192 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



CHAPTER I. 



WAHSATCH MOUNTAINS— OGDEN TO FOET HALL. 



The first instnllraent of the party reached Ogden, Utah, which had 

 beeu determined on as our rendezvous, ui)on the evening of Friday, 

 May 24 ; and the work of the season was commenced on the following 

 day, by the ascent of a peak of the Wahsatch Eange, which stands di- 

 rectly back of the town, and has been called Ogden Peak. This is the 

 culminating point of that block of mountains which is separated from 

 the northerly and southerly continuations of the range by the canons of 

 Weber and Ogden Rivers. No mercurial barometer was taken to the 

 summit ; but its height was twice measured with aneroid barometers, 

 and once, roughly, with a pocket-level. The elevation was thus approx- 

 imately determined at 5,298 feet above the railroad at Ogden Station, 

 or 9,638 feet above the sea-level. 



The mountain was originally pretty well covered with a tolerably 

 thick growth of small-sized pine and spruce, with some cedar along the 

 limestone outcrops, except on the steepest slopes, which, where not en- 

 tirely bare of soil, had, and still have, very dense, low growths of a form 

 of "Jersey tea," {Geanothus velntiniis,) and of small "mountain mahog- 

 any," {Gercocarpus lecUfoHus,) mostly so depressed by the winter's snows 

 as to have taken a permanent downward slope, which greatly increases 

 the difficulty of the steej) ascent, but often renders the descent alto- 

 gether too easy. The timber has mostly been cut, except on the highest 

 parts of the mountain ; and, along the small caiions and lower slopes, 

 the places of the pine and spruce have been taken by a small growth of 

 scrub-oak {Quercus alba) and ma]}\es, {Acer glahrum and A. grandiden- 

 tattim.) This oak also abounds along most of the small streams which 

 flow from all the canons, and extends in small groves far out upon the 

 terraces. I think that we may reasonably expect these and other 

 " hard woods " to increase and take the place of the pines which have so 

 nearly disappeared, and which have here but very few descendants. 



Upon our tirst ascent of th6 mountain, we reached the lower edge of 

 the snow, upon a si)ur, at about 2,000 feet below the summit, and, on 

 our return, descended to nearly the same level, in a ravine, by " sitting 

 glissades," over the soft surface. 



At the time of our arrival, the streams issuing from the caiions were 

 pretty full, though variable, by reason of the daily meltings and nightly 

 freezes; but, before our departure for the northward, the snow drifts 

 were so greatly reduced that their flow had nearly ceased ; and the irri- 

 gation of the lower ground immediately about the town, until then 

 depending on these streams, was supplied entirely from Ogden River, 

 by a ditch starting at the mouth of Ogden Canon. This failure during 

 the summer will render the cultivation of the higher terraces impossible, 

 or at least extremely precarious, until ditches are run up the Ogden or 

 the Weber River far enough to take water at quite a high level. 



Except along the immediate banks of the streams, these terraces are 

 mostly overgrown with sage-brush, though the scrub-oaks before men- 

 tioned also spread out over considerable areas, and there are some 

 patches of almost barren sand and gravel. Along most of the mountain, 

 there are only three prominent terraces, marking old lake-levels, the 

 highest reaching the level of about 876 feet above the railroad, or 966 

 feet above the present lake-level ; but they are much more numerous 

 near the mouths of the streams, where the stream-currents have dis- 



