GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 237 



the latter plenty of good grass is to be obtained, but the irrigable and 

 tillable area is limited." 



From the data obtained by the expedition while in this section, I am 

 led to the conclusion that a thorough investigation of the northeast part 

 of Utah and northwest part of Colorado would reveal the fact that 

 there is a large area of land there which can be cultivated, not in ex- 

 tensive bodies, but in long narrow valleys and belts. But it is probable 

 the reports of others, who have been making some examinations of 

 this mountainous region, may supply that which we have to omit for 

 want of information. 



Timber is abundant along the slopes of the Uintah Mountains, and 

 some of the valleys are tolerably well supplied with cottonwood. 



SALT LAKE DISTRICT. 



This district, which lies partly in Utah and partly in Nevada, is a 

 vast elliptical basin about three hundred and fifty miles in length from 

 north to south, and varying from fifty to three hundred miles in width, 

 being on an average about one hundred and eighty or one hundred and 

 ninety miles wide, and containing an area of some sixty-five thousand 

 square miles. As there is a large portion of this territory which is but 

 little known, and which has never been examined with a view of ascer- 

 taining its agricultural capacity, it is very difficult to give even an ap- 

 proximate estimate of the cultivable lands within its bounds. Omitting 

 what may hereafter be discovered to be cultivable in the western section, 

 I think we may safely place the estimate at three thousand square miles, 

 or about two million acres. 



An irregular range of hills or mountains starting from the west side 

 of Salt Lake runs south a little west of the 113th meridian to the 38th 

 parallel, when it bends southeast and forms an imperfect junction with 

 the southern extremity of the Wahsatch Mountains. By this range the 

 basin is divided into two unequal parts, that on the east, which contains 

 nearly all the known arable land, being much smaller than the western 

 section. 



This latter portion consists chiefly of broad, flat, sandy plains, often 

 destitute of vegetation, and in many places covered with saline incrus- 

 tations, showing plainly that the lake formerly extended over a much 

 larger area in this direction than at present. 



As this western section, so far as known, contains but very little 

 arable land — this being limited to the extreme southeast border — and as 

 the entire basin consists of minor basins with distinct water systems, I 

 shall not attempt to consider the district by sections, but will describe 

 it by the minor basins and valleys, so far as I have visited them and 

 obtained reliable information concerning them. Leaving out of the list 

 the broad northwestern plains, the following are the more important 

 minor basins : the Salt Lake Basin, Bush Yalley, Sevier Biver Basin, 

 and Beaver Biver Basin. 



SALT LAKE BASIN. 



This basin embraces the territory immediately around the lake, and 

 that drained by the numerous streams that flow into it, of which the 

 principal ones are Bear, Weber, and Jordan Bivers, the last including 

 as its tributaries the streams- that discharge their waters into Utah 

 Lake. 



This basin is nearly two hundred miles in length, and covers over 



