REPORT OP COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION 103 



The mean annual temperature of the Great Basin section is 49.3; that 

 of the sections most favorably situated for grape production 49.6 to 52.2. 

 Winter temperatures of 10 to 15 below zero and summer temperatures of 

 85 to 100 are common. 



In the St. George district the mean annual temperature is 53.9 4 the 

 'owest and 116 the highest temperatures recorded in thirty years. The 

 common low winter temperatures from 15 to 32 occur through December 

 and early January, and normally occur only during the early morning hours, 

 the day temperatures nearly always registering 35 or above. 



The St. George district is not only warmer but also has a growing 

 season three to four weeks longer than Bear River, Salt and Utah Lake 

 Valleys of the Great Basin enjoy. 



The rainfall of these valleys ranges from 14 to 19 inches, that of the 

 St. George district is 8.3 inches, so that in each section irrigation is neces- 

 sary to mature crops properly. 



The above mentioned valleys range from eight to eighteen miles in 

 width, their lengths from thirty to sixty miles and have their long axis in a 

 north and south line. They are typical of the valleys lying within the Great 

 Basin and like many of the others were once occupied by prehistoric Lake 

 Bonneville. The benches left by this lake as it receded make up the most 

 valuable fruit lands, the soils ranging through coarse and fine gravels, sands 

 and loams and clay loams, with almost every type of subsoil. 



The St. George district is made up of a low broken valley with irregular 

 benches and bottom land. The soils are made up of decomposed granites, 

 sandstones and basalt with some river silts all more or less impregnated 

 with gypsum and white alkali. 



The Mormon pioneers of 1847 found clear streams issuing from the 

 Wasatch Range and these they used to irrigate their crops. In time these 

 streams have been made to irrigate practically all of the valleys lying 

 immediately at the foot of this range, though the valleys to the westward 

 have less water and a great proportion of their lands will probably never be 

 irrigated. 



Likewise the Mormon pioneers of 1862 found a few small streams and 

 springs in Utah's Dixie and while these have been developed wonderfully 

 there is still water enough for greater areas of land. Their chief source is 

 the Rio Virgin River which sometimes carries half its weight of silt. 



The pioneers of 1847 brought with them the seeds of fruits and vege- 

 tables and it is probable that grape seeds were among them. The first 

 grapes brought into Utah's Dixie were from California and arrived some 

 time before 1870. Here the industrious pioneers gave the grapes more atten- 

 tion than they received in the north, probably because they thrived better 

 and because the fruit and its products found ready sale in the northern 

 settlements. 



Since those early days the Utah grape market has been captured by the 

 California grower, mainly because the local supply was inadequate and 

 because the fruit was presented in a more attractive form and cheaper than 

 it could be secured by wagon and rail from the distant Dixie settlements. 

 California ships in, according to the most reliable estimates, about thirty 

 carloads (900 crates to the car) of Vinifera grapes in four-basket twenty- 

 pound crates. About twenty thousand eight-pound baskets of Concords are 



