DAVIS: THE WASATCH, CANYON, AND HOUSE RANGES. 35 
the rainfall even on the mountains is so pitifully small. It has been 
somewhat the fashion in recent years to say that the “great Ameri- 
can desert” of the earlier explorers does not exist. This may be 
taken as a popular manner of correcting the previously wrong belief 
that a desert region is altogether uninhabitable. Truly it is marvel- 
ous to witness the transformation that irrigation has already produced 
in favored areas, and there is every reason to think that still greater 
transformations will be made when the great works of the Reclama- 
tion service are carried out. But it should not be forgotten that the 
total irrigable area can be only a very small part of the enormous arid 
region of the west, because the available water supply is so small. 
The great desert is a permanent feature in the arid western country, 
and its barrenness is only emphasized by the verdure of the oases that 
are dotted about upon it. 
As our horses had no water in the ride of 22 miles from Oak City, 
we stopped at a house in the outskirts of Deseret where a small flowing 
well fills a shaded trough. The farmer had lived here for a score of 
years, depending chiefly on slightly brackish water pumped from a 
Shallow well for house use; ten years ago he tried driving a deeper 
well, and after two days’ work struck at a depth of 150 feet a sheet of 
excellent water which rose to the surface and has been flowing ever 
since. A railroad passes through Deseret: it originally ran to a min- 
ing district farther south; it is now in process of extension southwest- 
ward across the desert country with the aim of eventually reaching 
Southern California. The effort to construct a road across so barren 
and desolate a region indicates how great is the value of a through line. 
A Week about the House Range. The House range is so dry that 
there is only one ranch in its middle and southern part, where our trip 
extended. We therefore engaged a second wagon at Deseret to carry 
a week’s supply of hay and grain for our horses, as well as some bar- 
rels to hold water for certain dry camps. A piece of rubber hose, 
with which to siphon water from barrel to bucket, was a useful item 
In the outfit. Thus reenforced we left Deseret in the late afternoon, 
followed the northern side of the Sevier flood plain, where occasional 
Overflow in the spring and a certain amount of ground water supports 
enough grass to yield pasturage for scattered flocks, and made 12 
miles westward to Craft’s ranch, where a well of rather brackish water 
and some meadows from which hay is harvested, determine the 
dwelling place of a family. The next day, July 19, saw us across the 
western part of the desert, with a temperature of 98° in the early 
afternoon, and up the gentle slope of the eastern side of the House 
