boutwell] PARK CITY MINING DISTRICT, UTAH. 33 
Its western slope presents a wall-like front of striking steepness, 
which is deeply incised at regular intervals by narrow rock-walled 
canyons. The portions intervening between these canyons show a 
marked type of dissection, which is characterized by ravines that rise 
from the level of the desert with steep sides and bottoms, and fork 
repeatedly and symmetrically upstream. The eastern slope, in 
marked contrast, is a gradual descent to upland ranges, plateaus, and 
high-lying meadows, which extend in a north-south belt along the 
eastern base of the range. This unsymmetrical range may thus be 
compared to a mammoth step, about 3,000 feet in height, from the Great 
Basin on the west up to the highlands which extend from its upper 
portion eastward. That part of the upland which adjoins this range 
is drained by streams which flow westward through the great canyons 
into the basin. 
The Park City district embraces a tract which lies between the pre- 
cipitous walls of barren rock, inaccessible cliffs, and ledges that mark 
the crest of the main range to the west, and the grass}^, verdant, 
mountain meadows of Heber, Kamas, and Parleys, along its eastern 
foothills. This intermediate belt lies upon the northern portion of 
a prominent spur which stretches from Clayton Peak in the main range 
toward the east. This spur forms the head ward portion of East Can- 
yon, divides the Weber from the Provo, and is the connecting link 
between the Wasatch Range and the Uinta uplift. It comprises three 
topographical divisions — a steep slope southward, which overlooks an 
extensive, relatively level tract to the south, Bonanza Flat; a gradual 
descent northward, which is deeply cut by four narrow, steep-sided 
gulches, Thaynes, Woodside, Empire, and Ontario; and a long, steep, 
deeply incised slope eastward, which unites the Park City upland with 
the prairie belt. 
The climate is remarkably bracing, with short, cool summers, short 
autumns, and long rigorous winters marked by heavy snowfalls and 
low temperature. Being on the protected sunny side of the range, 
however, it escapes much of the harshness of such conditions which 
neighboring canyons suffer. Water, although hardly abundant, is 
not scarce. Springs and currents cut by underground workings sup- 
ply a constant flow of Avater the year round. Natural rock basins at 
the foot of the pinnacle of Clayton Peak are utilized as reservoirs, 
and a supply of water which is sufficient for domestic purposes is 
obtained from the Alliance tunnel. The outflow from the Ontario 
drain tunnel, which is generally believed to include the drainage 
from a large portion of the great mines, furnishes the power for the 
Park City electric-light plant. Although the slopes originally sup- 
ported a growth of pine timber 3 to 5 feet in diameter, this was early 
utilized for underground timber. Fuel is supplied from extensive 
veins of good coal at Coalville, 28 miles to the north, and from the 
forest growth on the distant portions of this and the Uinta ranges. 
Bull. 213—03 3 
