UTAH 



6011 



UTAH 



beyond, the gray desert and the dull, day 

 mesas grotesquely molded by wind and rain. 

 Foremost among 'the points of scenic interest 

 are the natural bridges of San Juan County. 

 The Nonnezoshi Bridge is the highest natural 



OUTLINE MAP OF UTAH 

 Showing: boundaries, rivers, chief cities, loca- 

 tions of coal measures and metals, and the high- 

 eat point of land in the state. 



bridge in the world, and others are high enough 

 to span the dome of the national Capitol build- 

 ink' in Washington. Other objects of interest 

 are the great organ rock, resembling a huge 

 pipe organ, 490 feet high and 350 feet wide, 

 which rises from the plain southwest of Bluff; 

 Colorado River Canyon, and Bridal Veil 

 Falls in Prove Canyon. 

 Rivers and Lakes. The principal river in 

 i is the Colorado, which is formed by the 

 union of the Green and Grand rivers, in the east- 

 ern part of the state. The Green and the Colo- 

 rado are fed by many rivers rising in the Uinta 

 and Wasatch mountains, including the Du- 

 chesne, the White, the Price, the San Rafael 

 and the Virgin. The San Juan, entrnnc the 

 heastern corner of the state from Colorado, 

 ie. largest tributary from the east. The ex- 

 .,> north west corner is drained by small 

 affluents of the Snake River in Idaho, and the 

 i of the western half of the state 

 is included in the Great Basin region, tin 



largest area of interior drainage in the United 

 States. The chief river of this section is the 

 Sevier, which rises in the Wasatch Mountains 

 cuts a deep canyon through their western 

 ridges and flows down into Sevier Lake. The 

 Prove, Weber and the Bear rivers rise in the 

 t rn end of the Uinta range and flow into 

 Utah Lake. Many of the small streams, fed by 

 mountain torrents, evaporate or are absorbed in 

 the salty soil when they reach the plain. 



Great Salt Lake and the smaller lakes of the 

 region are the remnants of a fresh-water lake 

 which at one time covered a great basin of 

 19,760 square miles. The shore lines of this 

 lake of olden times may be seen on the hill- 

 sides. 



Climate. Lying between the high ranges of 

 the Sierra Nevada and the Rocky Mountains, 

 Utah is cut off from the moisture-bearing winds, 

 and the climate is exceedingly dry. The sum- 

 mer temperature ranges from almost tropical 

 heat in the southwest to cool temperatures in 

 the high mountains, where it freezes nearly 

 every night of the year. The winters are se- 

 vere in the northern part of the state, though 

 mild in the south. The lofty elevation and 

 lack of humidity make the climate invigorat- 

 ing and healthful. The rainfall is slight, th. 

 annual average being sixteen inches ; the greater 

 part of it occurs during the winter and in the 

 higher ranges, where the peaks are covered with 

 eternal snow. 



Irrigation and Agriculture. The climate is 

 favorable for agriculture, and except in tin- 

 Great Desert crops grow luxuriantly \\h: 

 water can be obtained. Irrigation has been of 

 greatest importance in the development of the 

 state it has been its salvation. It was intro- 

 duced by the Mormons, who were the pioneers 

 in the practice of irrigation in the West. The 

 land was divided into small farms of uniform 

 site, and the irrigating systems \\- oiled 



by Mormon authorities, who impartially and 

 economically distributed tin- water. With tin- 

 opening of the unimproved arras for dry funn- 

 ing (which sec), the firm--, which originally 

 averaged smaller than in my other state, have 

 increased in size. The available supply of 

 water has recently been increased by the build- 

 ing of reservoirs. The total area of irrigated 

 land exceeds 1,000,000 acres, or about five-sixths 

 of all the improved land. 



Although only a small proportion of the total 

 land area has been improved, agriculture has 

 always been the chief occupation, and it is a 

 steadily growing industry. The principal farm- 



