GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 245 



Its altitude averages about five thousand feet above the level of the 

 sea, the elevation at the mouth of San Pete Eiver being four thousand 

 nine hundred and sixty feet. 



The Sevier Eiver Valley is a long narrow belt lying between two 

 wings of the Wahsatch range, and extending northwest and northeast 

 one hundred and ten or one hundred and fifteen miles. I know but 

 little respecting the agricultural features of the upper portion of this 

 valley, but presume, judging from what I know of the surrounding 

 regions, that it is well grassed and well watered, so that all spots of 

 arable land to be found there can be irrigated. I think it probable that 

 some timber can be found in this part of the valley, although the lower 

 portions are very naked. 



For about fifty or sixty miles above Gunnison it averages some six or 

 seven miles wide, but is wholly without timber, and "has a very barren 

 appearance ; even the artemisia being scattered and stunted. The river 

 channel is generally a deep, ditch-like cleft in the soil, some six or eight 

 feet below the surface of the plain, its immediate bottoms being very 

 narrow. With the considerable fall in the stream a great portion of the 

 valley can be irrigated, and, notwithstanding the present barren appear- 

 ance, after a few years' irrigation, will become quite fertile, and produce 

 good crops of wheat, oats, potatoes, &c. There are some settlements in 

 the north part of the valley, and a few thousand acres under cultivation 

 in Sevier and Piute Counties, which embrace this valley. What the 

 number of acres irrigated is I cannot say. 



The. elevation ranges from five thousand five hundred to four thou- 

 sand eight hundred feet above the level of the sea, and the volume 

 of water in the river is ample for all purposes. From Gunnison to 

 Chicken Creek, a distance of forty miles, the valley of this Eiver aver- 

 ages some three or four miles wide, and is similar in character to that 

 farther south. 



Leaving the Sevier, and following the road over the ridge to \he 

 southwest, we enter an isolated basin called Eound or Lake Valley, 

 which appears to have little or no connection with the water systems 

 of the Sevier basin. This is some ten or twelve miles long and six or 

 seven wide, but for want of water only a limited portion of it can be 

 irrigated and brought under culture. There is probably sufficient to 

 supply a strip of about a mile and a half in width. And there are 

 some small grazing fields there. Passing westward out of this valley 

 we enter upon the margin of the plains, which spread out with a gentle 

 slope to the northwest. The little streams that run down from the 

 mountains and pass off into the plains afford a belt of arable spots 

 along the foot of the range, concerning which I obtained the following 

 particulars from Bishop Miller, of Provo : 



Going south from the latter point, after passing for some ten miles 

 over the divide, we reach a little stream where there is a small settle- 

 ment and a small extent of arable land that can be irrigated, and an 

 area ten or twelve miles long and four or five wide, suitable for grazing 

 sheep or cattle. Passing over a dry level plain for about eight miles 

 farther, we reach Chalk Creek, which affords a valley eight or ten miles 

 long and about two miles wide, the greater part of which can be irri- 

 gated. Crossing another dry level of about four miles we reach Meadow 

 Creek,* which has but little bottom land adapted to agriculture, and 

 not sufficient water to irrigate more than a few hundred acres. But it 



* This is a different stream from the Meadow Creek heretofore mentioned as coming 

 down from near Rush Valley. 



