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<br />As a result of these highly varied pbysiographic features, the G;
<br />River Basin is naturally divided into several minor basins which
<br />be described in greater detail in the following pages, and for the
<br />pose of this report will be designated the upper Green R
<br />Basin, the Yampa and White River Basins, the Uinta Basin in U
<br />the lower Green River Basin, and the Green River canyons.
<br />IIFFER GREEN RIVER BASIN
<br />GENERAL FEATURES
<br />The country in the upper part of the basin below the Green F
<br />Lakes consists of smoothly sloping hills with broad bottom lands a
<br />the ricer. It is well grassed and partly timbered. The soil is €
<br />elly, and the area is too high and cold for extensive agriculture;
<br />it is good cattle range during the summer, and the bottom h
<br />which range in altitude from about 7,600 to 7,900 feet above sea 1
<br />serve as good natural pasture.
<br />Just north of Horse Creek the country is mainly flat but is d
<br />sified to some extent by the remains of benches of a higher lev(
<br />the south it becomes more undulating and hilly, with buttes and 1
<br />that give it a more forbidding aspect. Patches of snow-white e
<br />occur here and there, and the sage becomes stunted. In
<br />vicinity of the Piney Creeks there is a decided decrease in
<br />amount of alkali, the country is more uniform, and the na
<br />vegetation is better.
<br />Below th.e mouth of Horse Creek the Green River flows throe
<br />bottom land from I to 2 miles wide, but narrowed in places {ii
<br />advance of the bluffs. On the west side the bluffs average abo
<br />-feet in height to a point opposite-the ruouth of the East Fork,
<br />they rival in height those on the east side of the river, but the
<br />most immediately break away and disappear, and at the bend
<br />the Piney Creeks enter they are completely gone.
<br />Toward the southwest the country becomes more broken. I
<br />masses of plateau with clean, sharp-cut edges appear, and back of
<br />.$ prominent long mountain ridge, Down as Labarge Moun_tai
<br />Between Labarge and Fontenelle Creeks the land rises into E
<br />teau which is cut into shreds by erosion. This plateau extends)
<br />to the Green River, where it breaks off in a bluff. Near the€
<br />of Slate Creek the Green River emerges from between these bluff 1
<br />?QO to 300 feet hagh, in which it has-been confined below the iEbl
<br />barge Creek.
<br />Past of the river between Slate Creek and Hams Fork the CO
<br />seac-caly_ broken except by dry watercourses and one or t
<br />Qn the east sale of the Green River between the Fast Foe
<br />Sandy Creek as a Tast_plateau about 30 males wade : and 60
<br />re, entirely without water. It is not perfectly level but slightly
<br />ing, risu:g and sinking in long swells and breaking off in bluffs
<br />the Green River on the west edge. Sagebrush is abundant over
<br />area, but grass is very scarce.
<br />That part of the basin in Wyoming Iving south of the town of
<br />Green River is strikingly different from the country to the north
<br />;d has been graphically described by Powell:'
<br />Vii; the cliffs about Green River City towers and buttes are seen, which are
<br />c:.rded by the passing traveler as strange freaks of nature. Limestones are
<br />,..; stratified with shales, giving terraced and buttressed characteristics to the
<br />r :-rpments of the canyons and narrow valleys.
<br />- South of Bitter Creek on the east side of the Green River is a dis-
<br />t i t which is known as the Alcove Lands On the east side it is
<br />rsned by Little Bitter Creek, a tributary to Bitter Creek but a
<br />zulch much of the year. The watershed is an irregular line, only
<br />"o 4 miles back from the stream but usually more than 1,000 feet
<br />ebo v e it, so that the waters have a rapid descent, and every shower-
<br />born rill has excavated a deep, narrow channel.
<br />Ti.cze narrow canyons are so close to each other as to be separated by was
<br />,If ruck so steep, in most places, that they can not be scaled, and many of these
<br />cauyons areso broken by falls as to be impassable in either direction. The
<br />n .:e country is cut in this way into irregular, angular blocks, standing.as
<br />i;_,ttressed benches, and towers about deep waterways and gloomy alcove&
<br />lVest of the'Green River-;between Blacks Fork and Henrys Fork
<br />is a region of buff, chocolate-brown, and lead-colored `badlands.
<br />Its ou tlines are everywhere rounded, as the rocks of which it ie coin =
<br />dosed crumble ..quickly under atmospheric agencies. 'However,
<br />there is the same abrupt descent of the streams and the same elaborate
<br />systein of water channels as in the Alcove Land. The loose, mco-
<br />herent sandstone, shale, and clay are carved by s network of inter-
<br />mittent streamlets into domes and cones, with flowing outlines.
<br />"But still there is no vegetation, and the loose earth is naked."
<br />Ilere and there a thin stratum of harder rock is evident by the shelves
<br />Or steps upon the sides of the hills.
<br />Traces of iron and rarer minerals are found in these beds, and on exposure
<br />- 'cat agencies give a greater variety of colors;--so that tfie-
<br />L triad r and e 80 .-._
<br />"' ' cones the strange forms of the badlands are elaborately
<br />and beautifully painted; not with delicate tints of verdure, but with brilliant
<br />cu,„r, that are-gorgeous when first seen but soon pall on the senses.
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