338 EEPOKT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY. 



TAMPA EIVER. 



The Yampa, with its branch, the Little Snake, makes a rather more 

 favorable showing. This stream heads in Egeria Park, opposite the 

 head of Egeria Creek. It fl,ows nearly north for about thirty miles, 

 then turns abruptly to the west, and holds a tolerably straight course 

 to its mouth. William's River, Elkhead Eiver, and the Little Snake are 

 its principal branches. 



The drainage area of the Tampa is 5,900 square miles. It includes 

 the Park and Elkhead Mountains, which occupy the eastern part of the 

 drainage area. Besides these mountains, the country is generally made 

 up of plateaus, somewhat broken and irregular. The beds of most of 

 the tributaries are dry the greater part of the year. 



The arable areas of this system are located on the main stream, Sage 

 Creek, William's River, and the Little Snake, and on the first and last 

 are of the most importance. The total amount of arable land is 319 

 square miles. 



From Egeria Park ta the mouth of Sage Creek there extends, with 

 two short interruptions, a strip of arable land of width varying from 

 one to five miles. About the mouth of Oak Creek there is a broad ex- 

 panse of arable land, extending some distance up Oak Creek and other 

 small branches in that neighborhood. Sage Creek waters a small area 

 of valley, up which passes the road from the Middle Park to the Tampa 

 River. On the main Tampa a narrow strip extends down the river 

 about twenty miles from the town of Hayden, with a branch running 

 five or six miles up the Elkhead River. Below this the river is in 

 canon for twenty miles, then opens out into a short valley, and again 

 into a larger one, extending nearly down to the mouth of the Little 

 Snake. 



The Little Snake has two good-sized valleys. One, at its mouth, 

 extends about ten miles up the stream, with an average width of two 

 miles. Twelve or fifteen miles above its head the canon opens again 

 into a valley, averaging three miles in breadth and twenty-five miles in 

 length within the State. 



The Tampa was gauged about the middle of N"ovember, at the ford 

 of the wagon-road from the White River agency to Rawlins, and was 

 found to carry 364 cubic feet per second. This was at nearly the lowest 

 stage of water, and indicates an abundance of water in the irrigating 

 season for all the land which can be reached. Ino definite data concern- 

 ing the fall of the stream are accessible, but it is known to be amply 

 sufficient to take the water over any ground suitable for cultivation. 



