Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology 7 



e. g., at Aloleen Canyon, Maggie Canyon and where the Hum- 

 boldt cuts through the Cortez Range, and even in these places, 

 with the exception of Moleen Canyon, the cHffs are buried in 

 talus nearly to their summits. 



The basin is comj^aratively well drained. The Humboldt 

 River crosses it at the southern end and receives the drainage 

 by several creeks. The river varies in width but flows con- 

 tinuously and with moderate velocity. The discharge in second 

 feet at Palisade-, just west of the basin, is given as 485, 850, 

 929, 759, 756, 284, and 13 for selected dates in April, May, 

 June, Ji^ily and September, 1905. It has a flat-bottomed valley 

 (PI. I, Fig. i), and the meanders are frequently cut oft' to form 

 oxbow ponds. The bed is mostly fine mud except where the 

 river cuts through the mountains. In addition to the ox-bow 

 ponds in the valley, there are numerous irrigation ditches, 

 which contain water during a part of the summer. 



The only other permanent and continuous stream on the 

 basin floor is Maggie Creek, which enters the basin between 

 the Seetoya and Cortez Ranges and, crossing it, empties into 

 the Humboldt near Carlin. This stream also flows in a flat- 

 bottomed valley (PI. II, Fig. i) and meanders considerably, but 

 it has sufficient current to keep the bed rather free from water 

 plants. It only has stony banks where it cuts into the talus 

 slopes in Maggie Canyon, and in this canyon there are a num- 

 ber of small ox-bow ponds. 



The other three streams on the basin floor are Annie (lo- 

 cally Mary), Susan and James Creeks. The first tw^o empty 

 into the Humboldt, the latter into the ]\Iaggie. Susan Creek 

 drains the valley between the Seetoya and River Ranges, and 

 becomes entirely dry during the summer. Annie Creek and 

 James Creek drain the eastern slope of the Cortez Mountains 

 by many canyons. On the basin floor the former becomes 



-U. S. Geol. Sun-., Water-Supply and Irrigation Paper No. 176, p. 75. 



