298 EXPLORATIONS ACROSS THE GREAT EASIN OF UTAH. 



tinned for many miles along the stream, forming- shelved rocky bluffs, some of which 

 may be 300 feet high. For the last 10 miles to the mouth of Duchesne Fork the hills 

 along the river are lew, and probably correspond to the lower portion of this white 



I have remarked above that Colonel Fremont obtained some fossils on Uintah 

 River, some distance above Duchesne Fork, which apparently correspond to the estu- 

 ary beds of Hear River, or possiblv to the No. 2 of the Fort Bridger series. 



The coal has not been observed here; but most likely it exists in the bluffs hidden 

 by detritus, or else at a level not much different from that of these strata. Beds of 

 coal occur at various points farther south, in the Wahsateh Mountains and allied 

 ranges. I have not had an opportunity to examine any of these localities, but from 

 all the information which I have been able to gather' I have little doubt that their 

 geological position corresponds to that of the White Clay Creek coal. 



from north to south in a 'longitudinal valley of the Wahsateh range, several strata of 

 coal have been discovered near the Mormon settlements of Manti and Ephraim, near 

 latitude 39° 25', and are worked to a limited extent. Governor Brigham Young, in a 

 letter dated lSf>f>, and published in the Deseret News, states in regard to them: "The 

 upper outcropping vein is 3 feet 4 inches thick, and rests upon a stratum of rock below 

 which is another vein from 22 to 24 inches thick, below which is a vein of beautiful 

 coal 5 feet thick;" and the following is an extract from an official report of Brevet 

 Lieutenant Colonel Ruggles, Fifth Infantry, to Brig. Gen. A. S. Johnston, command- 

 ing Department of Utah, of a tour of service in San Pete valley, 1851) : 



"About midway in the mountains bordering the valley on the west there are 



full 4 feet thick, and it crops out at an elevation of nearly 1,000 feet above the valley, 

 and it dips west-southwest at an angle of about 20°. " There were five coal strata 

 visible, and the series is surmounted by a well-defined stratum of chalk about two feet 

 thick." 



This latter rock resembles the chalky beds of the Upper Cretaceous rocks in 

 Northeastern Kansas. It appears that this valley is situated similarly to that of Weber 

 River, near the geological axis of the Wahsateh ran-e. and the limits of the district 

 belonging to the (ireat Basin. 



We are ajso credibly informed of the existence of a similar coal in the mountains 



Utah Lake to Virgin River. 



Red strata, with gypsum and rock-salt, have been observed at nu 

 south from our line of survey in the Wahsateh Mountains and their soul 

 ation. I have not examined any of them, and the red color alone would 

 be a proof of their Triassic age, less so here than in other districts, bee 



tions. But if we consider the large development of the Jurassic rocks, 

 with the remarks made in section III in regard to the great extent of tin 



