IRRIGABLE LANDS OF THE COLORADO DRAINAGE. 159 
generally of good quality. East of the San Rafael Swell, and lying on 
both sides of the river, at an altitude of 4,000 feet, are 20 square miles of 
arable land, which could be easily irrigated. The river was carefully 
measured in July, 1876, and the volume of flow found to be 1,676 cubic 
feet per second. The three branches in Castle Valley were also measured, 
with results closely approximating the measurement of the united streams. 
These measurements were made at high water, though not when the 
streams were at their flood. As most of this volume is derived from the 
melting snow, which rarely disappears from the high plateau before the 
middle of July, the flow would be maintained with considerable steadiness 
during a large part of what would be the critical period in the irrigation 
of this valley. After the middle of July the decrease would be very rapid 
until September, and the lowest stage of water reached about the first of 
October, when the river would not flow probably more than 400 cubic feet. 
THE PRICE RIVER. 
This river rises in the angle formed by the intersection of the Wasatch 
and Western Tayaputs Plateaus, receiving tributaries from both these table 
lands, and has a general easterly course for 100 miles. It crosses the 
northern end of Castle Valley, and then flows through a broken country 
near the foot of the escarpment called the Book Cliffs, forming the southern 
boundary of the Tavaputs Plateau, till within 20 miles of the Green 
River, when it cuts through this escarpment into the plateau and joins the 
Green a few miles above the foot of Gray Canon. The arable lands along 
its course are mostly found in Castle Valley, where there are at least 50 
square miles—a quantity considerably in excess of the irrigating capacity 
of the stream. The volume of water was measured in July, 1877, a few 
miles below where it debouches into Castle Valley, and found to be 189 
cubic feet per second. It must suffer great loss from absorption, as the 
volume when leaving the cliffs is much greater, and the aggregated flow of 
the branches on the plateaus is at least twice as great. 
MINNIE MAUD CREEK. 
This stream rises in the broken country, where the Western Tavaputs 
and Wasatch Plateaus break into the Uinta Mountains. It has a general 
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