A SKETCH OF THE BOTANY OF THE BASIN OF THE GREAT SALT LAKE OF UTAH. 157 
sides of the hills, and sometimes as far down as their base, forming the small meadows 
above mentioned. hese feldspathic particles, mixed with vegetable mould and the de- 
tritus of the limestone of which the mountain slopes are principally composed, forms with 
them a rich and light soil; which, absorbing moisture rapidly, is very productive of vege- 
tation, and adapted to almost every kind of culture. 
This line of deposit is narrow, and not continuous. Opposite the Great Salt Lake City, 
which lies in the centre of the fertile valley of the Wahsatch Mountains, it occupies the 
entire space from the mountains to the shores of the Lake. The arable lands thereon, 
from Bear River, its northern terminus, to the Mormon City, and those situated above, 
along the right bank of the River Jordan, are estimated by Major Stansbury at about 744 
square miles, perhaps the richest lands of Utah. To these must be added some plots of 
good soil, abundantly covered with verdure, on Antelope, Stansbury and Carrington Islands, 
and on the great northern promontory. This is about all the lands susceptible of affording 
vegetation in the whole of that extensive area, constituting the Basin of the Great Salt Lake. 
The characters of the soil of that very strange region, may, therefore, be stated as fol- 
lows:—Ist, Immense flats of sandy plains, highly saline and mostly sterile, producing but 
a few hardy grayish-looking plants peculiar to such soils. 2d, Rocky summits of moun- 
tains, equally denuded of vegetation. Lastly, fertile valleys on the declivities of the moun- 
tains and on the islands and promontories of the Lake, all possessing a soil almost homoge- 
neous in its chemical constitution, and affording fully the nine-tenths of the limited num- 
ber of distinct species composing the Flora of the Great Salt Lake Basin. 
To this identity of soil, of exposure and of atmospheric influence in these fertile sections, 
are we to look for the true causes of the remarkably small number of species belonging to 
this Flora. Otherwise, these species do not seem to be affected by the saline emanations, 
and resemble in their general characters those collected by Mr. Nuttall, on the Valleys of 
the Wallawalla; by the Rey. Spalding, on those of the Sweet Water River, and by other 
botanical collectors on the ridges of the Snake River and other slopes of the Blue Moun- 
tains of Oregon. 
In the following sketch in which I have embodied the four collections made by Messrs. 
Fremont,* Stansbury, Beckwith, and by Mrs. Carrington, I do not pretend to give a full 
enumeration of the actual botany of the Salt Lake Basin; but I am confident that they 
contain the greater portion of the plants growing in that region. I expect, moreover, to 
obtain from the same source some additional materials, which may form hereafter the sub- 
ject of a supplement to the present sketch. 
* T must say that the specimens brought by Colonel Fremont from the regions of Oregon and California, had 
been greatly injured by the difficulties and accidents of the voyage, and many therefore could not be properly ex- 
mined by Dr. Torrey. 
Philadelphia, March 1st, 1859. 
VOL. X1.—2] 
