262 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TEEElTORIES. 



junction with. West Fork. It is some forty or fifty yards wide, flowing 

 swiftly, its banks being high and not subject to overflow. The imme- 

 diate valley is from two to five miles wide, while on the south a low 

 table-land, not more than fifteen or twenty feet above the bottoms, 

 stretches ont to the south, ascending with a gentle slope to the foot of 

 the mountains. The supply of water is ample, and the facilities for 

 irrigation excellent. This is one of the finest valleys of this section, the 

 soil being good and the climate favorable, on which account it has at- 

 tracted settlers, so that at this time it is mostly inclosed and under 

 cultivation ; and it is probable that ere long an encroachment will be 

 made on the bordering iDlateau. The stream is fringed by a fine growth 

 of cotton-wood and aspen, except which there is no other timber in the 

 valley, this being supplied from the mountains to the northwest. 



As a general thing, the southern part of this section is not so well 

 timbered as the regions to the northwest, but the mountains will furnish 

 a supply for ordinary jjurposes, yet even these in many places present 

 quite naked slopes, being smooth and grassed over to the summit. The 

 evidences of the gradual wearing down of the mountains and filling up 

 of valleys are very marked in this part of the Territory, and wherever 

 this is the case but few forests are to be found. In fact, it may be laid 

 down as a rule that has but few exceptions here, that wherever the 

 mountain sides are smooth there are no forests. In some places the 

 levels of broad valleys, when seen from a distance, look like streams 

 flowing down with a somewhat rapid current ; and glancing up to tlie 

 mountains from which they descend, we see the immense fissures and 

 excavations from which the debris has worn away. Often across these 

 river-like ribbon plains, we see where another ancient stream has 

 swept across it to the channel the modern stream has cut on one side 

 near the base of the parallel mountain. At other places little, smooth, 

 sloping deltas will be seeu at the base of the mountain, where the debris 

 cut from the deep excavation above has been deposited. But over such 

 areas there is no forest growth, nay, not even a solitary pine or a stunted 

 cedar, the omnipresent artemisia being the only ligneous plant, if it can 

 be called such. 



Passing northward from the central part of the Jefferson, we enter 

 what Mr. Stuart calls the Eastern Central Basin, and which he describes as 

 follows : '• This is drained by the Missouri Eiver below the Three Forks, 

 and above them by [the lower tributaries of] the Jefterson, the Xortli 

 Boulder, South Boulder, and Willow Creeks. It is also traversed by the 

 lower portion of the Madison and Gallatin liivers, which form a junction 

 with the Jefferson in a fertile plain of considerable extent. It contains 

 a large amount of arable land, with a climate comparable with that of 

 Utah, and is about one hundred and fifty miles long, north aud south, 

 by eighty, east and west. Its five principal valleys are the following: 

 The valley of the Three Forks ; of North Boulder : of the lower part of the 

 Jefterson ; of the Madison, and of the Gallatin, furnishing a larger amount 

 of farming laud than the basin of the Beaver Head and tributaries." It 

 will be seen that I have included a part of this basin in the descriptions 

 of the valleys already noticed. Mr. Stuart evidently includes the parts 

 below the cailons mentioned, in this basin. 



The valley of the Missouri along this part of its course is narrow, but 

 (luite fertile, possessing a very favorable climate. It is watered on the 

 east side by numerous small streams, which flow down from the Belt 

 Mountains. The interior of the basin is traversed by several sharp and 

 elevated ridges; the principal one, stretching from near the lower part of 

 the Jeft'ersor a little west of north, connects with the Eocky Mouutaiu 



