EECHLEE.] YAMPA DIVIDE WHITE KIVEE VALLEY, 367 



line between two rather large basin-like depressions — Coyote Basin 

 on the east and Midland Basin on the west. Through both of them we 

 find long, waving parallel lines of hogbacks with a general north and 

 south trend, which appear above the surface in a labyrinth of crests, 

 resembling a ploughed surface where the furrows have been upturned 

 by some gigantic plough. The drainage channels descending from the 

 main divide as well as from Piiion Ridge into these basins are numerous, 

 but, consistent with the general nature of the country, they are all dry. 



THE WHITE EIVER VALLEY. 



If we apply the name of valley to the whole of the White River dur- 

 ing its flow through this district, it is simply used as a conventional 

 term, for all rivers flowing in plateau countries possess only in part the 

 features of a real valley. 



The scene changes in a plateau country according to the arrangement 

 of ridges into bluffs or benches, from valley to cafion or caQon-valley, 

 and vice versa. The general course of the river after leaving White 

 River Ute agency is westward like that of the Yampa River, notwith- 

 standing the fact that great bends often cause it to deviate for many 

 miles to the northwest or to the southwest as the case may be. Such a 

 bend or a large sweep to the northwest occurs 16 miles west of the 

 agency, from which point the course of the stream is for 20 miles due 

 northwest, after which it shows for 14 miles a gentle tendency south 

 from west, when, after a sudden short bend directly south, breaking 

 through a plateau ridge, the stream assumes a southwestern direction 

 until a point some 20 miles west of the Colorado boundary is reached, 

 when the course is again changed to the northwest. 



The ijhjsiognomy of the country is different on each side of the White 

 •River; on the south side, high and massive plateaus, with their summits 

 30 miles from the river, characterize the country, while the country 

 along the right bank and as far north as the Yampa River is, with 

 a few exceptional portions, dismembered and chopped by detailed drain- 

 age, as would be expected in a plateau country of soft material sub- 

 jected for ages and ages to erosive influences. 



With the exception of the Dauforth Hills, a group of some solidity and 

 compactness, there is but one really extensive as well as massive struc- 

 ture between White and Yampa Rivers ; this is the great Yampa Plat- 

 eau, to which we will allude in more detail hereafter. 



The drainage itselfthat enters the White River on either side indicates 

 a totally difl'erent arrangement and character of the country it comes 

 from. On the south side, for instance, we find four large streams with 

 an abundant supply of water entering the White River between the 

 agency and west line of Colorado, while on the north side, within the 

 same distance, we have no stream whatever supplying the White 

 River with additional water, if we except the insi'-niflcant brook which, 

 coming through Coyote Basin, contributes to the White River an amount 

 of water equal to that of a small meadow-brook. 



If we proceed from the agency down the White River as far as the 

 boundary line separating Colorado from Utah, a distance of 85 miles, 

 we pass on our journey through four basin-like spots, where the drain- 

 age accumulated in the plateaus north during the winter season comes 

 forth to swell the White River. These basins are deceptive in regard to 

 water for the greater portion of the year, and delusive as to their real 

 character until we approach and are really in them, when we find they 

 have no real bottofla area. Their surface is uneven, dry, and barren, 



