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20 THE GREED RIVER AND ITS UTILIZATION The Green River divides the basin into east and west halves f has cut for itself, except in the 80 miles of its meandering cou across the interior depression, canyons from 1,000 to nearly 3,1 feet deep, which are wholly impassable except by boat at great r. In the center of the basin the Green receives from the east and w respectively, the White and Duchesne Rivers. The White en', the open valley about 12 miles above its confluence with the. Gr River, after a tortuous course through the bad lands along its to reaches. The valley of the Duchesne River is open for 50 m above its mouth, the bluffs being low and the channel bordered most of the distance by rich bottom lands from 1 to 2 miles w North of this stream the uplands, particularly in the vicinity of Uinta River and Lake Fork, afford extensive areas that are b arable and irrigable, and these under ditcli hive already given dente of great productivity. The White and Duchesne Rivers b a comparatively large yearly run-off, but the water from the Ui Range is of much greater purity than that carried by the W, River. East of the Green River very little water enters the Ui Basin from perennial sources, and the center of the basin beta almost arid. The south half of the basin, especially that portion east of Green River and much of the White River Basin, presents a seen - great desolation. Canyons of labyrinthine intricacy have been' to depths of hundreds of feet in the strata forming the Roan or 13 Plateau, and the intervening ridges are sharp and crumbling, deve _ ing spires and buttes and castellated forms in greatest profuLe all seemingly ready to topple, to pieces at the first: heavy storm. >l a little water is carried in any of these gorges, and this, except atl heads, runs through the sands of their channels instead of i4sui flows. It is, moreover, frequently impregnated with alkali, w abounds in all the formations of the locality. Because of this; similarity in the physiographic features of the two halves of the L "- in -and -the industrial development of -the western half rest from its situation and topography, the name Uinta Basin is popu applied only to this western half, all of which is in Utah, and ff, purpose of this report it is designated the Uinta Basin in Utah: IIINTA RANGE The Uinta Range is one of the few in the whole Cordillerana7 of the United States that has an east west trend. In both its ph featuures `an( its geologic structure it is-characterized by a Simpiicity an- d regularity. Its extreme length is about, 1&_ The of stern t`Ilird is somewhat irregular in form. and not so plct..;a = as the-western portion UINTA BASIN IN UTAH 21 The greater part of the Uinta Range" lies in northeastern I tah and is the source of all the principal streams in the basin. The range has an average width of about 35 miles and extends eastward from the Wasatch Mountains to the Little Snake River. At its west end it is only about 25 miles wide; at its east end, in the vicinity of the Green River, it is nearly twice that width. Through the greater part of the range in Utah the width from the north to the south flank of the mountains is nearly 35 miles. Most, of the range west of the Green River, which comprises all the more rugged portions, is included in the :Ashley and Uinta national forests. The south side of this range, embracing the area drained by the Duchesne River and tributaries, from the headwaters of the Duebesne east to the tributaries of the Whiterocks River, was formerly included in the Uinta Indian Reser- vation. In general form the range is an elongated broad, flat-topped arch in «vhich the main east-west divide is nearer the north flank, so that a nortb-soutb profile shows an asymmetric outline. The culminating peaks and ridges lie for the most part along the north side of the broad sumnut of the arch, although some of them as Mount Emmons, Leidy Peak, and Marsh Peak, lie near the middle or on the south side.. The plateaulike summit in many places has been deeply dissected and eroded into jagged peeks "and ridges at whose bases lie immense amphitheaters that widen out and then close into deep canyons, carved through the upturned beds which form the slopes. The central part of the range along the anticlinal crest is formed of nearly horizontal strata, buried at many places beneath glacial material in which numerous lakelets and ponds still remain, held in their rocky basins by accumulations of ddbris. A great part of this region is occupied by grassy parks, open meadows, and forest-covered areas, above which the barren peaks rise in bold escarpments. The northern flank of the range slopes off steeply from this central area to a great undulating basin, of which all except the west end forms a portion of the Green River Basin:in_W_yoming.,• the-southern--flank slopes much more gently to an extensive plateau region and thence into an undulating basin similar to the one on the north. These slopes have been deeply incised by the streams that drain the central area. In many places the streams have cut channels with increasing depth until they flow in canyons from 1,000 to 2,000 feet deep. The general surface features on the north and south sides of the range are rough and are made up of many minor irregularities. Many of the j' slopes of the. highlands- are dissected into a lie number of small valleys; others`are gentle plains on one"side and have steep escarp- vents on the other. Generally the surface, consists of ridges or u,Zcbcltz, AR., A geologic recounafasence of the Uinta Mountains northern Utah: U. S. Geol. Survey .-..----- _ I$LLL). 560. P. 36i 1glo.