240 GEOLOGICAL SUETEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



ally growing milder. They found this opinion on the fact that when 

 first settled it was almost impossible to mature the tenderer fruits, as 

 peaches j whereas, at i)resent. they experienoe but little difficulty iu this 

 respect. But this may be owing, in a gTeat measure, to the strength 

 acquired by the trees by age, and to a partial acclimation. And the 

 same thing is doubtless true here that has been found true iu Califor- 

 nia, that while the trees are young they rec[uire much more irrigation 

 than after they have come into bearing; and depriving them of water 

 probably renders them less liable to be affected by frost. It has been 

 ascertained in California that orchards and vineyards produce better 

 fruit and more certain crops without irrigation, after they have come 

 into bearing, than with it ; hence the practice of watering them is being 

 generally abandoned. 



From the Hot Springs to Brlgham City there is a narrow strip of 

 arable land, which, though ascending toward the mountains on the east^ 

 and being somewhat broken and irregular, yet can nearly all be irrigated 

 from the little streams which flow down from the mountain. The soil 

 is quite good, and appears to be especially adapted to the cereals and 

 grass. Advancing northward toward Brigham City, the area widens as 

 the shore-line of the bay bends westward. 



Around Corinne, at the mouth of Bear Eiver. and at the termination 

 of Malade T alley, is a broad, level expanse, probably some ten or twelve 

 miles wide east and west by fifteen miles long north and south. On 

 this area there are some considerable tracts crusted over with saline or 

 alkaline deposits. A portion of the area east of the river, which is much 

 less than that on the west side, can be irrigated from Box-Elder Creek, 

 which comes down from the northeast through Box-Elder Caiion.* As 

 suggested iu a former report, from information received, for at that time 

 1 had not visited this valley, the level area around Corinne might be 

 irrigated from Bear Eiver by commencing a canal at the mouth of the 

 canon where tlie river bursts through the hills. A move is now on foot 

 for this pui^pose, and a bill has been introduced into Congress to obtain 

 a grant of laud in aid thereof. I do not know the amount of laud which 

 can be redeemed by such a canal, but I judge not less than 50,000 acres, 

 and perhaps as much as 75.000 acres. I crossed this tract the past 

 season in both directions, and although there are some strongly alkaline 

 spots, yet I believe there are none but which may ultimately be purged 

 and rendered productive; and if properh' irrigated the entire area may 

 be rendered excellent agricultural lands. West of this, as we near the 

 Promontory, there is an area of considerable breadth as desolate as can 

 well be imagined. The portion which is not covered with white incrusta- 

 tions looks as though it had been swept over by a flood of some scalding 

 chemical which had the power to annihilate every germ of vegetable 

 life. I see no means of redeeming this gloomy desert belt, and I am 

 inclined to think there is somewhere here an apparently inexhaustible 

 source of this saline matter, so that even if there was water to irrigate 

 it, it could not be purged of this matter so as to render it suitable for 

 agricultural purposes. 



All that portion of Utah north of Salt Lake and west of Malade Val- 

 ley, so far as I have seen it, is generally barren, with no apparent means 

 of irrigating to an extent sufficient to produce any useful crops. 

 "Whether artesian wells woidd prove a success here or not I do not 

 know ; but unless water can be obtained by this means, most of this 

 section is doomed to sterility until some natural change shall produce a 

 large annual rain precipitation. 



Malade Valley, from the point where it connects with Bear River 



