IRRIGABLE LANDS OF THE SALT LAKE DRAINAGE SYSTEM. 117 
take account of all future increase, and wherever storage by reservoirs 
seemed practicable a rough estimate was made of the extent of land that 
could be thus reclaimed. 
There are a few restricted areas in Utah that yield remunerative crops 
to the farmer without the artificial application of water. Their productive- 
ness is doubled or trebled by the use of water, and so far as they are sus- 
ceptible of irrigation they need not be distinguished from the irrigable 
lands. When the greater rivers shall have been diverted to the work of 
irrigation, nearly all such areas will be supplied with water, but a few will 
not. The endeavor has been to include the latter as well as the former 
in the estimate of the agricultural land. 
The term ‘agricultural land” is construed to include that which is 
used or may be used for the production of hay as well as that cultivated 
by the plow. Most irrigable lands may be utilized in either way, but there 
are some tracts which, on account of the severity of the climate or the 
impurity of the water, are adapted to the growth of grass only. 
| have sought in the foregoing remarks to set forth as briefly as 
possible the methods and scope of my investigations, and to indicate the 
degree of accuracy to be anticipated in the resulting estimates. To. these 
estimates we will now proceed. 
IRRIGATION BY THE LARGE STREAMS. 
Three rivers enter Great Salt Lake—the Bear, the Weber, and the 
Jordan, and upon their water will ultimately depend the major part of the 
agriculture of Utah. By a curious coincidence, the principal heads of the 
three rivers lie close together in the western end of the Uinta range of 
mountains. 
The Bear River runs northward at first, and a little beyond the foot of 
the mountains enters the Territory of Wyoming. Swerving to the left, it 
passes again into Utah, and swerving again to the right returns to Wyo- 
ming. From Wyoming it runs northward into Idaho, and after making 
a great detour to the north returns on a more westerly line to Utah. It 
reénters in Cache Valley, and passes thence by a short canon to its delta 
plain on the northwestern border of Great Salt Lake. Its principal tribu- 
