118 



GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERIST UXITED STATES. 



Downey. 



Elevation 4,S5S feet. 

 Ogden 95 miles. 



The valley bottom becomes wider toward the north, and the train 

 leaves it and comes out upon a broad bench, from which an extensive 



view may be had of the valley of Marsh Creek.* On 

 this bench is Downey, a small settlement in the midst 

 of an extensive agricultural district. The first homes 

 were built here about 1894^ but it was not until 1910, 

 when water was brought by a large irrigation canal from Portneuf 

 Eiver below Lava Hot Springs and it became possible to irrigate the 

 land, that the settlement had any marked growth. It was named 

 for one of the engineers, or officers of the Oregon Short Line. The 

 grain elevator and the broad fields of grain that stretch away in all 

 directions tell of the principal industry of the people. About 12,000 

 acres is irrigated by the Downey Improvement Oo.^s ditch and cul- 

 tivated. Wlien the ditch was completed in 1910 land sold for S35.50 

 an acre, $35 for the water right and 50 cents for the land. In 1914 

 it was worth about $45^ an acre with water right but without im- 

 provements. 



Oxford Peak (elevation 9,386 feet), which overlooks Red Rock 

 Pass, appears from Downey as a mountain mass with two tops of 

 about equal height. The front "of the mountain range east of Downey 

 is made up of Carboniferous limestone dipping to the east; the 

 mountains on the west are composed of Ordovician rocks, also dipping 

 east. In all directions there is a strong suggestion that the com- 

 paratively level vaUey floor between the two mountain ranges was 



100 feet below the level of the lava table. 



comparison 



times larger than Marsh Creek, but the 



unme 



^ Marsh Valley, like Cache Valley, is 

 inclosed between mountain ranges, and 

 has a north and south trend. ^ Its length , the disparity between Marsh Creek and 

 is about 35 miles, and its greatest width its channel. Portneuf River is several 

 is 8 or 10 miles. T^'enty miles from Red 

 Rock Pass the Portneuf River breaks 

 through the eastern mountain chain and 

 enters the valley, turning northward and 

 running parallel with Marsh Creek to the 

 end of the valley. There it receives the 

 creek and then turns abruptly westward 

 and escapes from the valley through a 

 deep but open canyon. The upper can- 

 yon of the Portneuf has at some time ad- 

 mitted lava as well as water. A succes- 

 sion of basaltic coulees have poured 

 through it into Marsh Valley and have 

 followed the slope of the valley to the 

 lower canyon. The Portneuf River fol- 



is smaller. Indeed, there is every evi- 

 dence that the valley of Marsh Creek, hav- 

 ing been formed by the ancient Bonne- 

 ville River, is now in process of filling. 

 It abounds in meadows and marshes and 

 at one point contains a lakelet. 



It appears, however, that the Bonne- 

 \iUe River was not contained during its 

 entire existence in the channel now occu- 

 pied by Marsh Creek. The whole upper 

 surface of the lava tongue, where it has a 

 width of more than a mile, is fluted and 

 polished and pitted with potholes after 



lows the eastern margin of the lava beds, the mannerofa river bed, and there seems 

 and Marsh Creek the western, each occu- j no escape from the conclusion that it was 

 pying u narrow valley sunk from 30 to j swept by a broad and rapid current. 



