Exploration of the Colorado River of the West and Its Tributaries Explored in 1869, 1870, 1871, and 1872, Under the Direction of the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.

Page 142, Exploration of the Colorado River

142 EXPLORATION OF THE CANONS OP THE COLORADO. I again divided my small party, detaching Messrs. Hillers, Fenni-more, Dellenbaugh, and Johnson as a boat party, to proceed through the canon, to the mouth of the Paria, while, with the remainder, I returned, by the same route we had explored, to the foot of Potato Valley, passing over in six days the distance we were fifteen days in making on our journey out. Here we found the party sent to Kanab awaiting us with supplies. After spending two days at this point making astronomic observations, we returned to Kanab, establishing several geodetic and topographic stations on our way, and arriving July 8, having been absent forty one days. The boat party arrived at the mouth of the Paria, after a successful trip, on July 11. FORESTS. The low ridges running out from the base of the Vermilion Cliffs are usually covered by a scanty growth of cedars, fit only for fencing and fire wood. About one-fourth of the area of the plateaus above-the Vermilion and the White Cliffs-is covered by a scattered growth of pine and cedar; but neither the quantity, quality, nor accessibility renders it of much value. The ridges spoken of as running out from the foot of the eastern face of the Pauns-a'-gunt Plateau, are usually covered by a scanty growth of low, scrubby cedars; but in the intervening valleys are groves of pine, from which considerable quantities of lumber might be cut; while on the plateau itself is the finest forest of pine and spruce in Southern Utah. It is easily accessible from the valley of the Sevier River, on the west, and when the country is settled must become quite valuable. The mesas in the basin of the Paria River are mostly covered by cedars and pinon pines. Where the canons of the streams widen into valleys, small groves of cottonwoods are often found, and near the sources of these streams are scattered pitch pines, thickets of birch, and a low, scrubby oak of no value. The eastern end of the Kai-par'-o-wits Plateau, the ridges running down from Table Cliff Plateau, as well as its summit, and the broken country around the foot of Potato Valley, are covered by a forest of pine and cedar. No timber of any value is found in the Escalante Basin. The summit of the Aquarius Plateau is crowned by a forest of spruce, that also extends in