This district has already become famous in the history of western agriculture, for here the Latter Day Saints first made “a home in the valleys among the mountains”.
The rivers and creeks bring the waters down from the Wasatch Mountains on the east. The high valleys among the mountains have to some extent been cultivated, and will hereafter be used more than at present for meadow purposes. In general the people have selected their lands low down, in order to obtain a more genial climate. Yet the irrigable lands are not very far from the mountains, as a glance at the map will reveal. Utah Lake constitutes a fine natural reservoir and discharges its waters into Salt Lake by the Jordan, and from its channel the waters may be conducted over a large area of country. The waters of the Weber and Bear Rivers, now flowing idly into the lake, will soon be spread over extensive valleys, and the area of agricultural lands be greatly increased. Westward the influence of the mountains in the precipitation of moisture is soon lost, and beyond the lake an irreclaimable desert is found.
Near to the mountains the grass lands are fair but they have been overpastured and greatly injured. Out among the Basin Ranges little grass land of value is found.
The amount of irrigable land in this district is estimated at 837,660 acres.
The lofty zone of mountains and table lands with arms stretching eastward, with its culminating points among summer frosts and winter storms, is the central region about which the human interests of the country gather. The timber, the water, the agricultural lands, the pasturage lands, to a large extent the coal and iron mines, and to some extent the silver mines, are all found in these higher regions or clinging closely to them.
GRASSES.
While the forests present but a few species of trees, the pasturage lands present a great variety of grasses. Between fifty and sixty species have been collected by parties connected with the survey under the direction of the writer, and these are distributed among twenty-six or twenty-seven genera. Most of them belong to the mountains or highlands, and are rich and sweet. Nearly all of them are bunch grasses. The spaces by which the bunches are separated are bare or occupied with weeds and shrubs. This is often the case on the mountains and high plateaus. A continuous turf is never seen. Where a sward is seen in moist places, about springs and in glades, the verdure consists in chief part of other plants, sedges and reeds.
Of the bunch grasses the Poas are by far the most abundant. Of this genus nine species were obtained, but this gives an inadequate idea of the variety. Of one species alone Dr. Vasey has enumerated nine varieties, and advances the opinion that several will be eventually considered as species. They are found at all altitudes, mostly on the slopes. Perhaps the most important single species in that region is the Bouteloua oligostachya, the so called “Circle grass”. It has a peculiar habit of forming partial or complete circles on the ground, with areas of bare ground in the center. These turfy rings are comparatively narrow, often not more than three or four inches in width, while the circles are from two to four feet in diameter. The form is not always circular, but often assumes irregular shapes. The grass is sweet and nutritious, but its chief value consists in its power to resist inclement seasons, as it cures standing, like the “Buffalo grass” of the Great Plains.
Another very valuable grass is the Eriocoma cuspidata, which is known by the name of “Sand grass”. It grows at much lower altitudes, and is properly a valley grass. It has a solitary, scattering habit, or at least the bunches are small and turfless. Horses and cattle select it with care from among other species, and it seems especially nutritious. It has a large black grain, which is often collected by the Indians for food.
A remarkable lowland grass is the Vilfa (Sporobolis airoides). It has something of the appearance of “Hair grass”, with a widely spreading purple panicle and large perennial roots. The old culms persist at the base, and with the new ones form thick and almost woody tufts. These tufts are scattered about in the strongly alkaline soils of the river bottoms, and are extensively pastured by large herds of cattle. A marked characteristic of this grass, common, however, to several others, is its power to take up saline matter, which gives to the whole plant a salty taste. The effect of this upon the stock feeding upon it is doubtful, judging from the conflicting reports of the inhabitants; but it seems that when cattle are first pastured upon it they are injured by the excess of salt, but that after a time they cease to be injured by it. All of the so called “Salt grasses” are cropped to a greater or less extent by stock.