INDIVIDUAL PLATEAUS. 3 



up of three component masses, or members — the Pavant at the north end, 

 the Tushar in the middle, and the Markagunt at the south. The Pavant 

 is a curious admixture of plateau and sierra, the eastern side being- tabular 

 in form and detail, while the western side is a common mountain front, like 

 many others found in the Great Basin. The Tushar is also a composite 

 structure, its northern half being a wild bristling cordillera of grand dimen- 

 sions and altitudes, crowned with snowy peaks, while the southern half is 

 conspicuously tabular The Markagunt is a true plateau, of the normal type 

 and of great expanse, and though very lofty (about 11,000 feet), is in utter 

 contrast to a mountain uplift. A narrow, and in some portions profound, 

 valley separates the western from the middle range of plateaus. This is 

 the Sevier Valley, bearing a small river of the same name, which collects 

 the drainage of the greater part of the district and pours it into a wretched 

 salina of the Great Basin, where it is evaporated. But the valley is an 

 important one, because it is one of the principal highways of travel, and, 

 still more, because it has already become the granary of Utah, and prom- 

 ises to increase in importance as an agricultural district. 



The second range of plateaus consists of the Sevier Plateau on the 

 north and the Paunsagunt Plateau on the south. The Sevier Plateau is 

 80 miles in length and only 12 to 20 in width. Its great elongation and 

 the bold sculpture of its fronts would assimilate it to a mountain range, 

 and such it seems to be in some portions of its extent as we look up to its 

 grand pediments from the valley below. But its structure and topography 

 are seen to be conspicuously tabular when viewed from lofty standpoints. 

 It is cut in twain near the middle by a tremendous gorge, which carries the 

 East Fork of the Sevier River, which drains the plateaus to the eastward 

 and southward. 



The Paunsagunt Plateau is a flat- topped mass, projecting southward 

 in the continuation of the long axis of the Sevier Plateau, bounded on 

 three sides by lofty battlements of marvelous sculpture and glowing color. 

 Its terminus looks over line after line of cliffs to the southward and down 

 to the forlorn wastes of that strange desert which constitutes the district of 

 the Kaibabs and the drainage system of the Grand Canon of the Colorado 

 River. 



