8 REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



might prove to be a severe one for many a younger man. By the time 

 the gulch-miners had their works in proper order the water supply gave 

 out at many places, and they were forced to abandon the placiers. Much 

 work has been done on the various creeks, and at some points the gravel 

 is carted considerable distances to reach water. The limited supply, 

 however, of this commodity, cuts short the season for active operations, 

 and forbids the erection of such contrivances as might prove to be more 

 remunerative. 



Camp Stambaugh was named after Lieut. Charles B. Stambaugh, of 

 the Second Cavalry, who was killed in action with Indians near Miner's 

 Delight on March 4, 1870. It was established as a substation to Fort 

 Bridger, on June 20, 1870, and announced as an independent post August 

 20, 1870. Its purpose is to afford protection to the settlers of the mining 

 regions. Since that time the Indians have been crowded farther into 

 the mountains, and Camp Brown, 50 miles north, acts as a protector 

 against hostile invasions. The altitude of Stambaugh is about 8,300 

 feet above sea-level, an elevation that not unfrequently results in injury, 

 of health to those stationed there. 



June 13, the party reached the post, having travelled from the Dry 

 Sandy to Little Sandy, thence to the mouth of the former creek. From 

 there they crossed over to Pacific Creek, which was followed upward 

 until beyond South Pass City. Leaving camp early on the 13th, one of 

 the party killed the first deer of the season. Stambaugh was reached, 

 during the forenoon. By permission of the commanding officer, we were 

 enabled to make camp within the military reservation, near the post 

 Mail and other acceptable representatives of civilization were obtained, 

 and during the day preparations were made to leave the post on the 14th. 

 Obtaining all the information we could about routes and water, the 

 course of the next trip was decided upon, and upon leaving, we prom- 

 ised our hospitable friends to spend that national holiday, the Fourth of 

 July, with them. 



FROM STAMBAUGH TO THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD. 



June 14, we left the post, and after making several stations, reached 

 our camp on the Sweetwater River. During the day a very heavy gale 

 of wind had been blowing, which in the evening turned into a storm. 

 On the first station made, it was impossible to place the instrument on 

 the summit of the hill, because neither tripod nor man could stand there. 

 The westerly winds are severe and very constant throughout the region 

 we had traversed thus far. It seems that the cold air from the moun- 

 tains rushes downward with great velocity, and finding nothing to im- 

 pede its j)rogress, sweeps across the flat country with surprising violence. 

 More than once the wind interfered with our work, rendering the occu- 

 pation of points almost an impossibility. As the daily temperature 

 decreased in the evening, the wind gradually died out, and did not rise 

 again until nine or ten o'clock in the morning. Enormous accumula- 

 tions of sand, drifting into dunes, show that for centuries, if not ages, 

 the same conditions have existed in this section of country. A belt of 

 "sand-hills," about 10 miles wide and 75 miles in length, trends from 

 south of west to north of east across our district, proving by its presence 

 the long-continued process that located it there. 



Sweetwater Valley, in which we were camped, is at that point narrow, 

 confined between steep hills of metamorphic schists. Willow brush and 

 some aspen are found near the stream. Crossing over to the south side 

 we found ourselves in a series of meadow-like depressions, literally 



