Report on the lands of the arid region of the United States, with a more detailed account of the lands of Utah

by John Wesley Powell; Willis Drummond; Clarence E. Dutton; Grove Karl Gilbert; A. H. Thompson

THE CAÑON LANDS.

South of the Tavaputs highlands, and east and south of the High Plateaus, the Cañon Lands of Utah are found. The lower course of the Grand, the lower course of the Green, and a large section of the Colorado cuts through them, and the streams that head in the High Plateaus run across them. All the rivers, all the creeks, all the brooks, run in deep gorges—narrow, winding cañons, with their floors far below the general surface of the country. Many long lines of cliffs are found separating higher from lower districts. The hills are bad lands and alcove lands.

The Sierra la Sal and Henry Mountains are great masses of lava, wrapped in sedimentary beds, which are cut with many dikes. South of the High Plateaus great numbers of cinder cones are found.

On the Grand River there are some patches of land which can be served by the waters of that river. On the Green, in what is known as Gunnison Valley, patches of good land can be selected and redeemed by the waters of that river.

Castle Valley is abruptly walled on the west, north, and northeast by towering cliffs. East of its southern portion a region of towers, buttes, crags, and rocklands is found, known as the San Rafael Swell. In this valley there is a large amount of good land, and the numerous streams which run across it can all be used in irrigation. Farther south, on the Fremont, Escalante, and Paria, some small tracts of irrigable land are found, and on the Kanab and Virgin there are limited areas which can be used for agricultural purposes. But all that portion of the cañon country south of Castle Valley and westward to the Beaver Dam Mountains is exceedingly desolate; naked rocks are found, refusing footing even to dwarfed cedars and piñon pines; the springs are infrequent and yield no bountiful supply of water; its patches of grass land are widely scattered, and it has but little value for agricultural purposes.

A broad belt of coal land extends along the base of the cliffs from the Tavaputs Plateau on the northeast to the Colob Plateau on the southwest. At the foot of the cliffs which separate the lowlands from the highlands, many pasturage farms may be made; the grass of the lowlands can be used in the winter, and that of the highlands in summer, and everywhere good springs of water may be found.

The extent of the irrigable lands in this district is estimated at 213,440 acres.