154 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



extends down from the Uinta range. As we go westward, examples of 

 these massive conglomerates will not surprise us, and in Echo Cation 

 we shall find them three thousand to five thousand feet in thickness. 

 They are probably all of modern tertiary age. 



From the hills about a mile west of Yellow Creek Station we have 

 some of the finest and most extensive views of the country. With a 

 good field-glass we can see objects with considerable distinctness on a 

 clear day for a distance of fifty to a hundred miles in every direction, 

 over a most rugged surface with high ridges and deep gorges, the strata 

 showing red, yellow, gray, and indeed every variety of color. Far to 

 the south we can see the Uinta Mountains, their summits covered with 

 snow the greater portion of the year, forming a most beautiful and sym- 

 metrical background to our view. To the southwest, dimly seen, is 

 the Wasatch range, which separates us from one of the objects of our 

 visit to this country — the Great Salt Lake. North of the road the 

 Goose Creek Mountains are faintly visible, but still loom up with sufficient 

 magnitude to invite our attention. 



At Evanston we leave Bear River Valley and proceed on our way 

 westward, while the river flows far northward into Idaho to Port Neuf 

 Gap, near latitude 42J° N., then it suddenly and almost abruptly flexes 

 about and flows southward until it empties into Bear Biver Bay, a por- 

 tion of Great Salt Lake. 



We may stop at Evanston and study the interesting coal mines with 

 profit. With one exception this is the last point along the hue of the 

 road before reaching the Pacific coast, where we shall have an opportu- 

 nity to examine coal mines possessed of any economic value. The coal 

 is located about three miles from this place on the east bluff of Bear 

 River Valley, and is exposed over but a small area. It seems to have 

 been revealed by the inclination of the coal strata to the east, and the 

 entrances have been made at the base of the bluffs but a few feet above 

 the bed of the valley. A branch railroad has been constructed to these 

 mines, and there is now no limit to the amount of fuel they can furnish. 



The mines have been opened with more system and at greater ex- 

 pense, and I regard them as more valuable and the coal of a better qual- 

 ity than auy I have ever seen west of the Mississippi. Five entrances 

 have been made, each one showing a vertical front to the coal bed, va- 

 rying from twenty to twenty-six feet. The dip is about northeast, and 

 varies from 12° to 19°. For a distance of about a mile along this ab- 

 rupt rocky bluff the coal seems to be exhibited on the grand scale above 

 described, but proceeding either way from that point it disappears or be- 

 comes almost inaccessible. About one hundred feet above the coal bed 

 there is a layer of calcareous sandstone filled with leaves, apparently 

 belonging to extinct species of the genera Magnolia, Tilia, Salix, Ulmus, 

 and Platanus, though very much resembling in form those of our exist- 

 ing forest trees. These leaves indicate that the rocks are of a tertiary 

 age. 



The summits of the hills are capped with a thick bed of conglom- 

 erate, probably of the same age with that which forms " The Nee- 

 dles " near Yellow Creek, and also that shown so grandly in Echo and 

 Weber Valleys. At this point there is a broad expansion of Bear 

 Biver Valley, which makes it a most attractive site for a city. There 

 are here thousands of acres of fertile land that could be easily irrigated, 

 and even now they form a vast meadow, covered during the summer and 

 autumn with a luxuriant crop of grass. 



From Evanston we might branch off in any direction and visit places 

 of great interest of which but little is known as yet. Not far north- 





