Show BEAR RIVER SOILS S SURIE comprehensive TREATISE AND DIAGRAMS ISSUED BY BU reau KEAU ar OF SOILS UN AN I 1 micle ARTICLE advance sheets showing work done in bear river kiver valley by jensen and are out by charles A jensen and A T LOCATION CATION AND boundaries OF THE AREA the bear P river area lies iles in bear river valley in the north central part of the state of utah and the cit city ot of brigham about 8 miles north of the southern boundary of the a area r ea surveyed lies in north latitude 41 deg de 30 min and west of lan longitude etude deg the parallel of 42 deg north latitude forms the northern boundary of the state the area surveyed extends north and south fi from om T 8 3 N to T 12 N inclusive a distance of 30 miles varies in width I 1 from rom G t to 0 15 miles and comprises acres or about square miles mile 5 this includes practically all the irrigable land in the valley within the state and also part of the former forme bed of great salt lake about 20 square miles it in the ahe ex northern part of the state part a Z J resle the survey HISTORY or OF settlement AND agricultural DE j the area surveyed was settled about 1850 the first settlement in the state having been made at salt lake city in 18 1847 4 7 by brigham young and his followers for a number of years settlements were confined to the eastern side of the valley comprising in order from south to north the towns of willard brigham honeyville and collington collinston Collin Col linston slon the last named town was settled later than the others during the completion of the central pacific road now the southern pacific in 1868 69 other settlements were established the principal one being corinne Corl this town was for some time an important freight tr terminus minus for points in idaho and montana until the utah and northern railroad now the oregon short line was built north into those states the only source of population for a number of years was the immigration of members of the mormon church from eastern states and at it a later date from foreign countries with the advent of the railroads the gentiles began to populate the state stale especially ally the mining regions region s in a short time outside capital began to be invested in many enterprises agricultural development in a country with a small amount of pr precipitation c elpi tation necessarily depends on the development of irrigation systems before these are arc established stock raising and mining constitute the principal industries and both of these are at present of great importance in the state of utah irrigation in the area surveyed was first practiced inland anand around brigham boxelder Box elder creek and other smaller mountain streams being diverted for this purpose no elaborate canal system was built and each pers person on helped ill himself self to what water lie he wanted or needed aad building bull dirig private ditches for this purpose A well regulated system is now in force dividing these streams among the irrigators irrl gators the first elaborate and most important irrigation system in the area was the bear river canal which was built during the lat late eighties and early nineties nin atles but not entirely completed until some years vears later the system was wai at first confined to the area west ot of bear river but during 1903 1 a branch known as the east side canal was built on the cast side of that river arid and was first used in 1904 defore before the bear river canal was built considerable dry farming was carried on but this has since been practically abandoned in favor of the safer method of irrigation for a more complete history of irrigation irrig allon in utah the reader referred ref erred to other publications of the bureau of 01 soils sells CLIMATE the climate of the valley is semiarid r 0 the normal annual rainfall at aco corinne rine in the central part of the area is 11 62 inches and the relative humidity is to low from june to october inclusive the season when crops require the greater part of the moisture necessary to their growth the rainfall Is 1 but inches there Is n an abundance of sunshine especially during summer and the wind movement is seldom high enough to cause damage the normal annual temperature Is deg IF at corinne the highest monthly normal is SO deg in july and the lowest i is s 24 21 deg ln in january the summer days often become quite warm but owing to the low humidity the heat is no not t oppressive and usually the nights are cool severe electric storms often visit I 1 the valley but the damage done by these is unimportant spring frosts are seldom of much consequence but the fall all frosts sometimes nip nil the fruit though without much resultant injury the aver average date of the last killing frost in spying is about may 15 and of the first in fall about october 7 AND GEOLOGY the valley may be divided into three sections sec tlona the cult cultivated d R mountain 6 slopes A on the ia a n me r i least least and west sides of 0 the zulle y low lying flat bottom lands which fo formerly wye ve re co covered V eked by great salt lake ii la its concentrated ed condition I 1 land and the higher highel lying and level prairie blands lands north of the lake bottom lands an and d included between the mountains mountain the cultivated mountain slopes are I 1 not steep and vary from a quarter of a mile to 1 mile in width on the 1 east cast side while their width Is less on the west side of the valley there are no rolling roiling foothills between the mountains and the valley but the mountains rise abruptly from the slopes those on the east side to a height of or feet above the valley or about feet above sea level those on the west side to not more than feet above the sea I 1 the lake bottom lands form an uninterrupted level area the level valley floor north of the lake lands Is broken by little mountain which covers a surface area of about seven square miles and reaches an altitude abo about ut 1 1200 2 00 or 1500 feet higher than the surrounding valley one or two smaller hills in the northwestern part of the valley are the only other breaks in the general level except the gorges cut by bear and malad rivers the mountains on ane west side of the valley as far ps as included in the barvey take a course 04 1 a little itt j east of north to the north side of oc 1 T 11 N at which c it point the range doubles back on itself forming a cove of about 10 square miles from there it again turns and takes a course due north to the state line this loop narrows the valley to a width of about 6 miles at the northern limit of the area malad river enters the valley at the north end and flows into bear river niver at bear river city bear river enters the valley at the northeastern limit of the survey and flows due south as tar far as corinne at which point it turns and flows almost due west into great salt lake continued next week |