Three rivers enter Great Salt Lake—the Bear, the Weber, and the Jordan, and upon their water will ultimately depend the major part of the agriculture of Utah. By a curious coincidence, the principal heads of the three rivers lie close together in the western end of the Uinta range of mountains.
The Bear River runs northward at first, and a little beyond the foot of the mountains enters the Territory of Wyoming. Swerving to the left, it passes again into Utah, and swerving again to the right returns to Wyoming. From Wyoming it runs northward into Idaho, and after making a great detour to the north returns on a more westerly line to Utah. It reënters in Cache Valley, and passes thence by a short cañon to its delta plain on the northwestern border of Great Salt Lake. Its principal tributaries are received in Idaho and in Cache Valley. Bordering upon the upper reaches of the river, there is little land available for cultivation, and the climate forbids any crop but hay. I am informed that the meadow land there somewhat exceeds two square miles in area. Where the river next enters Utah it runs for 30 miles through an open valley, the valley that contains the towns of Woodruff and Randolph. At the head it passes through a short defile, and can readily be thrown into two canals at such a level as to command the greater part of the valley, bringing about 90 square miles of land “under ditch”. For the irrigation of this amount the river is sufficient, but if the necessary water were thus appropriated, too little would remain for the use of the lands which border the contiguous portions of the river in Wyoming. These have equal claim to the use of the river, and a proper distribution of the water would assign it to the reclamation of the best selection of land in the two Territories. I estimate that such an adjustment would permit the Utah valley to irrigate 45 square miles with the water of the river. The minor streams of the valley will serve, in addition, 24 square miles. The climate is unfavorable to grain and the chief crop must be of hay.
Where the river next enters Utah it has acquired so great a volume that it is impracticable to make use of its entire amount. The portion of Cache Valley which lies in Utah can nearly all be irrigated. What is on the left bank of Bear River can be served by Logan River and other tributaries without calling on the main stream. The right bank will have to be served in connection with an adjacent tract in Idaho, and by a canal lying entirely in that Territory. The expense will be great, but not greater than the benefit will warrant. I estimate that the Utah division of Cache Valley will ultimately contain 250 square miles of irrigated land. The climate admits of the growth of wheat, oats, and corn, and such fruits as the apple, pear, and the apricot.
In leaving Cache Valley the river tumbles through a short, narrow cañon, and then enters the plain that borders the lake. The limestone walls of the cañon offer a secure foundation for the head works to a system of canals to supply the plain. Here, again, a large outlay is necessary, but the benefits will be more than commensurate. Not only will the entire alluvial plain of the Bear be served, but the valley of the Malade, as far as Oregon Springs, and the valley which extends from Little Mountain to Connor’s Spring. After deducting from these areas the land along the margin of the lake that is too saline to afford hope of reclamation, there remains a tract of 214 square miles. One-tenth of this is now in use, being in part watered by Box Elder Creek and other small creeks, and in part cultivated without irrigation.
In the following table are summed the agricultural resources of that portion of the Bear River drainage basin which lies in Utah:
| Tracts. | Square miles— | |
|---|---|---|
| Cultivated in 1877. | Cultivable. | |
| Base of Uinta Mountains | 1.6 | 2.5 |
| Yellow Creek and Duck Creek | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Randolph Valley and Saleratus Creek | 9.6 | 69.0 |
| Shores of Bear Lake | 5.0 | 9.0 |
| Cache Valley | 50.0 | 250.0 |
| Delta Plain, Malade Valley, and Connor’s Spring Valley | 22.0 | 218.0 |
| Box Elder Valley (Mantua) | 1.1 | 1.5 |
| Total | 89.3 | 552.0 |
The entire area of the Bear River District is about 3,620 square miles, 2¹⁄₂ per cent. being now under cultivation, and over 15 per cent. susceptible of cultivation.
The Weber River runs with a general northwesterly course from the Uinta Mountains to Great Salt Lake, entering the latter at the middle of its eastern shore. The Ogden is its only important tributary. At the foot of the mountains it enters Kamas Prairie, in which it can be made to irrigate a few square miles. Thence to Hennefer, a distance of 30 miles, it is continuously bordered by a strip of farming land about one-third of a mile broad. Then it passes a series of three close cañons—in the intervals of which are Round Valley, with a few acres of land, and Morgan Valley, with 7 square miles—and emerges upon its delta plain. Within this plain are no less than 219 square miles of farming land, of which about two-fifths are now in use. A part is unwatered, a part is watered by the Ogden River and by a number of creeks, and the remainder is watered by the Weber. To serve the higher portions of the plain a great outlay would be required, and I am of opinion that the highest levels cannot profitably be supplied. Still, a great extension of the irrigated area is inevitable, and I anticipate that when the water of the Weber has been carried as far as is economically practicable, not more than 15 miles of the plain will remain unsupplied. Deducting this amount, as well as the area served by the minor streams and springs of the plain, there remain 185 square miles dependent on the Weber and Ogden Rivers. The Ogden River has also to water 8 square miles in its upper course, and the Weber 34, making a total of 227 square miles dependent on the two streams. Whether they are competent to serve so great an area may well be questioned. On the 8th of October I found in the Ogden River, at the mouth of its cañon, a flow of 115 feet per second, and three days later the Weber showed 386 feet. There was almost no irrigation in progress at that time, and the total of 501 feet included practically all the water of the streams. To irrigate 227 square miles, the rivers need to furnish at the critical season (in this case about the 10th of July) 1,450 feet, or nearly three times their October volume. Of the ratio between their July and October volumes I have no direct means of judging, and the problem is too nice a one to be trusted to the estimates of residents unaided by measurements; but indirectly a partial judgment may be reached by comparing the rivers with certain tributaries of the Jordan which were twice observed. City Creek was measured on the 5th of July, and again on 1st of September, and Emigration and Parley creeks were measured July 5th, and again September 3rd. These streams rise in mountains that are about as high as those which furnish the Weber and its branches, and their conditions are generally parallel. Their measured volumes were as follows: