GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OP THE TERRITORIES. 53 



As I have before stated, there seem to he three belts or zones of country 

 which one passes over in travelin g south ward from Fort Bridger to the crest 

 of the Uintas. 1. The modern tertiary formations which jut up against the 

 foot-hills, an dare so denuded as to present to the eye an arid, naked appear- 

 ance. We then pass suddenly to the second belt, which we ascend by a con- 

 tinued but almost uninterrupted ascent to an elevation of over eleven 

 thousand feet. The lower portion of this zone is covered to a greater 

 or less extent with groves of aspen, mingled with the spruce and pine. 

 As we ascend the aspens cease and the pines become more dense. Here 

 and there we find most beautiful meadow-like openings, with springs of 

 water and a luxuriant growth of grass. Some of these meadows occupy two 

 thousand acres. Looking down from some high peak across the belt, 

 these openings meet the eye continually, and contrast most beautifully 

 by the tawny color of their autumn dress with the dark, sombre foliage of 

 the pines. The great luxuriance of the vegetation reveals the fertility 

 of the soil. The third belt, which forms the crest, contrasts again by the 

 almost entire absence of vegetation or water and the excessive rugged- 

 ness of the surface. In no other portion of our continent have I ever 

 seen such types of scenery. Cones, pyramids, domes, and cathedrals, 

 sometimes as sharply cut as if they had been wrought by art, occur at 

 the sources of all the streams that rise in the anticlinal fissure. 



The height of Gilbert's Peak, at the head of Henry's Fork, was ascer- 

 tained by Mr. Beaman, with the barometer, to be 13,182 feet. Cox's 

 Peak, at the head the middle branch of Black's Fork, rises like an im- 

 mense dome above the surrounding country, 13,250 feet above tide- water. 

 Dawe's Peak, on the dividing ridge between the west branch of 

 Black's Fork and the east branch of Bear River, sends its sharp cone- 

 like summit still higher, 13,300 feet. Logan's Peak marks the source of 

 the middle branch of Bear River and is 13,250 feet above tide- water. 

 All these are covered to a greater or less extent with perpetual snow. 

 From a higher ridge that extends from the crest on the west side of the 

 Uinta range there is one peak still loftier than any of those named, 

 which we estimated to be 13,500 feet. 



Nearly all the important streams that flow from either side of the 

 range have their origin within a short distance of each other. From 

 the summit of any of these peaks we can see the sources of them all at 

 a glance. Looking at this range from the Union Pacific Railroad, or 

 from Fort Bridger, thirty-five to forty miles distant, there is a very great 

 difference in the clearness with which the summits can be seen at different 

 periods of the year and upon different days. Sometimes, as the early 

 sunlight falls upon them, they appear so near, through the clear atmos- 

 phere of this region, that they seem almost within our grasp. Again 

 they are obscured with clouds or fog and are so faintly visible that they 

 appear as a dim outline on the horizon. 



An interesting feature in connection with this range is the limit of 

 arborescent vegetation. On the north side of the range we determined 

 the highest poiut, where low trailing shrubs grew, to be 10,769 feet, 

 and estimated 10,500 feet as the limit of upright trees. As we ascend 

 above this line the pines begin to dwindle until they trail upon the 

 ground, and exhibit all the symptoms of a desperate struggle for exist- 

 ence, and finally disappear entirely. As we pass above the borders of 

 upright trees, the stunted pines gather in groups, sometimes not more 

 than four to six feet in height, forming the most unique but scraggy 

 forms. In one instance about twenty of these trees formed a complete 

 circle, inclosing a clear space of about fifteen feet in diameter; the tops, 

 leaning toward the center, made a complete shelter. I gave it the some- 



