Show we green river and its future effects on the uintah basin BY NATHAN C GROVER chief engineer U 8 geological survey the green river and ita its drainage barin basin are interesting economically historically tori torte cally and scenically the river constitute sone enc of the great natural re sources of wyoming colorado and utah it has had an influence on the exploration settlement and development of the west and Is woven into the history of the we white mane man a progress throughout a broad region its canyons are grand and beautiful bit unfortunately are eo so difficult to traverse that they have been seen by rela chely few people the green river Is the largest tributary ot of the colorado Cb orado and brings to that rim river nearly one half of the water flowing in the stretch just below the junction the mean annual runoff run off of the green from a drainage area of nearly square miles la Is about 5 acre feet the mean annual runoff run off from a draina e area of 28 26 square miles of the colorado above the green Is about 6 acre feet although its drainage basin is 1 more than 70 per cent greater than that of the colorado above the junction the runoff of the green Is somewhat smaller because of the relatively low precipitation on much of the basin it Is 13 far larger than any mothr tributary of the colorado the next in size being the san juan which has a mean annual r runoff roff run off of some whit more than 2 acre feet the basin of the green situated in wyoming colorado and utah ranges in altitude from more than 15 feet in the summits of the mountains to about 3 feet in the valley at its mouth the average an nual on the basin ranges from perhaps sn inches or more near the summits unIts of th high mountains to 6 inches or leas less in the southern I 1 valley valleys the runoff run off from tributaries tri butari ranee f tom forn orn perhaps 30 inches or more or in depth in the high mountain areas to a small friction cf ct an inch in the drift valleys within the basin or of the gr or en are moun mountain tata vallous that have excellent stands of jimb tunit r broad fertile valleys valles that ire are irrigated in part excellent range land tor for stock and vast areas of mountains and nd valleys that are am 3 sexually senU ally 0 of desert character within it also are urge large deposits of phosphate rock extensive coal cost feilds which yield valuable bituminous coals and vast areas of oil all oil fields that may have consid emble future importance may yet be discovered here the population in 1930 was largely engaged in acri agriculture culture and devoted principally to producing forage lorage mpa and raising stock the basin Is traversed by two transcontinental rell roads the union pacific oregon barrt I 1 ln ine system and the denver rio orande grande western rail road it rt Is penetrated also from the east by the denver salt lake railroad moffat line two transcontinental highway routes also cross the basin ime ane by way of green Rivet wyoming and the other by way of oreen green river utah many ot 0 lesser 1 importance make a lare au part of or tho ho basin access file because of resources in ag andi in water for their irrigation and for the development of power and in the tha possibilities of producing electric power from coal and oil the future growth of ahr region will doubtless be largely rural but in part put urban based on agriculture acri culture and industry water will idil be needed in large quantities ai as an important if not a controlling factor la in uch in agriculture for ir in the production c cf electric elt atric for use through the turbines 0 of water pu poser er plants and through the conde conder nicra vers of team steam plant plants in manufacturing for many processes and in th present and future towns and cities for domestic and municipal uses the ultimate area of land that may 1 be irrigated in the basin of the green him myer Is estimated at acres there are four principal irrigable sec timis the ile basin ol 01 the upper ore gren n river riser in wyoming in which there Is an n estlina estimated ted irrigable area of acres wm la Is all above e 5 feet in altitude ita its agricultural s are there fore limited to the forage crops need fl pd for winter inter ft eding to the peat great p eat heras of 0 stock that graze within the moun tain valleys nt of the upper basin kempi and litte river riser Ba daams in colorado hive Irrig fole areas rd al at e DO acres ranging in altitude from florn 5 DOO to 8 feet and therefore largely 11 for producing forage aps the uintah nasin basin in utah hav lt ing an in estimated irrigable akrep if A 0 OU acree acres lies at 3 to 4 broo M feel feet abote bov a ea level and amie en cri pe ps pr pre A then there the lower oreta oreth riv er r basin including the vall ys of price aad AW am san arfel niters con cent tin en all r united irrigable area of acres aci nci w slat lard lards which arc are situated far he tah h ano nd at IQ lor or attitudes have base krefter tr rang in po p o bislis than then the other three In iri gable only 1860 1 eso horsepower 1 of water p i ft Is axi developed eloped in the bal h 0 tho often green river thy the atal of lesel cad po r tag an art situated wholly or to pert n en on public lands and permit or for their use may be submitted to the Ile deral 1 power he the terms of tie t ie federal water ater bmw act approved alne 10 1930 1920 the lable future L es of water sater within the basin besin of the green 1111 not the supply with the irrigate areu are of tho buin basin fully de eloped a lane quentin of 4 water will I 1 1 ruu PW be di d charged by he 0 own into he colorado ro 11 lorado and will be available for power poser in thi long stretch of ganv nv ns b bolow blaw law the tr mouth of the ore n tad far for irrigating agricultural landa lands in i the grut grist vall valley erys situated ta in ari art me and wid below the canyon CLIV U MM for lot t ne ing reserve ft arr aft id on n tt IL forced him and ite these sites will haw hav great value both for local utilization and tor for equalizing the flow of 0 the colorado river riser be bei i low the mouth of the green thereby the importance of the oreen green aher la is greatly increased and ita its future large utilization for agriculture and industry la 13 made probable in the yampa and white river ba sins ans the tile sites for the largest potential power poser projects