112 



GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERIT UXITED STATES, 



around a bend and enters the broad Caclie Valley/ of which the Bear 

 River range, another part of the Wasatch Range, makes the east 

 waU. To the northeast is Newton Hill, which was an island in the 

 great arm of Lake Bonneville that occupied this valley. Wave-cut 

 shore hues are conspicuous on its sides (see PI. XXX, A), showing 

 conclusively that Cache Valley was once occupied by a great body of 

 water several hundred feet deep. It will be easily realized that 

 when Lake Bonneville was at its greatest height the strait between 

 the body of water in Cache Valley and the larger body on the west 

 was about 5 miles wide and was shallow and interrupted by several 

 islands. The cHfTs of the narrow canyon reach nearly to the level of 

 the second conspicuous terrace (the Provo), and north of the cliffs, 

 where the highway now crosses the pass, there is a considerable break 

 in the upper (Bonneville) terrace, as there is also south of the canyon. 

 From this it appears that as the lake surface lowered the outlet of 

 Cache Bay dwindled to three channels. One of these whose position 

 may have been determined by a fault or line of fracture across the 

 pass pei-sisted and now carries all the drainage. While the canyon 

 was being cut, the surface of the main lake must have been lower 

 than that of Cache Bay. The smaller body of water, besides evapor- 

 ating less rapidly, was receiving the largest inflow. When the shore 

 of the mam lake had receded a considerable distance, perhaps several 

 miles from the mouth of the canyon, Cache Valley no longer contained 

 a bay connected with the main lake by a narrow strait, but instead a 

 separate lake which drained into Lake Bonneville by a short river. 

 Eventually the h\ke in Cache Valley was drained out, and the river 

 flawing across the abandoned lake bottom west of the canyon has 

 graduaUy deepened its channel. 



From Cache Junction the Cache Valley branch of the railroad runs 

 to Wollsville, Logan, and Preston. The bottom of Cache Valley 



has an altitude of about 4,500 feet and presents one 

 of the most beautiful pastoral spectacles in the State. 

 The valley proper is about 35 miles long and in many 

 places 10 miles wide. The settlement of this valley 



Cache Junction. 



Elevation 4,444 feet. 

 Ogden 49 miles. 



was begun by the Mormons in 1856, when the town of Wellsville was 



fonned 



which broke the earth's crust into hlocks 



and raised some with relation to others. 

 The Wasatch Range has already been 

 described (pp. 99-100) as made of up- 

 turned slabs of rock formations shoved 

 up one on another. The Bear River 

 Range had somewhat the same origin. 

 The west face at Logan is believed to be a 

 fault scarp like that at Ogden. ^Miether 

 the block under Cache Valley remained 



at a fixed altitude while the surrounding 

 blocks were raised, or whether it sank 

 with relation to them is not known. The 

 surface of the valley block probably was 

 not smooth, but when Lake Bonneville 

 occupied this basin, the sediment brought 



from 



in by 

 the 



rivers, 

 m.ountain 



and the wash 

 sides, were deposited 



on the lake bottom and smoothed 

 over the inequalities, making the present 

 nearly level surface. 



