GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 211 



and the supply of food for himself and family. He is well aware that 

 soon after they have disappeared, the little rills will cease to flow, his 

 ditches become dry, and his crops, unless jpreviously matured, become 

 parched and withered under the influence of the sun and this remark- 

 ably dry atmosphere. Hence the snows of winter, when heavy in the 

 mountains, instead of being looked upon as misfortunes, are hailed as 

 the sure harbingers of a plenteous harvest the following seasons. I 

 have more than once heard the remark made by those who have long 

 resided in that country, "It would be better for us if we had more snow ;" 

 and I am inclined to think the statement true. A hasty trip across the 

 great mountain belt on one line will doubtless give to the casual ob- 

 server the impression that there is a general sameness throughout. 

 The broken crests and peaks of the eastern range and rugged forest- 

 crowned Sierra will doubtless be contrasted with the broad inter- 

 vening waste of ridges, valleys, and i^lains, but will scarcely do away 

 with the impression of monotonous uniformity. But a closer study of 

 these vast monuments of nature's building will show us new forms, va- 

 rying features, and different characters at every step. 



Instead of being arranged in continuous ridges, as was for a long 

 time supposed, this immense belt is broken and irregular, at one point 

 grouping its loftiest peaks and ridges in a compact mass, while at 

 another isolated ranges have wide wastes lying between them. The 

 water divide between the Atlantic and Pacific slopes, in some places 

 being the crest of the loftiest ridge, running a tortuous course, winding 

 right and left, yet with a general northwest and southeast direction, at 

 other points it is an undetinable line on a broad and apparently level 

 artemisia plain. 



The mountain region reaches from the eastern slope that descends to 

 the great plains to the Sierra Nevada ; but the true Rocky Mountain 

 belt, although vast in its proportions, is much more limited, extending, 

 in the latitude of Colorado and Southern Wyoming, from the eastern 

 flank to the Wahsatch Eange, a distance, direct, of some three hundred 

 and fifty miles. Here, in the western half of Colorado, eastern part of 

 Utah, and southern border of Wyoming, is the heaviest mountain mass 

 in the Union. Extending east and west from one hundred and fifth to 

 one hundred and twelfth meridians, and north and south from the 

 thirty-seventh to the forty-first parallels, it covers a quadrangular area 

 of nearly one hundred thousand square miles. Within these bounds are 

 collected a large number of the highest peaks and ridges of the entire 

 Eocky Mountain belt. It is split into two parts by the valley of Green 

 Eiver, which traverses the entire area from north to south near the one 

 hundred and tenth meridian, the eastern moiety containing the heaviest 

 portion. 



From the southern boundary of Wyoming to the southern boundary 

 of Colorado, the eastern range, which lies principally between the one 

 hundred and fifth and one hundred and seventh meridians, is exceed- 

 ingly rugged, broken up into sharp peaks and tortuous ridges. On the 

 eastern slope it is composed of an irregular series of ridges, leaning one 

 against the other in ascending order toward the west; these at a few 

 points separating, so as to leave large depressed areas, as the parks. 

 Upper Arkansas Valley, &c. This form, connected with the great eleva- 

 tion of this entire mountain area, has a very important bearing upon 

 the agricultural resources of the plains and valleys at the eastern base, 

 as it affords immense reservoirs for the accumulation of winter snows, 

 from which the streams can draw a suijply of water. Hence, most of the 

 streams which take their rise in this range are perennial, affording an 



