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Show 170 GEOLOGY OF THE HIGH PLATEAUS. - torrid heat of July, we see the fields of lingering snow light up their gloomy crests. To the westward rises the Pavant, its eastern flank ascending with a smooth swell to a crest line which looks down into Round Valley; and beyond that rise to still greater altitudes the mildly sierra-like summits of the range. The broad valley of the Sevier is treeless, and supports but scantily even the desert-loving Artemisia. It is floored with fine loam, which, under the scorching sun, is like ashes, except where the fields are made to yield their crops of grain by irrigation. As we ascend the valley to the southward the scenery is impressive, for every object is molded upon a grand scale; though it is only by long study and familiarity that the huge proportions are realized. The absence of details, the smoothness of crests and profiles, at first deceive the eye and always tend to belittle the component masses. A stretch of 10 miles from Gunnison throws to the westward the salient of the Pavant and reveals the southward extension of the valley for 35 miles, beyond which rise the summits of the Tushar in full view. Eight opposite this point the Pavant has now changed its aspect to one contrasting strongly with the view we had of it from Gunnison. There we saw a dull, monotonous slope; here we behold a splendid array of cliffs, showing the edges of Tertiary strata gently sloping towards us, carved and broken after the usual fashion of the Plateau Country, and lit up with flaring colorsâ€"red, white, and yellow. The individual cliffs and crags are neither very high nor very long, but rise above each other terrace-like, after the manner of a rambling series of fortifications, with tier upon tier and with numberless salients and curtain walls. To one viewing plateau scenery for the first time this portion of the Pavant would be a source of surprise and enthusiasm; to one familiar with the colossal walls in the heart of the Plateau Province it is tame and almost insignificant. Fourteen miles south of Gunnison is the little Mormon village Salina, a wretched hamlet, whose inhabitants earn a scanty subsistence by lixiviating salt from the red clay which underlies the Tertiary beds in the vicinity. Around and beyond this village is a dismal array of bad lands of great extent, presenting a striking picture of desolation and the wreck of strata, while beyond and above them rise the northern volcanic sheets of the |
