gashbtt.] ARABLE LAND. 705 



value, as near the mountains it is gravelly. Narrow strips of valuable 

 land extend up Smoking, Crow, and Beaver Creeks for several miles. 



In the valleys of tlie Blackfoot and its branches there is much val- 

 uable land — more than there is water for. The upper valley of the 

 river, and the valleys in which the South Fork flows and which it crosses, 

 can be made productive. So with a large part of the valley of the 

 Little Blackfoot. On the main stream little can be irrigated of the 

 basalt field beyond the bottom-lands, as the basalt is rent by huge crev- 

 ices in this direction and that, like a field of old ice. Altogether, prob- 

 ably 175 square miles of the Blackfoot Basin can be made productive. 



The upper valley of the Portneuf contains much more flat land than 

 the supply of water will irrigate, as the stream is here very small. A 

 narrow strip of valley extends down the river through most of the canon, 

 widening out and running up the lateral branches. In the lower valley, 

 Marsh Creek will water a narrow strip of bottom-land, averaging from 

 one to two miles in width throughout its entire course. In this valley 

 the Portneuf is crowded between a basalt wall and the steep slopes of 

 the Portneuf Eange, leaving no valley of any consequence. A narrow 

 ribbon of bottom-land accompanies this river through the canon below, 

 in the Bannack Bange, and as the valley widens out to the Snake Biver 

 Plains the area of irrigable land becomes broader. The arable area on 

 the Portneuf and Marsh Creek I estimate at about 150 square miles. 



Turning now to the Bear Kiver, we find in its upper valley a broad 

 area susceptible of irrigation. The sod here is good, but the situation 

 is exposed, and the winters long and severe. In the valley of Upper 

 Twin Creek there are small areas, of irrigable land. In this upper val- 

 ley, altogether, there are about 150 square miles which can be rendered 

 productive. On Smith's Fork there is a narrow valley, not more than 

 half a mile in width and 20 miles in length. Thomas Fork has a very 

 fine valley four or five miles in width and 15 in length, all of which can 

 be irrigated. On the Bear, below this stream, in the canon through the 

 foot-hills of the Aspen Bange, there are several square miles of fine bot- 

 tom land, admirably well sheltered. 



Bear Lake Valley contains about 275 square miles of tillable -land. It 

 extends in a broad belt on both sides of the river southward from the 

 Soda Springs for 15 mdes, then is interrupted by a mass of buttes which 

 force the river into a canon, but begins again at Georgetown and ex- 

 tends up to the lake. A large valley of excellent land extends sev- 

 eral miles up North Creek. A narrow strip of arable land extends, 

 with slight interruptions, up the west side of the lake. At its south 

 end the valley widens out, giving an area of about 15 square miles of 

 fine land, in which are the Mormon towns of Meadow ville and Laketown. 

 On the east side of the lake, the only flat country consists of small 

 patches at the mouths of Indian and North and South Eden Creeks. 



Following the Bear down below Sheep Bock, we find a small, irrigable 

 area against the west base of the Bear Biver Bange. Then, as the river 

 runs out of the basalt, its course widens from a close canon to a valley, 

 narrow at first, but widening to a mile or more in Gentile Valley, which 

 extends down to the mouth of Cottonwood Creek. 



The lower part of Mink Creek has a few square mdes of arable land. 

 Then we reach Cache Valley, almost the whole extent of which can be 

 cultivated, as well as the valleys of many streams entering it from the 

 north and west. The whole area of arable land here is about 400 square 

 miles. Much of this is naturally irrigated ; while Cub Biver and Logan 

 Fork, with their branches from the mountains and the other mountain 

 streams, will go far towards irrigating the upper portion of the eastern half 

 45 G-s 



