SCENIC FEATURES OF THE FAR WEST. 7 



ble rivers, others discharged into sister lakes; a considerable number, how- 

 ever, did not rise high enough to find outlet, but were entii-ely inclosed, as 

 is the case with the Dead Sea, the Caspian, and many of the lakes of the 

 Far West at tlie present time. The largest of the Quaternary lakes of the 

 Great Basin, thus far explored, has been very fully described by Mr. Gil- 

 bert and others under the name of Lake Bonneville. The second in size. 

 Lake Lahontan, is the subject of the present report. 



The topography of the region to which we wish to direct attention, 

 together with its Quaternary hydrography, is rej^resented on the accompa- 

 nying pocket map. The relation of the region to the entire area of interior 

 drainage, and the more general geography of the Far West, is indicated on 

 the frontispiece. Before presenting the results of our geological observa- 

 tions it seems desirable to glance briefly at some of the more prominent 

 characteristics of the region of interior drainage of which the district to be 

 described is a component part. 



THE GREAT BASIN. 



In crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific, between the Mexican 

 boundary and the central portion of Oregon, one finds a region, bounded 

 by the Sierra Nevada on the west and the Rocky Mountain system on the 

 east, that stands in marked contrast in nearly all its scenic features with 

 the remaining portions of the United States. The traveler in this region is 

 no longer surrounded by the open, grassy parks and heavily-timbered 

 mountains of the Pacific slope, or by the rounded and flowing outlines 

 of the forest-crowned Appalachians, and the scenery suggests naught of 

 the boundless plains east of the Rocky Mountains or of the rich savannas 

 of the Gulf States. He must compare it rather to the parched and desert 

 areas of Arabia and the shores of the Dead Sea and the Caspian. 



To the geographer the most striking characteristic of the country 

 stretching eastward from the base of the Sierra Nevada is that it is a 

 region of interior drainage. For this reason it is known as the "Great 

 Basin." No streams that rise within it carry their contributions to the 



