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26 THE GREEN RIVER AND ITS UTILIZATION in from the east and Dry Gulch Creek from the west. Both of these streams, however, are virtually wet-weatber streams, their catchment basins being the broken plateaus on each side of the Uinta River. The Whiterocks River is the largest tributary of the Uinta River It rises in a number of glacial lakes near the crest of the Uinta Range; just east of the catchment basin of the Uinta. Its course is soutlj and southeasterly for about 15 miles through a deep, rugged canyon which opens through a narrow gateway out upon the terraced low:, lands, where the stream joins the Uinta River near the Indian agency at Whiterocks. Ashley Creek with its West Fork, locally known as Dry Creek drains the south slopes of the Uinta Range for about 18 miles easy of the Whiterocks catchment basin. The floor of its eatchmeA area is more than 10,000 feet above sea level and is hemmed in by walls that rise in places over 2,000 feet higher. The main stre rises in a number of small branches that drain the small glad lakes at the headwaters. It takes a southerly course through: f deep, rocky canyon which has in places almost vertical rock w 2. and finally leaves the mountains to enter the Ashley Valley a 8 miles north of the town of Vernal. Passing through this -a and continuing in its southerly course for about 22 miles farther, t= stream finally empties into the Green River a few miles below Je With the exception of Ashley Valley this area between the L''t and Green Rivers is exceedingly broken; the bad lands and hogbac. are literally shredded by deep, precipitous canyons. Dry Creek rises in an open amphitheatral area just south of ;' crest of the Uinta Range and about 4 miles west of Leidy P ; The stream is about 28 miles long and for 23 miles of its c? flows through a steep, narrow canyon from 500 feet to half a In width, cut through artistically tinted sandstone. Both As.' Creek and Dry Creek at some points in their canyons sink into channels during the low-water season, and the stream beds are„ - -- -- -for some distance below these points, the water coming to the s- lower down. Brush Creek empties into the Green River a short distance a Jensen, but its flow is small, and during the irrigation season it diverted for use on lands around Jensen. Bad Lands Creek and ,Cliff Creek are two small v,-et-ire streams that drain some of the bad land `territory lying be Green River and the Colorado-Utah line north of the White They empty into.the Green River from the, east *. p THE GREEN RIVER AND ITS UTILIZATION 27 LOWER GREEN RIVER BASIN GENERAL FEATURES The lower Green River Basin is all in eastern and southeastern wSouth of the Uinta Basin, as considered in this report, are ttht Leeah.in East and West Tavaputs Plateaus,!, separated by the Green River. The East Tavaputs Plateau culminates at the Roan or Brown Cliffs, where bold southward-facing escarpments are presented. From the Brown Cliffs northward the plateau dips gently north to the Uinta Basin, and the crest of the cliffs is the south rim of that basin and east of Tbompsons forms the divide between the Green River and Colorado River Basins in Utah. The bad land cliffs mark the divide between the Uinta Basin and the West Tavaputs Plateau, and toward the south this plateau drains into the Price River. Nest of the Tavaputs Plateaus and southward beyond the limits of the Green River drainage basin the Wasatch Plateau forms the divide between the waters that flow into the Colorado River Basin on the east and those that flow into the Great Basin on the west. Away to the east is a district traversed by many deep canyons, which is generally spoken of as the bad lands but was designated by Powell the Canyon Land of Utah., Within this region the Green empties into the Colorado near the southeast corner of Wayne County, Utah, about 20 miles below the Orange Cliffs. The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad crosses the lower Green River Basin in its route between Salt Lake City and Denver. An interesting description of the geographic and geologic features song the route, interspersed with items of interest in civic develop- Inent and references to significant epochs in the record of discovery and settlement, is given in United States Geological Survey Bulletin PRINCIPAL STREAMS 1\o streams of importance enter -the Green River from the east - below the White River. Willow Creek, which geologically lies within the pinta depression, drains a large part of the East Tavaputs Plat- en;,. rising on the crest of the Roan or Brown Cliffs a few miles north °i Thompsons station on the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad sad flowing nearly due north for about Go miles to its junction with the Green River a few miles below the mouth of the White River. This stream drains a barren region of light precipitation, and the floc- is accordingly very, __uncertain The.priricipal_stmameentering the Green Rider m tsTower basin are-the Price and San Rafael Rivers" both of wvhi& rise on the east slopes of the Wasatch Plateau nod drain the region nest of the Green River. Report-on the lands of the add n ?na of the United States, p• 23, IM.