258 EXPLORATIONS ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN OF UTAH. 



duce excellent soils, and their stiff clays have been much improved by a mixture with 

 the finely arenaceous deposits which have been swept over the surface from the west. 

 From the above sections it will be seen that the Bdil is mostly deep, and naturallydrained 

 by the substrata. Where, however, the drift-sand readies too near the surface, the 

 soil becomes too dry, and is, besides, liable to wear out, because the mineral portion 

 of the fertilizing ingredients, once exhausted by a succession of crops, cannot be repro- 

 duced from the sand. The marls of the Cretaceous formations, Xos. II and III, can 

 also make highly productive soils; but where the sandstone formations prevail, they 

 are apt to cause aridity, unless the soil happens to be well mixed with the clays of other 

 formations, a fact of which many of the farmers in the western districts had already 

 become aware before the excessive drought of the present season. 



The farther we progress westward the more the surface-deposits increase, espe- 

 cially on the uplands, and the country assumes the character peculiar to the following 

 section. The productiveness becomes impaired by the prevalence of arenaceous mate- 

 rial and the deficiency of atmospheric precipitation. 



The timber is confined to the water-courses, but forests will probably soon spring 

 up at numerous points, as they have done in other parts of the Western States since 

 they have been settled. 



Building-material, rock, and good clay for brick, can generally be obtained within 

 convenient distances, and among the clays of the Carboniferous formation, in the eastern 

 part of the district, good fire-clays may be discovered. 



Small seams of stone-coal have been found in the Upper Coal-Measures, which 

 can, however, be worked only to a limited extent by '•stripping,'' and it is not likely 

 that extensive thicker beds will be discovered. At some points the lignites which have 

 been observed in connection with the ferruginous sand-tones may be of workable 

 thickness. The middle and lower series of the Coal-Measures, as developed on the 

 Missouri River, in the State of Missouri, contain, however, several strata of excellent 

 bituminous coal, which we have little reason to doubt continue far westward at a depth 

 still accessible by well-conducted mining operations on a large scale. As long as a 

 limited demand does not warrant extensive and costly enterprises, the want must be 

 supplied from outside, and farmers would do well to cultivate timber, as they have to 

 do in other prairie countries. 



No valuable minerals of any kind are likely to be found in this district, the geo- 

 logical formations not being favorable to their development. Only in Southeastern 

 Kansas, beyond the limits of the district under consideration, outliers of the lead- 

 bearing rocks of Southwestern Missouri might occur. 



