JOKDAN VALLEY. 439 



ridges, which rib the desert beyond, vvhile to the south lies outstretched the 

 broad beautiful valley of the Jordan. 



Jordan Valley. — Jordan Valley is a broad Quaternary plain from 15 

 to 20 miles wide, which, on the eastern side, rises from the bed of the river 

 in long-, gentle slopes and gravel terraces, several hundred feet, toward the 

 base of the mountains. In the alluvial bottoms of the streams, and in 

 some cases on the gravelly benches, tlie Mormon settlers have cultivated 

 their farms, utilizing the slope of the valley and the abundant supply of 

 water furnished by the streams issuing from the Wahsatch Mountains for 

 irrigating the fields, which the almost rainless summers of this region would 

 otherwise dry up. Along the mountain-flanks, the different lines of the 

 old lake-terraces can be distinctly traced, the highest of which rises 940 

 feet above the present level of the lake. The depth of the Quaternary 

 gravels cannot be definitely determined, but must be very considerable in 

 the centre of the valley, as shown by the thickness exposed where the 

 Jordan River cuts tlu-ough the Traverse Mountains, which amounts to sev- 

 eral hundred feet. At the mouths of some of the cafions, where the mount- 

 ain-streams have cut deeply irj^o these gravels, stratified beds of loose, 

 coarse sandstones and conglomerates are seen, which doubtless represent 

 the Pliocene valley deposit, perhaps contemporaneous with that of Cache 

 Valley. So little definite data were obtained with regard to these deposits, 

 hoM'ever, that they have not been indicated upon the map. The best 

 exposures of them in Jordan Valley are seen at the mouth of Parley's 

 Canon, where the erosion of the present stream has exposed a thickness of 

 about 70 feet of horizontal, coarse, reddish sandstones. From the lake-ter- 

 races back of Salt Lake City was obtained the upper portion of the skull 

 of a musk-ox, its horns and frontal bone well preserved and partially silici- 

 fied, showing that the formation of these terraces was already in progress 

 at the close of the Glacial period. On the west side of the Jordan, the 

 slopes of the valley are more gentle and regular; but, owing to the smaller 

 supply of water coming from the mountains on that side, there has been 

 little cultivation of this portion of the valley, and it is principally used as 

 a grazing-ground. 



Traverse Mountains. — Jordan Valley is bounded on the south by a 



