VALLEY OF BITTER CREEK. 235 



these animals are now to be seen in the region. The only vegeta- 

 tion, to-day, has been a little dwarf artemisia, grease-bush, rabbit- 

 bush, salt-grass in the narrow strips of bottom-land, and an occa- 

 sional dwarf cedar on the bluffs. Appearances indicate that the 

 bed of the stream, which has no banks above the general level of 

 the bottom, has been completely filled by the spring rains, over- 

 flowing the low grounds and carrying down immense quantities of 

 soil, which has been deposited below, upon the broad flats of Green 

 River. The ridges on each side of us to-day have been principally 

 composed of horizontal gray limestone and disintegrating aggluti- 

 nated sand ; the escarpments, rounded into fantastic forms of bas- 

 tions, buttresses, and turrets, by the action of the winds and the 

 rains, were in many cases quite beautiful. Day's march, seven- 

 teen miles. Lat. 40° 34' 41''.8; long. 109° 23' 9''. 



Sunday, Septemher 15. — Morning slightly cloudy. Ther. at 

 sunrise, 44°. The water being very indifferent, and wood difiicult 

 to be obtained, it was determined to make a march to-day to a 

 spring supposed to be about ten miles up the valley. Bitter 

 Creek, at this camp, flows in a bed twelve feet below the plain of 

 the bottom, and the water in its present stage is about sixty feet 

 wide by six inches in depth. But the accumulation of large piles 

 of flood-wood shows that during the spring freshets, the whole 

 valley, here about one thousand feet wide, is completely covered 

 with water. The general course of the valley for ten miles was 

 north, 74° east, over a very level flat. About halfway of this dis- 

 tance the sand-cliffs disappear, and the valley opens wide, with 

 rounded hills on each side, much less elevated than the bluffs below. 

 At this point the stream forks, one branch coming in from the 

 south, with a wide level valley. About thirteen miles above, it 

 forks again, both branches heading within two miles of each other, 

 in a small mountain, in which Bed Fork, another affluent of 

 Green Biver, flowing into it below Brown's Hole, also has its 

 sources. One of the guides says that there is a good route by Red 

 Fork to Green River, and thence to the heads of Bear Biver. 



A short distance on our left lay a small, shallow lake, some six 

 miles in circumference, formed by the drainage from the hills on 

 the north and east, and very probably by some springs in the 

 vicinity, as the waters appeared clear and fresh. 



After passing that point, the hills began to approach each other 

 more closely, and the ascent became rather more abrupt, with 

 numerous gullies, or drains, crossing it at right angles, rendering 



