THE OVERLAND ROUTE COUNCIL BLUFFS TO OGDEN". 



83 



Among the State's nonmetallic mineral resources are coal^ which 

 underlies large areas, and phosphate rock. 



Although the average annual rainfall in Utah is only 11 inches, large 



crops are growTi, chiefly by irrigation, and great numbers of live stock 

 are raised. The value of the sugar made from sugar beets in 1914 



amounted to more than SI 0,000,000. Wheat, oats, and potatoes are 

 raised in large quantities, the value of these products in 1913 having 

 been more than S 8,000, 000. The live stock in Utah in 1914 was 

 valued at $18,000,000, and the value of the wool chp was S7,000,000. 

 The value of the manufactures of the State in 1914 amounted to 

 about 876,000,000. 



To the geologist Utah is an interesting field of work and study. 

 Its pocuhar mountain ranges, the record of its extinct lakes, the depos- 

 its in its present lakes, its coal beds, its possible gas and oil fields, and 

 its diverse and abundant mineral deposits, as well as its underground 

 water and its available water powers, have long commanded attention 

 and have been the subjects of many reports. 



almost boundle^. They present many 



of the features generally supposed to 

 characterize a desert, such as deep drift- 

 ing sands and broad stretches of wholly 

 barren mud plains, and in the heat of the 

 midday sun they exhibit all the tricks of 

 the mirage. 



The climate of the region is very dry, 

 the average annual rainfall varj-ing from 

 10 or 12 inches in northern Nevada to less 

 than 3 inches in the south and southwest. ! on the bare mountain sides and far from 



though dry farming is being tried in some 



localities. A more common industry is 



the grazing of sheep and cattle on the 



bunch grass that grows in the shade of the 

 eagebrush. 



The mines of the precious metals are 

 the principal source of wealth in the Great 

 Basin, and in connection \rith their 

 development towns have been built in 

 out of the way places, many of them high 



In northern Nevada the plains are in 

 general covered with scattered clumps of 

 brush, of which greasewood (Sarcobatus) 

 and numerous varieties of sage (Artemisia) 

 are most common. In the spring the 

 barren-looking soil brings forth a surpris- 

 ing variety of beautiful and delicate 

 flowers, most of which disappear entirely 

 as the parching heat of summer comes on. 

 Timber or even trees of any kind are, 



ngiy 



Cotton- 



■ma 



water- 



woods and willows „ 



some of the more 



courses, and more or less scrubby pines 



and cedars are scattered on some of the 



higher mountain slopes. Herds of small 



water and food supplies. 



Since the completion of the first trans- 

 continental railroad, in 1869, settlement 

 of the region and development of its 

 resources have progressed enormously. 

 Now several transcontinental railroads 

 cross it and numerous branches extend 

 throus:h the deser t valle vs nor th and 



trunk lines: towns 



mimn? 



horses 





of the less frequented mountain ranges, 

 but, like the ubiquitous coyotes, they 

 are shy and are not likely to be seen from 

 the train. 



Agriculture is almost wholly restricted 



to a few areas that can be irrigated, al- 



highways, and almost every acre of easily 

 irrigable land has been appropriated by 

 settlers. Herds of cattle and sheep find 

 sustenance on the mountains and in the 

 sagebrush-covered valleys that were once 

 thought to be too barren ever to become 

 of servdce to man. Throughout the 

 eastern border of the Great Ba^in, in 

 Idaho and Utah, the followera of the 

 Mormon faith have found a ''promised 

 land'' which, by great industry, they 

 have reL!u.Lmed from its primitive desola- 

 tion and made the home of thousands. 



