. Salt Lake City was the ini- 

 tial point of the third exploration, and the party proceeded 

 thence to the Shoshone Falls, on Snake River, and from there 

 to Boise City, in Idaho ; thence they passed over the Blue 

 Mountains to the head waters of the John Dav River, and fol- 



G2 



