of Colonel Thomas' range, a report and map of which have ftlrej 

 and, by order of Congress, published.* Our course lay slightly so 

 scarcely perceptible ascent, out from Cedar Valley to Camp" Flo 

 5,234 feet above the sea), 3 miles distant from Camp Floyd; tl 

 champaign pass 3 miles, and thence, nearly southwest, 12.2 miles, 

 in Rush Valley, where we encamped. Journey, 18.2 miles. Road 



missed my route of last fall, and had unnecessarily made too gre 

 northward, I struck directly across to Meadow Creek with the 

 marked out a short cut which would shorten the road a mile or two. 



For the conformation of Cedar Valley, in which Camp Floyd 

 Hush Valley, in which we are encamped, and of the mountains 1 



? h% concave in cross-section east and w 

 niles and Rush Valley a breadth of 13 m 



icse valleys are 



sli» 



in- a breadth of 



' 8 n 



Iv north and SC 



»uth, 



■ngth of 40 mile 



s, an 



<e of the mount 



ill us, 



eat Salt Lake. 



The 



iment for militai 



•V ]»! 



»le of Cedar Valley has been reserved by the General 

 Government lor military purposes, and at the northern portion of Rush Valley, is the 

 small military reserve laid out by directions of Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe in 1855. 



The soil is argillo-calcareo-arenaceous in character, has a sort of buff color, and 

 quickly absorbs the rains, which seldom fall in this region except in the fall, winter, 

 and spring. The vegetable growth is principally the artemisia tridentaia, or wild 

 sage, with the sareohafus vermieularis, or greasewood, and the lyuosyris, or rabbit- 

 b u sh , interim n gled. 



' These valleys are very sparsely watered, and though the soil in itself has all the 

 elements of fertility, vet for want of the necessary moisture, for agricultural purposes, 



it is utterly worthless. The cultivable portions in Cedar Valley are at Cedar Fort, a 

 Mormon settlement, 5 miles north of Camp Floyd, and at Camp Floyd, and in Rush 

 Valley, at Johnson's Settlement, on Clover Creek, in the northwestern portion of the 

 valley, where there are about 200 acres of good farming land. Not a tree is to be 

 saen anywhere in either of the valleys, though scrub-cedar and pine crown the mount- 

 ain-heights. There is quite an abundance of good grass upon the bases of the mount- 

 ains and in the canons, and in some places it is to be found in patches in the valley. 

 It is also found along Meadow Creek, in Rush Valley, and along other short streams 

 in the southwestern portion of this valley. Indeed, both in the southwestern and- 

 northern portions of this valley there is a great deal of excellent grass, and the Gov- 

 ernment herds of beef-cattle and mules were wintered at these points during the past 

 winter. The pasture on Meadow Creek is slightly alkaline. 



The mountains limiting the valley are at points quite formidable, the Oquirrh 

 range dividing Cedar and Rush Valleys discovering along its crest in midsummer 



* Sen. Ex. Doc. No. 40, 35th Cong., 2d sess. 



