DIVISION OF SOILS. 69 



of the cost of reclaiininii' this damaged land are now being worked out, 

 and it will be shown that the reelauiation is both possible and a good 

 business proposition. The alkali is confined principally to the south- 

 ern part of the area, and has its origin in a hardpan below the surface, 

 so that it did not at first show any effects on vegetation. After 

 irrigation was introduced this material disintegrated and the alkali 

 was brought to the surface. This hardpan is soft, and when moist is 

 easily penetrated by roots or broken up by f)lows where near the sur- 

 face, and it is only the alkali which it contains that makes it par- 

 ticularly harmful to vegetation. In the northern half of the area 

 , this alkali hardi)an is believed to underlie the land, but the surface 

 is much higher, and the alkali is buried in places to a deiDth of 40 

 feet. Overlying this the soils are free from alkali, but there is a dif- 

 ferent hardpan cemented with iron and silica, so that it forms virtually 

 a sandstone, which is in layers interbedded Avith sand and other loose 

 material to a depth frequently of 40 feet. Over a considerable part 

 of this area this hardpan conies to within o feet of the surface, and 

 the soils are so shallow that fruit trees can not be successfully grown, 

 and the crops are liable to fail. Some of this land is quite worthless, 

 while part of it is used very successfully for wheat and barley under 

 dry farming. This hardpan is a mucli more serious problem in the 

 Fresno area than the alkali. Attemj)ts have been made to blast out 

 holes for fruit trees and grapevines, with apparent success, but at a 

 cost of 840 or $50 per acre. The results of this work will be fully set 

 forth in the report which will accomi^any the maps. 



Tlie Gardner party. — During the first four months of the fiscal year, 

 with the cooi^eration and assistance of the Utah experiment station, a 

 survey was made of a portion of Salt Lake County, comprising about 

 250 square miles, or 160,000 acres. Of this area, about 32,000 acres 

 have been under successful irrigation; but 0,400 acres of this, or one- 

 fifth of the whole irrigated area, have been ruined by seepage water 

 and rise of alkali, and are now lying out as waste and worthless land. 



About one-half the total, or 80,000 acres, lies in such a way that it 

 could be irrigated, and there is water enough of "good quality, but the 

 land contains so much alkali, especially in the lower depths, that any 

 such attempt has failed, and much money has thus been lost. The 

 land adjoins Salt Lake City and stretches out to the Great Salt Lake, 

 a distance of 18 miles. Preliminary estimates make it appear that 

 60,000 acres of this land could be reclaimed by underdrainage at a 

 cost of not exceeding $20 per acre. The land now has a mere nominal 

 value. Comparison with adjoining lands indicates a value of at least 

 670 per acre, if it were in good condition. Allowing for the cost of 

 reclamation, this would give a clear increase in value of at least 

 §3,000,000. These matters have been clearly set forth in a paper, 

 with accompanying maps, in Report No. 64, which has just been issued 

 by the Department. 



Earl}" this spring work was again undertaken in Utah in cooperation 

 with the Utah experiment station, this time in the Sevier Valley, 

 where 225 to 250 square miles will be surveyed and mapped. Inter- 

 esting conditions have been found in this area, unlike those prevail- 

 ing in other localities in which the work has been carried on. The 

 soils were originally quite salty, the salts consisting principally of 

 common salt. The water supply has been so small that great economy 

 has been exercised in the application of water in irrigation. The soils 

 generally are quite porous and hjivegood natural drainage. The first 



