60 
GREEN RIVER VALLEY.—BEAR RIVER AND UINTA MOUNTAINS. 
scattered growth of cedar upon the mountains, and borders of grass are found upon its water¬ 
courses ; hut artemisia, with a little scattered grass, occupies the valley in every direction, and 
characterizes its vegetation. The trading post at Fort Bridger has been occupied constantly for 
the last ten years; hut the district was much frequented before by traders and trappers, whose 
effects are always transported by cattle, which subsist themselves throughout the year by 
grazing—a fact remarkably significant of the winter climate, and depth of snow which falls in 
the district, the general elevation of which may he safely taken at 7,000 feet above the sea. 
And it is said, by these people, to he a well-established fact, that horned cattle, of which their 
stock largely consists, cannot so subsist where the snow is deep enough to bury their eyes and 
enter their ears as they feed. I have already stated, in this report, that the Mormons have 
commenced a settlement near Fort Bridger, and that large herds of cattle were grazed near it 
during the early part of the winter, and were subsequently driven over the mountains, and 
remained in the valley of the Weber river until spring. 
Two ranges of mountains, more or less united, intervene between this valley and that of 
Great Salt lake. The first, or more eastern, is the Bear River range, which is broken and sur¬ 
mounted by elevated peaks towards the north, hut is more broad and open towards the south, 
where it unites with spurs of the Uinta and Wahsatch ranges. It is drained on the east by 
Black’s fork and its tributaries, an affluent of Green river, and on the west by Bear river 
itself, which rises in the Uinta mountains and flows northward, breaking through the Wahsatch 
range and emptying into Great Salt lake. 
The second, or western range, which stands immediately on the eastern border of the Basin, 
is the Wahsatch, extending from Little Salt lake, in a very direct line northward for 300 miles 
to Bear river. It is broken, towards the south, only by the passage of the Sevier river; hut 
on our present line by the narrow passages of the Timpanogos and Weber rivers, by either 
of which, after crossing the first range, by ascending the divide between Black’s fork and the 
Muddy, and crossing the heads of the latter stream and Bear river to the head of White Clay 
creek, (an affluent of the Weber) it is very practicable to descend to the valley of the Great Salt 
lake with a railroad. Looking westward, from the divide just indicated, the country presents 
a broad, level appearance, and it is difficult to realize its great elevation. It is, however, 
intersected by the valleys and ravines of the various water-courses by which it is drained, and 
which extend into the Porcupine terrace, lying at the northern foot of the Uinta mountains. 
The greatest elevation upon the line occurs upon this terrace, between the sources of Black’s 
fork and the Muddy, and, as indicated by our barometers, is 8,373 feet above the sea. By 
ascending the Muddy, two hundred feet of this elevation would he avoided; but the line would 
require more and smaller curves. It is here, also, that the greatest depth of snow is encountered, 
and it increases in depth as we approach the snowy Uinta range. When we crossed it, in 
April, the streams were not swollen, and we could not discover that it had diminished by 
the warmth of the season from its usual winter depth.. On the northeast slopes of the hills 
and ravines it had accumulated in deep drifts, hut its general depth varied, for a few miles, 
from twelve to sixteen inches; and in crossing Bear river, and on the head of White Clay creek, 
it was from eight to twelve inches; hut below this we encountered no snow. The timber of this 
section is limited in quantity, the ridges being dotted with a scattered growth of small cedar, 
and the Porcupine terrace dark with a respectable growth of spruce, pine, and fir. The soil 
of the mountains is superior, and covered with a luxuriant growth of grass. The distance 
from Smith’s fork, on which we encamped, near Fort Bridger, by the line of the Timpanogos 
river, to the northern point of Oquirrh mountains, at the south end of the Great. Salt lake, 
and on the western side of the valley of the Jordan, is 182.55 miles; and the same point 
would he reached by descending the Weber from the mouth of White Clay creek and following 
tne eastern and southern shore of the lake, by a line of equal length. The respective average 
grades and altitudes upon these lines, and throughout the lines of the survey, will he found in 
the accompanying table and upon the profiles submitted with this report. There are large 
