Show jr physical physical T 1 features of the uintah basin Bas dy by earl douglass to those who have spent their lives in the frasin basin its physical features seem bulte ite matter of f fact act the stranger sees it as a strange land indeed a chaos of rocks hills buttes bad badlands lands valleys cat canons ions benches foot apis and mountains those aho vho have an all eye tor for the wild ind and out of the way the beautt eul ul and picturesque who aio of cities and artificial ity revel in its wildness the practical man mail sees the IlI lons in money value in its Ite asphalt and other hedio carbons in its prospects pios f meat oil outputs in the for ests esta and minerals minei als of its mountains and its great engineri ing 1119 possibilities which will mallo make streams amb of water in ches and climbing ithe mountain sides but in spite of the industry Ind of man he sees ever in ili the background of cultivated lands the background of the mountains badlands bad lands buttes battea and the ancient bul walkr of pilm eval oval nature which will ever appeal to tile the and imagination of man inan and help to shape ills character but how does it appeal to the man who has made the structure tuie tute of the earth his study this virtually lq Is the question which the he wi wilter iter Is asked to answer in this short sketch ile he may see all that others see ace and more ile he sees how till an intelligent common sense tudy study of the physical cliar char I 1 N I 1 7 1 t I 1 atif vry P 1 17 W j 4 A tr 4 1 A vein it tile the deserts de ca causing using them to blossom as the rose and in otilea sluices of wealth anti anil pro progress giess too numerous nume ious to men tion here the man whose chief intel est Is in human sees in ill vision a land transformed sees thousands of daims fauns and pleasant howes homes with the great greatest cst diversity of farm products and home com forthwith fort fine stock and finer people these homes threading the of tin the hills spreading over the ben aclei of a country especially ally like that of tile the uintah basin would save a vast a mount of time worry and disappointed hopes and would be an Ini immense mense aid in the healthy gioth of the country and the development of its annum acied ie resources sources if wo we aie dealing with the eaith and that Is tho the source from which all our wealth coaty we will be bene fitted directly by knowing more about the baith the occur continued on page 6 physical features of the uintah basin continued from pago page 1 rence of precious metals oi hydrocarbons hydro carbons etc ni in e dil detect act na related to the bocky structure of the earth and though prospecting often lo quiler large expenditures of money the amount expended need be only a fraction of what it usually is it if the prospecting were done on a true scientific no one Is in more dependent basis no done la Is more depend dependent en t on geological conditions than the farmer in tact fact the whole future prospects of the country depend on its physician physic ial I 1 and an geological conditions for its soil local climate the conditions for profitable irrigation the division into farm and grazing land what crops will grow best in certain localities depend on geological conditions 1 do you yott know that the aln tah hasin basin stands by that there Is 19 no legion like it t in topography comiti cH miti physical and geological ondi eions no other locks in the 11 of 01 id d hai ha yielded the ie 10 mains of animals like those of the uintah deposits along green and white haveis no 0 ther other region has hah yielded kiich an abundance of neaily complete of the huge no other country has such deposits of 0 dydio carbons and there is no other country which will give the same gumbei and range of agricultural products TI the ile details of geology like those of sciences are complex and it requires patient work and skill to understand them but some of the main principles are comparatively easy and are of great practical value besides giving zest and pleasant study toi foi every excursion out of doors especially in a region like this we can herd bero give only a few principles hoping that in the near future it will be practicable to publish a booklet on the physical geography ani and geology of this region which will be interesting and profitable to the pupil in the schools to the laborer on the farm farin the promoter of great engi engineering 1 plo jets and all who are jeffi ested iu in tle abe de if f t tia 13 resources of the region nl ind in making ankin it their homes if you stand on the aln tali lah mountains in the region coith 1101 th of the ashley valley and look to the southward you see it maze of rocks buttes benches canyons val lays etc that seem a chaos which admits of no rational explanation deneath yom feet are red sandstones or quart A little faiphet to the south aid tho ou outcrops of rock are of haid lime stones which contain the shells of ancient sea animals still farther to the southward south waid avid and forr forming qing the shoulder of 01 slopes of the mountains aie haid sandstones then come red beds it A thousand feet or more which weather into cliffs and slopes facing the mountains be vond these are sandstones again weathering lUR into buttes and massive ai architectural fornis forms in the foothills then e are sandy containing moie marine shells then thell badland bad land deposits and containing bones and skeletons of huge dino satti sain then moie sandstones and south mouth of these a sea depoe lt it of soft shale a mile or so in thickness which iNea weathering into plaint plains give us the ashley valley then sandstones and again beyond these beds of alternately soft and hard rocks containing asphalt veins of 0 dydio bardons and the bones teeth and skulls of fossil animals different from anything known today to day or found in rocks in any other part of the world in glancing over this series of I 1 locks you have been gazing all the time on newer and nehei locks all aie older than the hills into which the elements have carved them but newest are young compared with those which lie at your feet heie ficie tie ie rocks slope away towards the southward leaning up bip against the mountains go co to the north side of the mountains and you will find in places the same beds dipping the other way or leaning against the north slope at least you would if moie recent deposits did not covet them evidently there has been an upheaval of the rocky crust of the earia in a great wave and time and the elements have slowly worn off the crest of the rocky 1511 billow low but the earth waves like those of the sea are not per factly simple long upheavals ls but they are more or less complicated complicatedly dby by smaller waves if this were not so we would see straight lines of buttes parallel with the mountains carved from the heavy sandstone layers and cliffs of the red beds extending like a red band from east to west etc but these smaller folds or waves waver complicate matters and make a formation that seems to dodge in and out ot 01 trun to the southward to get around the smaller uplift the rising of these waves which from the uintah mountains was evidently no sudden dia diamatis matic catastrophe for it has risen across the course of the green river which as a the uplift rose slowly cut its way down into its rocky beds keeping its iab right of way without withof t changing its course what has this up heavel done it has raised the altitude increased the precipitation of moisture thus making the streams that have cut canyons into the mountain sides and made valleys belo soft rocks have be been e n washed away making valleys narrow or broad depending on the dip of the rock it has given the grade to the streams which makes irrigation and great utilization of water power possible it has compelled streams to pass through a great series of rocks and carried down the mineral constituents of all and deposited it in the valleys it has made thousands of combinations of soils of local cli climatic matte conditions and of topographic features of illch aich the intelligent fai gnei may take advantage jt has done clone moie enough to till hooks books but this is the key to the problem think it avei as you boti plow the field or spin along the highways and things will nill take on a new meaning |