GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF THE TEEEITORIES. 231 



KIVEES AND LAKES. • 



The rivers of the basin are small, and, so far as the volume of water 

 is concerned, of small importance, bat in other respects play a conspic- 

 uous part in the development of the country. The principal ones are 

 the ELumboldt and Carson, in the western area, and the Bear and Jor- 

 dan Eivers, in the eastern part. Sevier and Beaver Elvers, in the 

 southwestern part of Utah, are considerable streams as compared with 

 others of the section ; but as little is accurately known in regard to 

 them, I pass them without any special notice. Weber River, on account 

 of its position, and as forming a gap through the mountain, is important. 

 Provo (or Timpanogas) may be considered as a tributary to the Jordan. 



As a list of the principal valleys of Nevada will be appended to this 

 report, with a short notice of the agricultural resources of each, I shall 

 omit further reference to that State at present, except the bearing the 

 Humboldt Elver and Valley have upon the travel and commerce of the 

 basin. This stream, rising in the northeast part of Nevada, runs a lit- 

 tle south of west for about three hundred miles, where it suddenly disap- 

 I)ears in what has been very significantly and appropriately termed the 

 "Humboldt Sink," on the extreme western side of the State. Though 

 a little stream of but few yards in width at its widest point, winding its 

 way down the gradual descent through narrow valleys of a monotonous 

 uniformity that soon tires the most enthusiastic traveler, wholly inade- 

 quate for navigation of any kind, yet it possesses an importance not to 

 be overlooked. Its valley forms a natural channel for the great inter- 

 oceanic highway, furnishing a natural and, we might say, the only, easy 

 pathway and water-supply through a barren region of mountains and 

 valleys for thi;ee hundred miles. This is certainly a consideration of no 

 small moment, for it renders it really more valuable to the nation and 

 the world than if, without this, it were navigable from head to mouth. 

 Small as it is compared with the treeless ranges of hill and plain on 

 each side, yet it will furnish the means of forming at least a narrow line 

 of green fields through this comparatively barren section ; for, to say the 

 beat we can of this region, although, perhai)S, affording moderate graz- 

 ing fields, yet outside of the immediate bottoms of the few streams it has 

 a barren and uninviting appearance. This line assumes still more im- 

 portance when we take into consideration the large mining area on each 

 side, especially south, to which it forms the base of travel and commerce; 

 and the prevailing direction of the ridges and valleys, before alluded to, 

 lend additional force to this statement. It must ever be the chief axis 

 of inland commerce and travel for the western portion of this great 

 basin, and, consequently, a link in a through transverse line. Other 

 lines of railroad may, and x)robably will, hereafter traverse the country 

 north and south of this, but not so closely as to do away with its im- 

 portance. Human genius and energy may make a pathway through the 

 most rugged portions, but nature has prepared but one transverse chan- 

 nel in this region ; longitudinally (north and south) there are many. But 

 while the river is thus intimately connected with the development of the 

 material resources of the country, on the contrary, the reservoir into 

 which it pours its waters possesses no other than scientific interest — 

 simply a marshy spot in a saiidy plain, the extent of the water surface 

 governed by the supply and capacity of the sands to drink it up and 

 the atmosphere to evaporate it, the two latter generally being in excess 

 of the former. 



Bear River, the largest tributary to Salt Lake, takes its rise in Utah, 

 near the southwest angle of Wyoming. After \Yiuding its way north- 



