GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 247 



again aucl again, thus increasing the area that may be rendered product- 

 ive by it. 



From th i s point we could see the sharp granite spires of the Three Teton s, 

 some thirty or forty miles to the northeast, standing like grim sentinels, 

 guarding the broad desert plain that surrounds their base. While 

 encami)ed near the bridge, quite a rain-storm came up from the southeast. 

 A few short, stunted cedars, of considerable size, grow along the banks 

 of the stream wherever the basaltic rocks come to the surface. 



Judging from the number of returning wagons we met from day to 

 day, the freight from Corinne to Montana must be large, but much of 

 this business will be cut oft' when the ISTorthern Pacific Eailroad is 

 finished. Yet I think a railroad from Helena to Salt Lake Valley would 

 ultimately pay 5 for if Snake Kiver Valley Avas irrigated, as it might be, it 

 would support a large population, and such a road would give Montana, 

 and all this region, the advantage of both roads, thus bringing them in 

 competition. 



Having crossed the river, we moved uj) the west side over the margin 

 of the broad plain, which here spreads out to the west thirty or forty 

 miles, apparently as level as a floor. The soil is good, and the sur- 

 face is pretty well covered with a mixed vegetation, but nothing larger 

 than sage-bushes. As we moved northward, the mountains, which for 

 a day or two had been dimly visible in front of us, began to loom up in 

 formidable proportions, and, when we reached Market Lake, appeared 

 to sweep around us in a semicircle, at a distance of forty or fifty 

 miles. Some fifteen or twenty miles to the east we noticed two 

 large biUtes rising up abruptly from the plain, and having much 

 the appearance of craters of extinct volcanoes^ which they probably 

 are, as this entire region seems to be underlaid with basalt. But on 

 this point full information will doubtless be found in Professor Hayden's 

 report, to which this is appended. The three huttes seen to our left at 

 Ross's Fork were now distinctly visible to the southwest. The entire 

 width of Snake River Plain, along this portion of it, measuring east and 

 west, from mountain to mountain, is about eighty miles. The river evi- 

 dently overflows a portion of the plain here when there is a flood, and the 

 water which is left in the depressions forms the lakes, as they are called, 

 but which are reaTly but large ponds. Market Lake is said to have re- 

 ceived its name from the following circumstance : Formerly, at a cer- 

 tain season of the year, bufl'alo, deer, antelope, and other species of 

 game were accustomed to congregate here probably on account of saline 

 matter deposited ; and the hunters, when they found game scarce in 

 other sections, would remark to each other, " Let us go to the market." 

 There is now a stage-station here, around which I noticed a large herd 

 of cattle grazing, while ^t some distance out on the plain a number of 

 antelopes could be seen quietl^^ feeding. 



Soon after we had pitched our tents, the mosquitoes began to appear 

 in vast swarms, and before sunset the numbers increased to such an 

 extent that the air was almost black with them, but soon after night- 

 fall all had disappeared. 



Here we left the river and struck northward across the plains for the 

 mountains. After traveling two or three miles we entered upon a broad, 

 rough, slightly elevated ridge, composed of broken basalt, which has 

 been elevated above the general level. This broad ridge, which does 

 not have an elevation of more than ibrty or fifty feet, covers an area .of 

 about ten miles square, and, as there is no means of bringing water upon 

 it, it must remain unfit for cultivation. It is covered throughout with a 

 scattering growth of gnarled sage-bushes. 



