440 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



The country is traversed by a great many well-defined trails in all 

 directions. The principal ones across the Park View mountain-range, 

 from the Middle to the North Park, are through the Willow-Creek Pass, 

 east ot Park View, at an elevation of 9,683 feet, and one across the low 

 divide at the head of the Muddy Creek at an elevation of 8,772 feet. 

 This is the pass crossed by Fremont, in 1844, on his return journey, and 

 he speaks of it as one of the most beautiful passes he had ever seen, 

 A fair trail crosses the Park range about five miles north of Rabbit 

 Ears, a mountain near the Muddy Pass, capped with two sharp points 

 of lava rock, to the valley of the Yampah, just above the great bend. 



The most important trails in the western district besides those men- 

 tioned in connection with Berthoud's Salt Lake road are those leading 

 to and from the Indian agency. A la rye Indian trail to the Cochetopa 

 agency runs almost south from the White River agency, crossing the 

 Grand at the mouth of Divide Creek, thirty-seven miles below the 

 mouth of the Eagle, and then south up Divide Creek. A trail to the 

 mouth of Eagle River follows up the White for five miles, then ascends 

 the rolling plateau and crosses it in nearly a straight line to the junc- 

 tion of the Eagle and Grand, passing down the long spur west of Caiion 

 Creek. The trail then follows up the Eagle River for twenty-one miles, 

 and ascends the steep sides of the caiiou of the Eagle to the valley 

 southeast of station LXXI, the highest point between the Eagle and 

 the Grand. It crosses this valley and the ridge dividing it from the 

 Piney River, and passing along the steep mountain sides on the east of 

 the Piney and south of the Grand, it crosses the valley east of station 

 LXXXT and the Park range through a pass 7.5 miles south of the 

 canon of the Grand and just north of point 5 — XLI, and joins the Blue 

 River trail in Middle Park. 



The greater part of the whole country is abundantly watered, and the 

 streams, with but few exceptions, are large and full. On the western 

 edge the country becomes drier and more barren, and soon merges into 

 the sterile, desolate region of Western Colorado. Longitude 108° is 

 about the eastern limit of the barren waste. The country to the west is 

 broken by low mountains, ridges, and terraces, but there are no com- 

 manding points, and away from the Yampah, White, and Grand Rivers 

 water is very rarely found. Careful measurements were made of the 

 Grand and Yampah Rivers so as to give the amount of water carried 

 by them. This is an important question in case the country ever be- 

 comes settled enough to require irrigation, in order to utilize for culti- 

 vation the dry plains, especially on the Blue and Muddy in the Middle 

 Park and along the Yampah, though there is no doubt that the sup- 

 ply is ample for any possible demand. 



The Grand River was gauged at the hot springs, in Middle Park, on 

 July 31. The river at that point was 84 feet in width, with a small side 

 run 12 feet in width, and the greatest depth was 3 feet. The maximum 

 velocity was 8 feet per second, and the amount of water 802 cubic feet 

 per second. Early in November the river was gauged again at a point 

 ninety miles below the springs, and just below the mouth of Eagle 

 River, but the Grand is so much smaller at that time, it beiug at its 

 minimum, that no direct comparison can be made between the two 

 results. 



The Blue, the Muddy, and the Eagle add their waters to the Grand 

 between these two points, besides a great many smaller streams, yet the 

 river measured only 871 cubic feet of water per second. The small 

 amount is due to the lateness of the season, the river being then at its 

 very lowest poiut. The width of the stream was 198 feet, the greatest 

 depth 3.7 feet, and the maximum velocity 3.4 feet per second. 



