ENDLicH.] ANCIENT GLACIERS — ANCIENT LAKES. 87 



curious hydrological conditions we observe after crossing the divide 

 between the White and the Grand. It has been stated that even be- 

 yond the divide for a considerable distance the plateau continued as 

 such, sloping only very little toward the Grand. In the same distance 

 that the plateau falls about 400 feet the streams cutting through it in 

 that region accomplish a fall of more than 2,000 feet. Had the eleva- 

 tion of the former been the same as now, at the time when the southerly- 

 flowing drainage was formed, this would not have followed the general 

 course it now does, but would have trended off to the east and west- 

 ward. If we wish to assume, therefore, that we still have the original 

 courses, or an approximation thereof, we must grant to the southern 

 extension of the plateau a considerable dip in that direction. In case, 

 then, that edge had risen, and the streams had cut through each suc- 

 cessive stratum as it rose, we would most likely find traces of perhaps 

 even only slight changes in the direction of the flowing water. This 

 we do not. It is difficult to imagine how any stream that is capable of 

 cutting down one stratum after the other in succession, as that stratum 

 attempts a blockage of its downward course, should not, in a thickness 

 of nearly 3,000 feet of beds, meet one that it cannot treat in the same 

 manner. The elevation, probably, was an exceedingly slow one, lasting 

 during a long period of time, but the " accidents" to which the streams 

 would be subject under such circumstances seem to me so numerous, 

 and even formidable, that the absence of any trace thereof is, to me, 

 evidence against this explanation. All the canons at present under 

 discussion are exceedingly narrow, and they, as well, as their smallest 

 branches, show very steep, precipitous sides. From the characteristic 

 detail forms, and from the general character as well, I have come to the 

 conclusion that they owe their present form, in part, to glacial action. No 

 doubt the depressions had been indicated, probably even partly existed, 

 before the moving ice could shape them as we now find them. It is 

 evident that in the soft, readily decomposing material of which the strata 

 consist, no direct evidences of glaciers could have been transmitted 

 for any length of time. Although it is not to be asserted that by glacial 

 action alone the deep gorges were carved out, I regard it as a safe con- 

 clusion to assume that in the soft beds of that formation moving ice 

 would have had more direct eroding power than can usually be ac- 

 corded to it. The minor details and the formation of accessory canons 

 and ravines may be due entirely to the action of water, but I am of the 

 opinion that its work was greatly facilitated by that already performed 

 by glaciers. 



In these canons the only localities where glaciers may have existed in 

 our district are exhausted. The entire region is neither high enough nor 

 were the conditions of atmospheric precipitation sufficiently favorable in 

 that region for the formation and perpetuation of glaciers. 



It is a noticeable fact that at the present time the Grand Eiver drain- 

 age within our district is more abundantly supplied with water than 

 that of White River. This, no doubt, is due to the more rapid fall of 

 the streams. Incident thereto is the smaller loss by evaporation and 

 the gradual infiltration into beds composing the sides and bottom of a 

 stream. While we not unfrequently had difficulty in finding water on 

 the White River side of the Book Cliffs, the Grand River slope was well 

 supplied. This in itself would argue in favor of the assumption of gla- 

 ciers there during former periods. 



ANCIENT LAKES. 



It seems scarcely appropriate to use the term above given for former 

 lakes within our district, as the impression might bo conveyed that they 



