GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 243 



Cedar Valley lies west of the lake, behind the range of hills that here 

 rises up near the shore, and is about thirty miles long from north to 

 south, and averages ten miles in width, and contains perhaps one hun- 

 dred and fifty square miles of land that can be cultivated. It is watered 

 by two small streams that run in from the west and northwest, and 

 which afford sufficient water to irrigate the northern and western por- 

 tions, especially around Crittenden and Cedar City. The land is good 

 and productive. The valley is partially settled, and there are already 

 two saw-mills and one flouring-mill in operation here. 1 did not have 

 an opportunity of visiting this locality, but obtained my information 

 from citizens of Provo, who are well acquainted with it. I neglected to 

 inquire about its water drainage, and am somewhat in doubt respecting 

 it. If there is any outlet for it to the lake, I failed to see it, and I am 

 satisfied there is none to the Jordan, therefore I presume it is a separate 

 basin, but as it may belong to the Utah basin, I have considered it in 

 connection with that system. It has a greater elevation than the Utah 

 Valley, but how much I do not know. 



Moving southward from Santagnin, we enter the Juab Valley, which 

 extends from this point to the divide between Utah and Sevier basins, 

 a short distance below Nephi. It is about fifty miles long and six 

 miles wide, and contains one hundred square miles of land that can be 

 irrigated, principally along Salt and Clover Creeks. The most of the 

 remainder is well grassed over, and affords good pasture lands for sheep 

 and cattle. 



Eeserviug a fuller account of the productions of the Salt Lake, Jordan, 

 and Utah Valleys, until I have completed the description of the district, 

 I will only remark that everything that can be raised in the Middle 

 States can be raised here, and that these sections bear about the same 

 relations to the colder regions of the elevated mountain districts and 

 southern borders of our Territory that the Middle States do to New 

 England and Georgia. 



Without detracting anything from the importance of the arable tracte 

 and grazing fields along the railroad line east of this in Wyoming, 1 

 may truly call this basin, with all its drawbacks, (for it has some,) an 

 oasis on the great continental highway of trade and travel. Possessing 

 this advantage of situation, surrounded by mountains rich in the pre- 

 cious metals, and having a healthy climate, it must, in the course of a 

 few years, become densely populated. It is important, therefore, that 

 the Government should give all proper encouragement to its develop- 

 ment. I make these remarks here, because they are more particularly 

 applicable to the immediate basin of Salt Lake than to the rest of the 

 Territory, being the portion through which the railroad passes. 



The general level of the Salt Lake Valley is about four thousand three 

 hundred feet above the sea level, and that of Utah Lake Valley between 

 four thousand five hundred and fifty and four thousand six hundred 

 feet.* 



In the mountains east of the Jordan are three little parks or elevated 

 valleys, Parley's Park, Kamas Valley, and Pound Prairie, which be- 

 long to the basin under consideration. Parley's Park is elevated about 

 two thousand feet above Salt Lake, and is some five or six miles long 

 and from two to three miles wide. It is watered by Canon Creek, and 

 could be easily irrigated, but on account of its elevation and mountain- 



* In the barometric table accompanying Lieutenant Beckwith's Report of Pacific Rail- 

 road Survey, vol. ii, part 1, p. 107, there are some errors, probably typographical. 

 For instance, the elevation at Provo is given as 4,362.6, when it certainly is at least 

 two hundred feet more. 



