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Show DESCRIPTION OF THE DUCHESNE RIVER DRAINAGE BASIN Duchesne river rises iu the high peaks of the I'intah and Wasatch mountains In Northeastern Utah, flows for about 100 miles in a general gener-al southeasterly direction, and enters en-ters Green river ' at Ouray, Utah, about ;i miles above the mouth of White river. ' The stream has a total drainage area of 4,000 square miles. Altitudes range from 4,700 feet at the mouth of the river to more than 13,000 feet at the summits of the highest peaks. The principal tributaries of the Duchesne are Strawberry' river, Rock creek, Iake Fork and Uintah river. The dalnage basin of the upper Duchesne proper Is mountainous in character. The stream emergen from the mountains at the mouth of Rock creek, at an elevation of about G.000 feet. From the mouth of Strawberry river down to Lakefork the valley of the Duchesne is about two miles in average width and 1 bordered by high benches or mesas. The general course of the stream throughout this stretch and on down to the mouth of the Uintah is easterly. east-erly. Along the lower courses of the stream the benches are compara tively low and can easily be reached I by irrigation canals from the main stream. Strawberry river, the main upper tributary of the Duchesne, drains an area of about 1,200 square miles. The stream rises In the Uintah mountains, moun-tains, and enters the Duchesne at Duchesne City. Its How is derived mainly from melting snows, except during the lato summer, when thr-flow thr-flow comes from small springs well distributed over the entire drainage basin. The upper ba!n ha.-; numerous tributaries, trib-utaries, particularly from the north and west. Among the woi important import-ant may be mentioned Indian creek, Rryant's fork. Mud creek, Horse :rcek, Sugar s; liiu's. and Co-op creek. They are all short and fall rapidly until they reich Strawberry valley, through which (hey How sluggishly in well defined chaunels. The main stream traverses the alley from north to south and is ery sluggish.' Indian creek drains a small portion of the southern slopes of the Uintah mountains. Its basin comprises smooth, rolling hills, fairly well timbered tim-bered with pine and aspen. The normal nor-mal flow Is derived chiefly from springs. The greater part of the precipitation is in the form of snow, which covers the ground for six or eiidit months of the year. As it has an elevation of 7,000 feet, Strawberry Straw-berry valley is not. well suited for agricultural development but is excellently ex-cellently adapted for grazing. A largo storage reservoir known as the Strawberry project of the U. S. Reclamation Rec-lamation Sevice, has been built here and water Is conveyed in a tunnel under f the mountains to lands near Provo. At the mouth of the river, about 35 miles below Strawberry valley, val-ley, the elevation is about 5,500 reel and the fall in that distance is, therefore, nearly 2,000 feet. Rock creek,' Lakefork, Uintah and its most important tributary, the White-rocks, head iu a series of small lakes in the Uintah mountains. These lakes are fed by snow that exists the year round in the canyons and on the high slopes. All these streams drain areas mountainous and difficult of access in their upper portions and all of them emerge from their canyons at an elevation of about 7,000 feet. Rock creek eon-tlmres eon-tlmres Its course iu a narrow valley, but "1 ho others spread out so that their valleys are comparatively wide, and the adjoining bene lies comparatively compara-tively low. The drainage area of the Duchesne includes about 1,400 square miles or National Forest lands, of which 1,000 square miles may be classed as timbered tim-bered land with an average of over 3,000 feel board measure to the acre. The principal species of timber are Fnglemann spruce and Lodgcpole pine. The timbered land is distributed distrib-uted through the various tributaries about as follows: Upper Duchesne 120 square miles; Rock creek, 130 square miles; Strawberry river, 3S0 square miles; Lakefork, 190 square miles; Uintah river (above White-rocks) White-rocks) 120 square miles; White-rocks, White-rocks, 70 square miles |