GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. • 239 



ailanthus, and walnut growing, finely near the ditclies. Whether the 

 hard woods, such as white-oak, hickory, beech, &c., could be grown to 

 a size that would make them valuable is not known, but certainly it is 

 of suificient importance to induce the citizens or the territorial authori- 

 ties to make a thorough experiment. 



It may appear absurd to say that after you once enter upon the i)lains 

 going west, you cannot find sufiicient hard wood in that portion of the 

 United States lying between there and the Pacific Ocean to make an 

 ax-helve. Yet this is no great exaggeration. Go into the wagon-shops 

 of San Francisco and Sacramento and ask the workmen there to tell 

 you where they procure the timber for their hubs, spokes, fellies, 

 tongues, axles, &c., and they will tell you from the East. I had sup- 

 posed that here, or at least in Oregon, an abundance of suitable timber 

 for wagons, agricultural implements, &c., could be obtained, but the 

 oak and ash is not used, as it is unfit on account of its want of tenacity 

 or "brashness." Traverse the entire Eocky Mountain region from Mon- 

 tana to the Mexican line, and this will be found true without any excep- 

 tions. The climate is incompatible with the production of such wood 

 when left to the supply of moisture nature gives. What difference a 

 more abundant supply would have I am not able to say; and though I 

 have some doubts in regard to the production of timber adapted to 

 these purposes, yet it should only be admitted after a fair and thorough 

 trial had been made. 



Perhaps it would be well for the General Government, under either 

 the Agricultural Department, Commissioner of the Land-Oifice, or 

 commanders of military posts, to make a trial in this direction at one or 

 two important points in the West ; for, if I am correct in the assertion 

 made — and I certainly have no desire to misrepresent, but have made 

 the statement after a somewhat careful inquiry — it is a matter of great 

 importance to that section of our country. 



From Ogden the level bottoms or lake- shore lands spread out north 

 and west, forming a triangular area. Westward to the lake- shore is 

 about twelve miles, and north to the " Hot Springs " about the same 

 distance. At this latter point the arm of Bear Eiver Bay and a spur 

 of the mountain approach quite near each other, rendering the shore- 

 level narrow. This triangular area contains about forty or fifty thou- 

 sand acres, the greater portion of which is susceptible of cultivation, 

 and is rich and productive. Already a large portion of it is occupied 

 and. under cultivation, and, although not farmed with that care required 

 to briDg forth its strength, yields remunerative crops. And notwith- 

 standing the soil is a loose, sandy loam, which woukl seem to render it 

 permeable by the extremely brackish water of the lake, yet where not 

 absolutely covered with saline incrustations, this part of the shore-level 

 can be cultivated within a short distance of the water's edge. Even 

 the tongues of land which run in between the heavy saline deposits 

 make very good farming land when irrigated. On some of these there 

 are already considerable settlements, from one of which we procured our 

 vegetables and a supply of excellent strawberries while encamped near 

 the Hot Springs, where we remained three days waiting for some mem- 

 bers of the party. 



Not only do the cereals — including a tolerably fair variety of corn — 

 grow well here, but fruits also, such as apples, pears, peaches, apricots, 

 cherries, grapes, currants, strawberries, &c., can be raised in abund- 

 ance and with comparative ease, the only drawback being occasional 

 untimely frosts and the truly '^ hateful grasshopper." 

 It is the opinion of many of the old settlers that the climate is gi-adu- 



