CHAPTER VIII. 



THE TUSHAE. 



Sevier Valley from Gunnison southward.— The Piiv.iut.—Salina.— Grandeur of the plateau fronts.— 

 The northern end of the Tushar.— General structure of the northern part of the range.— Its inter- 

 mediate character hetween the plateau and basin types.— Rugged and mountainous aspect of the 

 higher parts.— Mounts Belknap and Baldy.— Eastern front.— Bullion CaBon.- The Tushar fault.— 

 Ehyolites and their numerous varieties.— Basalt upon the summit.— Succession of eruptions and 

 the intermissions.— Southern portion of the Tushar. — The great conglomerate.- Progressive 

 growth of the range.— Alternations of volcanic activity and repose.— Southern termination of the 

 Tushar.- Midget's Crest.- Dog Valley.— Succession of eruptions in the southern part of the 

 range. — General history of the Tushar. 



The road leading southward from Gunnison up the valley of the Sevier 

 River lies along a smooth plain between the Pavant Range on the west and 

 the great monoclinal on the east. The interval separating these uplifts is 

 about 30 miles from summit to summit and about 8 miles from base to base 

 (see Plate 3, sections 4 to 13). To the east and northeast from Gunni- 

 son is seen the Wasatch Plateau, just distant enough to afford a fine \'iew 

 of its grand proportions. Its southwestern angle is decorated with a huge 

 butte perched upon a lofty pedestal and crowned with a flat, ashlar-like 

 block, which is a conspicuous land-mark from every lofty point to the south- 

 ward. This mass is called Musinia, and at once arrests the attention by its 

 peculiar form, whether seen from far or near. Southward, at a distance of 

 nearly 30 miles, loom up the high volcanic plateaus. The Fish Lake and 

 northern portion of the Sevier tables present their transverse profiles 

 towards us, and are seen to be separated by a depression called Grass 

 Valley. Far to the south-southwest is seen a portion of the Tushar, the 

 main mass being hidden by a very obtuse salient of the Pavant. The 

 absence of Alpine forms and the predominance of the long and slightly- 

 inclined profiles of the plateau type rob these great masses of their 

 grandeur and beauty; for they produce an optical deception which carries 

 the horizon up near their summits, while in reality it is far below. Yet 

 some sense of the reality is awakened when from the plain below, in the 



169 



