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Show THE GREAT BASIN OF UTAH. 35 ant results of the author's expedition, it may not prove uninteresting to the reader to be informed of some of the chief characteristics of the country ex-plored by him. The first thing which will strike one, on looking at the map, is the great number of mountain ranges which the routes cross in the Great Basin. This will appear the more remarkable, as the idea has been generally entertained, since the explorations of Fremont in 1843 and 1844 ( though, as before re-marked, he corrected the error on his succeeding ex-pedition), that this Great Basin was a flat country scattered over with a system of small lakes and rivers, and destitute of mountains. The fact, on the con-trary, is that it is probably the most mountainous region, considering its extent, within the limits of our country, and so far from being scattered over with a system of small lakes and rivers, which seems to imply a considerable number of this kind of water area, it has but a limited number of lakes, and they almost entirely confined to the bases of the great Sierras which bound the Basin. These lakes are proceeding from north to south, and around the circumference of the Great Basin Great Salt Lake, Lake Utah, Sevier Lake, and Small Salt Lake, on the eastern side of the Basin ; and on the west, proceeding from south to north, Owen's Lake, Mono Lake, Walker's Lake, the two Carson Lakes, Humboldt Lake, Pyramid Lake, the Mud Lakes, and Lake Abert. Besides these, there are Franklin Lake and Goshoot Lake, to the east of the East Humboldt Range. These constitute all the |
