HOW THE EARTH WAS EXPLORED IN 1876. 557 



is cbaiacterized by great plateaus bounded by lines of cliffs from 1,000 

 to 2,000 feet in height, varying from 20 to 200 miles in length, the 

 whole intersected with a network of deep and narrow caiions, present- 

 ing nearly impassable barriers. Of one section of about 7,000 square 

 miles, only about one per cent, is available for agriculture ; about five 

 j)er cent, is covered by pine and spruce, the remainder being a desert 

 waste. There are large quantities of excellent coal, but no precious 

 metals were discovered. The average elevation of this region is about 

 7,000 feet. Another section in Southwestern Utah and Southeastern 

 Nevada of about 4,000 square miles was found one of the most barren 

 regions of the whole Great Basin. It is marked by ranges rising to 

 9,000 feet, with broad desert valleys between. Little timber-land or 

 land fit for cultivation was found, the pasturage being of the poorest 

 quality. The climate is milder than that of Eastern Utah, and very 

 dry, the annual rainfall not exceeding four inches. " There is no coal 

 in this region, but it is known to contain large amounts of silver. 

 The well-developed mining district of Pioche was within the region 

 examined, and also a newly-organized district at Leeds, on the Virgin 

 River, Utah, where silver, instead of occurring in veins, is dissemi- 

 nated in the form of horn-silver, through a stratum of sandstone be- 

 longing to the Jura Trias. Between 4,000 and 5,000 men have gath- 

 ered at this last-named district (Leeds) within the past few months." 

 Extensive collections have been made illustrative of the arts and 

 industries of the Indian tribes, embracing totemic carvings, stone 

 implements, clothing, ornaments, furniture, and manufactures, of the 

 Pueblo race; heraldic columns from Vancouver's Island, of painted 

 wood from 25 to 40 feet high, erected in front of their dwellings, 

 which are communal, holding from 100 to 300 people. These houses 

 are made from slabs rived out of great tree-trunks with wooden 

 wedges and stone mallets. Canoes were obtained 60 feet in length, 

 dug from single logs ; many tons of ancient stone implements, said to 

 surpass in beauty of finish any aboriginal remains of like nature 

 hitherto discovered, together with pottery, have been forwarded to 

 the Smithsonian Institution from Southern California. The United 

 States Signal Service Corps " is making rapid advances toward a com- 

 plete knowledge of the conditions and causes of the American climate. 

 They have nearly completed the most extensive collection of altitudes 

 of places in North America which has ever been gathered. The list 

 includes several thousand profiles, representing almost every railroad 

 and canal. From this and other data they are making a relief model 

 of North America on a large scale. A telegraph-line has been built 

 by them from Central Texas across the Llano Estacado, that dreaded 

 waterless desert, and one across the high and arid plateaus and 

 ranges of Southern New Mexico and Arizona to San Diego, on the Pa- 

 cific. This gives an unbroken line from Savannah along the southern 

 border of the United States, stretching from ocean to ocean. Thirty 



