1841.] Capt. Huttoris Geological Report. 217 



had subsided, it would have gradually regained its freshness, and parted 

 with its saline properties by the constant accession of streams from the 

 beds of snow surrounding it. 



Secondly. If these mountain ranges were formed at no remoter period 

 than that assigned to the subsidence of the Mosaic deluge, the lake may have 

 been formed simply by the accumulation of the snow streams from the 

 heights above, since that last grand catastrophe. 



And, Thirdly. If suppose these mountains to have been upheaved by sub- 

 marine volcanic agency during the convulsions attendant on the subsidence of 

 the deluge, we may assign the origin of the lake to the enclosing or retaining 

 of the oceanic waters, as the ranges rose upwards from beneath the waves. 

 I shall presently speak of the most probable of these three causes, and 

 in the mean time taking for granted the former existence of the lake, pro- 

 ceed to show by what means it has disappeared. 



The walls of the valley, then, we must suppose to have been at one pe- 

 riod continuous, without an outlet ; thus forming an extensive basin con 

 taining a lake of water, which from its vast expanse and magnitude, might 

 have been almost termed an inland sea. 



The surrounding barriers of this lake rearing their heads aloft to an ele- 

 vation of from 16,000 to 20,000 feet and upwards above the level of the 

 present sea, were then, as they still continue to be, the never-failing 

 receptacles of eternal snows, which furnished streams of ever-running 

 waters, all emptying themselves into the broad lake beneath. 



This constant increase would of course in a litle time cause the waters to 

 rise, and overflow that portion of their bounds which attained the least 

 elevation, and accordingly we find it actually to have been so at the con- 

 fluence of the present stream with the river Sutledge. 



This overflowing would at first proceed quietly, and with a gently exert- 

 ed force ; but as the action of the never-ceasing stream gradually carved a 

 deeper channel over the rock, a greater body of water would flow down, 

 bursting through and tearing away blocks of increasing magnitude, until 

 its weight and constant action having loosened and undermined the bank, 

 the massive barrier which had hitherto sustained this enormous weight, 

 now weakened by the repeated loss of its various supports and out-posts as 

 it were, would at length give way before the overpowering pressure of 

 the waters, and yield them a passage to the vales below. 



Bursting with headlong fury through this, its long sought aperture, 

 what devastation must have attended the downward passage of such a bo- 

 dy of water ! Huge fragments of rocks, together with the soils and pro- 

 ductions of whole districts through which the torrent rushed, must have 

 been swept off before it, and have been deposited at various distances from 



