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Show WATER, ARABLE LAND, GRASS, ETC. 143 dark masses along the foot of the nearly vertical wall that forms the eastern crest of the eastern slope, while aspens and birches fringe its lakes and streams. Farther down, pines stand in open groves, and* give to the whole country a park like appearance. These continue till near the level of Escalante Basin, where they give way to cedars. Upon the foot-hills of the Henry Mountains is a dense growth of low, scrubby cedars, and in the gulches near their summits are a few groves of aspen? pine, and spruce; but generally the timber upon these mountains is in almost inaccessible places. ' In the canon of the Dirty Devil River, and in other caiions draining into the Colorado, are considerable quantities of cottonwood. From the data collected, I estimate that ten per cent, of the country explored is covered by forests, valuable for lumber, thirty per cent, by forests valuable only for fuel and fencing, and the remainder by grass, sage, grease wood, loose sands, or naked rock. , WATER, ARABLE LAND, GRASS, ETC. Irrigation is a necessary adjunct to successful cultivation in all the region explored, so the amount of arable land depends solely upon the amount of water that can be used for that purpose. In Johnson's Canon springs burst out from the foot of the cliffs, and form a small stream, that flows a mile or two before sinking in the sand, furnishing enough water, during the dry season, to irrigate one hundred acres of land. At Skoompa, a small stream, coming down from the Pink Cliffs, furnishes sufficient water to irrigate one hundred and fifty acres, but the altitude is so great that only the more hardy cereals can be grown. Over all the country between the Pauns-a'-gunt Plateau and the White Cliffs grass grows abundantly, and the many fine springs in the valleys lying between the ridges furnish sufficient water for grazing. In the Paria Basin the streams are from fifty to three hundred feet below the general level of the country, so no land can be cultivated except where the canons widen into narrow valleys. At Camp No. 5 the canon of the Paria expands into a valley, half a mile wide and about three miles long The river carries here about the same volume of water as at its mouth, fifty miles distant. In fact, no permanent stream joins it below this point. Fresh- |
