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Show a sow rmui covxty ... i.artjfsi ilvnivv in Millard A Much More Ancient Ring Entirely Surrounds Pahvant Butte Pahvant Butte crater is about a half-mile in diameter; the ancient ring enclosing it is over a mile in diameter. This ancient ring is far older in what is called Tertiary or Pliestocene time. Note the big arroyo cut by drainage water flowing after rain from the smooth sur- lace of the rock. The cinder cone is seen on top of which was once built an "air mill," to harness our prevailing winds and shoot "juice" over the valley. Height of plane when the picture was taken was about 3,600 feet. The view was taken from behind the Butte (south) on a clear day in January. r. '.. . . ; '-:.'.. .3 , .; ."., - I'.v . .i - : The first record of Pahvant Butte was made by Father Escalante in 1776, nearly 170 years ago, when he came thru our valley. His map maker shows it as an isolated mountain, standing out in "the Valley of Salt" like a sore thumb, the dominating1- feature of the landscape. Escalante rjassed be- tween Pahvant Butte and Clear Lake as he journeyed through our county on his way south. One of his men (he records) got stuck in the mud of Six Mile, causing them much merriment. So topographically, topographi-cally, Pahvant Butte is therafter known. The next mention that concerns us Is by Gilbert, in his monograph published by the U. S. Geologic Survey in 1S90. That book is even ev-en today a standard text on the subject. The editor of the Chronicle has made many trips to the areas of volcanic activity in this region, and has read text books on geology to further acquaint himself with the succesion of events hereabouts. He has cilmbed to the top of Pahvant Butte ("Sugarloaf") locally, local-ly, and taken many photos from ground positions. On one of his trips he conducted the late Dr. F. J. Pack, Deseret Professor of Geology, Geol-ogy, and Prof. Matthew, both of the University of Utah, to the south side of the Butte, and the camera was set up and a picture taken. Though the party was there for study purposes, yet little did they " know, that standing among the stunted cedars, clambering over uneven ground, the camera set-up was practically on a much larger and much more ancient crater ring than the one we were taking a pic ture of. The pattern in its entirety is lost to one immediately on it, because of the trees, gullies, rocks, drainage erosion, and yet, seen at distance and from a considerable height in an airplane, the uneven-ess uneven-ess smooths out, and the definite pattern becomes discernible of a big ring entirely surrounding the Butte, now nearly filled with windblown wind-blown sand, with only very little of the walls exposed. But enough to identify the enclosing ring. That ring is circular in form, and practically a mile in diameter. It was unobservable to Pack, and also al-so not visualized by Gilbert, who, knowing that the ancient eruption had taken place, thought it on the north and so stated. But the air plane was not then invented. When that ancient ring was made, how deep it was, no one knows; in the vast interval of time, it has been practically filled with wind-blown sand; sage brush has found root inside; trees strive for footing. Nature has done her utmost ut-most to obliterate all evidence of her former work. Every condition exists to obscure the older ring. On the northeast edge of Pahvant Pah-vant Butte, under the flow of the later yellow lava, is exposed the more ancient black lava of the outer out-er ring. Gilbert studied this exposure, expo-sure, but taking it for the inner in- |