GANNETT.] POETNEUF AND BANNACK RANGES. 701 



part of its valley. Other streams, bringing considerable bodies of water, 

 Lead in the mountaips about the Malade Divide and in the western 

 slopes of the Malade Eange. Collecting just below Malade City, these 

 streams form a good-sized river, which flows from the middle of the val- 

 ley with a sluggish course and a bed slightly depressed below the level 

 of the valley. After reaching the neighborhood of the Bear, it flows 

 along parallel and very near to it for several miles, joining it but a short 

 distance above where it enters Great Salt Lake. 



Malade Valley is a fine, fertile valley, settled almost entirely by Mor- 

 mons, who have built several towns within it. Among them are Malade 

 (>ity, Samaria, Portage, and Plymouth. As elsewhere throughout the 

 Mormon settlements, agriculture is the j)rincipal occupation of the 

 l)eople. 



Leaving now the valleys of this western section, we will take a glance 

 at the mountain ranges which separate them. In them all we notice a 

 remarkable absence of timber. With the exception of the Bear Eiver 

 Eange, which contains a large amount of excellent timber, they are al- 

 most without this kind of vegetation. On some it is found scattered 

 over certain areas, but not in large quantity, and in quality and size it 

 is inferior. The lower slopes and foothills of the mountains are every- 

 where bare of trees, being covered with sage and grass. 



The Portneuf Eange extends southward from latitude 43° to the north 

 end of Cache Yalley, trending almost on a meridian. It is a broken, 

 irregular range, varying greatly in height and breadth. Midway of its 

 length it is cut through by the Portneuf in its passage from its upper to 

 its lower valley. On the east of the range is the upper valley of the 

 Portneuf, with the valley-divide between this stream and the Bear and 

 Gentile Valley. On the west is Marsh Creek Valley. 



This range commences on the north with Mount Putnam, rising 

 abruptly from the valley of Eoss Fork, a branch of the Portneuf. The 

 height of this peak, one of the highest of the range, is h,933 feet. A 

 broad summit 4 or 5 miles to the east, distinguished as Station 74, 

 has a nearly equal height. Then follows southward a long and very 

 considerable depression, followed by a rise, culminating in a group of 

 peaks of which Station 76, 9,115 feet, is the highest. Then the range 

 breaks down to afford passage to the Portneuf. South of this gap the 

 range is more complex. Snow Mountain, 9,269 feet, is the highest sum- 

 mit in the southern section, and is a centre whence several spurs set off 

 to the north and south. Farther to the south the range spreads out in 

 a broad area of low, rolling, bare hills, which limit Cache Valley on the 

 north. 



West of Marsh Creek Valley is a high, abrupt range, for which I pro- 

 pose the name of the "Bannack" Eange. It is in two sections, connected 

 by a long, low depression opposite the middle portion of the Marsh 

 Creek Valley. The northern section consists mainly of two long moun- 

 tain ridges, the highest points of which were occupied as Stations 77 and 

 78 respectively. 



The southern section rises from the Malade Divide, and southward it 

 extends some distance into the Malade Valley. Its summit consists of 

 a rugged ridge rising considerably at each end. The northern summit 

 was occupied as Station 135. Its height is 8,931 feet, while the height of 

 the southern summit is 9,220 feet. 



Turning now to the ranges separating parts of the sinuous course of 

 the Bear, we meet first the mass of hills lying between the upper valley 

 of the Bear and that of Bear Lake^ Northward we find a high moun- 

 tain mass, which I have caUed the Preuss Eange, the central figure of 



