boutwell.]     OIL    AND    ASPHALT    IN    SALT    LAKE    BASIN,    UTAH.  477 
asphaltites,  bituminous  sandstones,  and  related  materials  the  view 
of  their  origin"  from  petroleum  "suggested  by  chemistry  has  in 
many  ways  been  reenforced.  The  asphaltic  earths  and  solid  bitu- 
mens in  part  are  frequently  associated  with  active  petroleum  springs, 
or  are  found  in  regions  renowned  as  oil  producing."0 
About  one-half  a  mile  north  of  the  asphalt  seepages  at  Rozel  Point 
a  well  is  being  sunk,  with  churn  drill,  under  the  direction  of  an  expe- 
rienced driller.  Its  site,  evidently  selected  after  due  study  of  the 
folds  in  the  limestone  forming  the  neighboring  ridge,  is  at  the  base 
of  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Rozel  Hills. 
MISCELLANEOUS   PROSPECTS. 
Other  prospecting  has  been  reported  in  Salt  Lake  basin,  or  the 
northern  portion  of  the  area  occupied  by  Lake  Bonneville.  This 
has  not,  so  far  as  known,  developed  significant  results.  The  pros- 
pect at  Farmington  for  oil  and  those  at  Rozel  Point  for  asphalt 
embrace  the  most  extensive  and  important  work  undertaken  in  this 
irea  in  search  of  bituminous  products.  But  the  importance  of  ob- 
taining water  in  the  great  desert  west  of  Salt  Lake  renders  the 
evidence  gained  by  deep  prospecting  valuable. 
Along    the    Southern    Pacific    Railway ,&    within    the    Bonneville 
basin,  several  wells  have  been  sunk  through  lake  deposits,  and  in 
one   place   a   strong  flow   of  excellent   water   was   encountered.     At 
Strongknob,  on  the  west  side  of  the  lake  and  52  miles  west  of  Ogden, 
a  well  wras  sunk  in  clay  to  a  depth  of  800  feet.     Some  gas  was  struck, 
but  neither  oil  nor  asphalt.     At  Lemay,  28  miles  farther  west  and 
well  within  the  present  Great  Salt  Lake  Desert,  a  wrell  has  been  sunk 
o  a  depth  of  2,480  feet.     No  good  water  or  oil  has  been  found,  though 
alt  water,  sulphurous  gases,  and  water  showing  a  temperature  of 
120°  have  been  encountered.     The  boring  is  reported  to  have  pene- 
trated, in  the  upper  850  feet,  clay  carrying  some  gypsum;  then  to 
lave  passed  through  a  considerable  thickness  of  blue  limestone  ear- 
wing  fossils — shells  and  coral — and  then  to  have  passed  into  brown 
andstone.     Boring  is  still  in  progress  here.     Another  deep  well  sunk 
m  this  railway  line,  with  practically  the  same  result,  though  outside 
he  Bonneville  basin,  is  at  a  point  about  50  miles  east  of  Reno,  in 
he  Truckee  Valley,   in  western   Nevada.     This   is   stated   to  be  in 
lay  for  its  entire  depth  of  2,700  feet  and  to  have  tapped  saline  and 
leated  waters. 
°  Eldridge,  G.  H..  Asphalt  and  bituminous  rock  deposits  of  the  United  States:  Twenty- 
econd  Ann.  Kept.  U.  S.  Geol.  Survey,  pt.  1,  p.  L'.'U. 
6  The  studies  along  this  line  have  hcui  facilitated  and  valuable  information  has  been 
iven  by  Messrs.  C.  S.  Fee,  general  passenger  agent  of  the  road  ;  0.  F-  McGouagle,  assist- 
nt  engineer,  and  F.  Easton,  road  master  of  the  Ogden  division. 
