7352

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7352
• Author: Woolley, R. R.
• Title: Editor
• USFW Year: Series
• USFW - Doc Type: 1930
• Copyright Material: NO

1$ THE GREEN RIFER AND ITS r-=IZAT30N
The Yampa River has three principal tributaries, the Elk Riven
Williams Fork, and the Little Snake River, and numerous smali
ones, many of which are only wet-weather streams.
The Elk River rises in the Hahns Peak region about 25 miles noA
of Steamboat Springs, Colo., flows southward through the oat
famous Hahns Peak placer-mining district 1e and a broad agricii
tural valley, and empties into the Yampa River near the settlemei
of Brookston.
Elkhe.ad Creek joins the Yampa about 6 miles above. Craig, an
Fortification Creek enters at Craig. Both of these streams rise in tl'
Elkhead Mountains, to the north, and flow southward through;
rolling prairie region.
A few miles below Craig Williams Fork; the principal tributat
from the south, empties into the Yampa. It rises on the Whi",
River Plateau just west of Pyramid Peak and flows northward an
northwestward, skirting the south side of the Williams Fork 'Moo
tains, to its junction with the Yampa.
The Little Snake River rises in the Hahns Peak region just notl
of the headwaters of the Elk River. Its drainage basin covers abi
3,700 square miles, or nearly half of the entire Yampa River Ba4
It flows northwestward for about 30 miles, turns westward a?t
follows roughly the Colorado-Wyoming line, crossing it several tier
in the next 45 miles; and finally swings to the southwest and m
tains this course to its junction with the Yampa at Lily, a disc.4
of about 50 miles. Along the upper course of the stream a nom
of small perennial tributaries enter, but in the lower 50 to 60
all the tributary drainage channels are dry except during wet wen`
and touch of the flow of the river itself is lost in the sandy stret
of its bed.
The White 'River has its principal headwaters in the wo6d
"-flat tops" of the White River Plateau, immediately south of,4
headwaters of Williams Fork of the Yampa. Its drainage b4
- covers about 4.,880 square miles and lies just south of the Yai
River Basin. The divide between-the two basins is farmed by-
Danforth Hills on the 'east and the Yampa Plateau on the v
In its upper course the White River is normally a clear moue
stream, but from Agency Park down the water rapidly beodt
_ muddy- Agency Park contains the largest expanse of irr 4
- -bottom and terrace lands along the White River and is the e I
for the main settlement of that region. The old Ute or White R?il
Indian-4pncy ,was situated on the river bank at the extreme ut
_ ieu
r end of the irk, about 8 -miles above the present town _of 'YO
Coal Creek,' -the only peTannisl tr--butary of the VV rte River w._
park, enters from the north, but its waters are usually all :e
n Gals, H. S;Tts Rahr:z desk told field, Coic,?adc: U. g. Gel. 3c cey 9aL, , pp ,
-?,,
UINTA BASIN IN UTAR 19
out for irrigation before it reaches the river. Sulphur Creek a:.d
Curtis Creek also enter the park from the north, but their channels
are usually dry. Flag Creek, entering from the south, usually dries
up or is diverted for irrigation as it enters the open valley. Not far
nest of Meeker the White River passes through the Grand Hogback
in a short, rather broadly open canyon, and the valley again broadens
into Powell Park, named for Maj. J. W. Powell. This park is smaller
than Agency Park but, like it., has a number of channels entering
from the north and the south, tributary to the river but dry during
the summer. Below Powell Park the river flows in a moderately
ivide open valley bordered by almost continuous bluffs. Cotton-
Woods grow in clamps aloe(- the river banks, and the river flats are
green. A scattering growth of pinon or cedar covers the higher slopes
on the hillsides, and natural monuments and pinnacles, commonly
eroded ir) fantastic shapes and positions, are picturesque features in
the landscape. The territory drained by the northern tributaries
of White River below Powell Park is composed of bad lands drained
by Crooked Wash or Coyote Basin and the valleys of Wolf Creek
and Red Wash with numerous other small washes. From the south
the extensive drainage basins of Piceance and Yellow Creeks and
other smaller streams from the Roan or Book Cliffs Plateau pour
their alkaline waters into the main stream. During the spring and
early summer and at frequent intervals in the summer the brief and
violent storms that are characteristic of this region cause all of this
lower tributary drainage to empty a great volume of thick muddy
water into the main channel, so that the river seldom runs clear for
long at a time in its lower course. After leaving Raven Park, a
rather broad valley in which the settlement of Rangely is situated,
the river passes through a stretch of barren, desolate land for about
55 miles and empties into the Green River in Utah a short distance
below the mouth of the Duchesne River and about 33 miles west of
the Colorado-Utah line.

UINTA BASIN IN UTAH
GENERAL FEATURES
The name "Uinta Basins19 geologically includes all the territory
extending eastward from the Wasatch Mountains to the White River
Plateau, 60 miles east of the Colorado-Utah line, and bordered on the
north by the Uinta Mountains, the Yampa Plateau,.and the Danforth
Hills and on the south by the summit of the Roan or Book Plateau.
Its entire length from east to west is about 170 miles, and the maximum
width from north to, south is ,& little over 100 miles, along a line that'
practically coincides with the one hundred. and tenth Meridian::
"Fidridge, G. H., The asphalt and bituminous rock deposits of the Gnited Stagy: U. S. GeOL survey,
? ??':' Q xnd Ann. Rapt., pt. 1, pp, 331-1.40, 1901.