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 PRICE RIVER.

This river rises in the angle formed by the intersection of the Wasatch and Western Tavaputs Plateaus, receiving tributaries from both these table lands, and has a general easterly course for 100 miles. It crosses the northern end of Castle Valley, and then flows through a broken country near the foot of the escarpment called the Book Cliffs, forming the southern boundary of the Tavaputs Plateau, till within 20 miles of the Green River, when it cuts through this escarpment into the plateau and joins the Green a few miles above the foot of Gray Cañon. The arable lands along its course are mostly found in Castle Valley, where there are at least 50 square miles—a quantity considerably in excess of the irrigating capacity of the stream. The volume of water was measured in July, 1877, a few miles below where it debouches into Castle Valley, and found to be 189 cubic feet per second. It must suffer great loss from absorption, as the volume when leaving the cliffs is much greater, and the aggregated flow of the branches on the plateaus is at least twice as great.