are on the main streams below nearly all promised ed lr ir gatlon ri projects numerous tion enterprises proposed in these ba sina sins involve reservoir in he the upper reaches vio t stream in some of these projects p elects the wat r might be used tor for power before reaching the irrigation diversion dams but their principal value would lie ile in the use nse for irrigation in the mullah basin in utah most of the power sites are in the upper canyons of the tributaries of the du chesno river that drain the south slopes of the uinta mountains they are above irrigation diversions and accordingly can use all water hat might be stored stared in the glacial akes which form the reservoir i sites on these streams Devel opra I 1 storage would therefore be available mal lable to both irrigation and power enterprises three of the larger constructed reservoirs are mentioned in this article bicle with bo 80 of the proposed reservoir sites 23 22 of the larger ot of which are described in detail in the lower oreen green river basin conditions are similar to those in the uintah basin bosin but the greater bene 1 fit would accrue to Irl tri gatlon gation this 1 port mentions 16 of the constructed within this basin and 15 sites 8 of which are described s de tie tail tall on the main stem of the oreen green river the benefits derived from stor age would be decidedly favorable to power developments as power poser Is the principal resource of the stream the irritation possibilities being practically prati cally negligible itt power I 1 the me amount of haydn electric power developed in the oreen green river basin at this time is insignificant compared to the potential power the basin is sparsely settled and many of the town towns are in or adjacent to producing coal fields in utah the uintah basin geologically includes all the territory extending east from the wasatch moun bains to the white river plateau and bordered on the north by the aint uintah 2 mo int atris yampa plateau and 13 danforth n hills and on the south by the summit of the roan or book cliff 11 bateau pateau the term I 1 uintah basin in utah as used here includes some square miles drained principally into the oreen green river by the duchesne and ashlea creek the general of the basin floor Is to 1000 feet interior of the basin is compi COMPOL shallo shallow and 13 trav tray cred cr ed longitudinally by the duchesne r raf ri the oreen green river flows flois south ward ard across the basin and has hits cut tor for itself except for the 80 miles of alts man meandering dering course across the interior cannons from 1000 to nearly feet dep irrigation Is necessary to produce successful crops in this basin in a few places there Is clent rainfall for or the production of small grains but in these places the gro growing ing sea seat t I on son Is 13 short and accordingly at dry farming have hate met with bt butt moderate success the ne average grow grawi ing season ranges from days at vernal to about days at duchesne the principal crops are alfalfa clover seed and cereals forage crops pre dominate forming CO per cent of the whole hole in the area cuts tie ol 01 ashley valley all fruits and vegetable grown are consumed locally and con cor sic lerable fruit Is imported the tact fact that the ban has no rail rall road transportation add adds materially to freight cots and restrict restricts the agricultural devel deel ament to those product ctr which might be consumed locally and those which haic hase a relatively hely high maratt value alue such as alfalfa seed dairy products product honey and poultry products about acres were maere irrigated in I 1 this basin in 1621 1921 and it Is estimated tint a total of acres may mihall bp be irrigated by utilizing til oil reservoir sit th broad aspects of the oreen green river haic hate ben bein knan wn by white men for nearly a century hunters and trapper penetrated into its basin ta in the eari part of the last century but artil tho th and settlement tt lement in utah of mormons in 1817 18 ind auw naif spars and ohp th di of gold in california in 1848 folio follo ed ba by thea oe aerland rland rush of gold hunters to that state in 1850 1849 50 few white men had seen the river riser in any part ol 01 it its coune course two great oer overland landl trails used in the tha migrations to call i ornia and uth the green no ito III coming near the sit sitt bi 6 the present t wn n ot of green riar I 1 ivy and one near the site alte of the present town to n of orten green ri er utah As would be expected a fw few kd adventurers who came to the at these cros sings 1 attempted havi gatton gattan but th the ea arisona and tepid in the oreen green niver between there two place places and in the colorado niver riser below 1 the mouth of the oreen oren were sere no swi dangerous dante roua athali thail transportation by boate boats WM was found to be A few ew men have su ceded in putting tn g boats through or around il the raold of the or en powell storied hial bia bold trip through irh the canyon canyons of U i colorado at t oreen green yo in 1449 and nd so traversed all the canyon canyons nf of the oreen orn as well as twe of the Oo lordo A few othi adv adventurer or have followed blin as in report repart au w e I 1 mapped in in a party of to raphers geologists and hydraulic engineers of tale tb united states geo logical su survey suy y carried instrumental surveys from oreen green river wyo to green river utah ralph R woolley was attached to that party as hya aul ic to engineer mr lir wolley la 13 resident of utah vl v 1 has his spen bis his engineering eng inri life on problems related to the development of the resources of the region in studying projects flor developing w ater power and irrigation within the oreen green river basin has vi silted ally all the principal power poser sites and ag agricultural alleys lie ile has traversed th the riser bv boat from green river wyo to oreen green river utah through the beautiful and dangerous canyons that are rarely seen by man he ile has iw of course made use of all available per information collected by the personnel of the geological survey and others over oer a period of many scars his itis artsis of information Is 13 therefore the best that could be obtained at this time he ile was as recently the guest of the vernal lions club and gave an enlightening talk on the flaming borge project 1 |