A few miles below the head of the South Jordan canal the seepage 

 waters from the adjacent irrigated districts begin to return to the 

 Jordan River. This seepage water, together with the unused por- 

 tion of waters of the mountain streams to the east Big and the Lit- 

 tle Cotton Woods, Mill Creek, and City Creek, make the composi- 

 tion of the river water exceedingly variable during the remainder of 

 its course. The seepage waters, with their high salt content, tend 

 to make the water poor, while the mountain streams dilute and im- 

 prove its quality. 



The mean salt content of the North Jordan canal is about one hun- 

 dred and seventy parts in one hundred thousand, or, practically, twice 

 as much as that of the South Jordan. Below this the water of the 

 Jordan, because of the entrance of mountain streams, improves ; and 

 we find the mean salt content of the Surplus and the North Point 

 Consolidated canals to be about one hundred and thirty-five parts in 

 one hundred thousand. About two hundred and fifty parts to one 

 hundred thousand is the limit of safety. 



In large irrigation canals water may flow for many miles and de- 

 teriorate very little in quality, while in small ditches the deterioration 

 may become apparent through the evaporation of water and collec- 

 tion of salts from the banks of the ditch. 



The aggregate capacity of the irrigation canals on this area is about 

 six hundred cubic feet per second, but very much less than this 

 amount of water is required or used on the twenty-five thousand 

 acres that are now under irrigation. During the entire summer of 

 1899, large volumes of water were constantly passing the intake of 

 the Surplus canal, and there is apparently enough water going to 

 waste to irrigate all of the better lands west of Salt Lake City, bet- 

 ween the river and the Lake. 



SOILS. 



The soils of this area have been classed under eight heads 



(1) Jordan sands. 



(2) Jordan sandy loams. 



(3) Jordan loams. 



(4) Jordan clay and clay loams. 



(5) Jordan meadows. 



(6) Bingham gravelly loams. 



(7) Bingham stony lands. 



(8) Salt Lake sand (oolitic sand dunes). 



1 . The Jordan sands comprise a small area, usually a narrow belt 

 along the bluffs bordering on the Jordan meadows or river bottom 

 soils. The sand is generally fine-grained and continuous to six or 

 more feet in depth, though occasionally underlaid at a less depth by 

 loam or clay. 



