GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 239 



derecl by some excellent lands which can be easily irrigated. A settle- 

 ment has been made here and some land is under cultivation, but what 

 amount 1 am unable to say. 



Bear Eiver rises in the Uintah Mountains, near the southwest corner 

 of Wyoming-, and running north within Utah Territory, but very near 

 the eastern boundary, passes up into Idaho for forty or fifty miles, where, 

 bending suddenly southwest, it enters the Cache Valley. Most of the 

 distance from where the Union Pacific Eailroad enters it, to its northern 

 bend, it is flanked by a narrow belt of bottom land, which occasionally, 

 as in the vicinity of Medicine Butte, and near the point where it crosses 

 the boundary line, expands to four or five miles in width, but for the 

 whole-length the average width cannot safely be estimated at more than 

 one mile. Its chief value will be as a grazing region when the broader 

 valleys have been taken up, its elevation and mountainous surroundings 

 making it too cold for any but the hardier cereals and vegetables. 



The average fall of the river is about twelve feet to the mile, which 

 is sufficient to carry it upon any table lands that may border it which 

 are not more than one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet high. 



I am not sufficiently acquainted with the country through which it 

 runs to state what is the probable amount of land that may thus be 

 rendered cultivable. I know there are occasional belts of the second 

 level, but I think these are limited. Around Bear Biver Lake there is 

 a strip of arable land and some grassy meadows. 



Ogden's Hole, which is a little park in the Wahsatch Mountains, 

 drained by Ogden Creek, is about fifteen miles long and seven miles 

 wide. 



This beautiful valley is hemmed in on all sides by high mountains, 

 from which flow down little streams of crystal water sufficient to irri- 

 gate nearly the entire area. The greater part is covered over by a thick 

 growth of nutritious grass, and affords an excellent grazing field. The 

 remarks made in regard to the climate and products in Bear Biver Val- 

 ley will apply here. 



Weber River, along which the railroad runs for some distance — from 

 where it emerges from the canon to where it enters upon Salt Lake Val- 

 ley proper — passes through a very pretty, and, for the most part, fertile 

 section, which is rapidly filling up with villages and settlements, and is 

 so well known to every one who has traveled along the Union Pacific 

 Eailroad, that- any description of it would be superfluous. 



The arable land in the valley, including the little spots on Echo Creek, 

 may be estimated at one hundred square miles, or sixty-four thousand 

 acres. 



I may add that the soil is very fertile, and, although the climate is 

 slightly colder than that of the Salt Lake Valley, apples and some other 

 fruits can be raised without difficulty. 



In order to prevent confusion, I have limited the name " Salt Lake 

 Valley" to the strip of level land lying along the eastern shore between 

 the lake and the Wahsatch Mountains. Its length from Salt Lake City 

 to Willard City, in a direct line, is about fifty miles, varying in width 

 from two to fifteen miles, and averaging about ten. 



Of this area I estimate three-fifths, or three hundred square miles, as 

 susceptible of cultivation. I am aware that with the present systems of 

 irrigation it would be difficult, if not impossible, to obtain sufficient 

 water to irrigate this extent, but by making reservoirs and bringing 

 upon it all the water that is within reach from the streams north and 

 south, my estimate will not be too large ; and, by this means, part of 



