. Annual report. 1st-12th, 1867-1878. Geology. GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF THE TEERITOEIES. 29 are some moderately high basaltic ridges, the highest portion of whicli has received the name of Kettletop Butte. Market Lake is a kind of sink, probably produced by the spring overflow of Snake Eiver, and is entirely dry the greater portion of the year. On the morning of June 26,1 started eastward from Market Station toward the Mittes, near the bend of Snake River. The road wound along low basaltic hills, which really form a marked feature over a large portion of this basin. At the present time the surface
. Annual report. 1st-12th, 1867-1878. Geology. GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF THE TEERITOEIES. 29 are some moderately high basaltic ridges, the highest portion of whicli has received the name of Kettletop Butte. Market Lake is a kind of sink, probably produced by the spring overflow of Snake Eiver, and is entirely dry the greater portion of the year. On the morning of June 26,1 started eastward from Market Station toward the Mittes, near the bend of Snake River. The road wound along low basaltic hills, which really form a marked feature over a large portion of this basin. At the present time the surface is perfectly dry, but at some period in the past little streams circulated all over the surface. Fig. BASALT TABLES, SNAKE RIVER BASIN. wearing out their valleys through the basaltic crust, leaving portions like broad table-tops, (Fig. 3,) occu- pying a greater or less area. From beneath these fragments of the crust, the loose sands have been washed out all around, so that the overlai^ping edges have fallen down in every directiou, from a common center in many instances. It would appear that these hills show that there were several periods of overflow of basalt, that beneath the sand is another floor, and upon this was deposited at the bottom of a lake a thickness of several feet of sand before the upper floor of basalt was formed. The northern por- tion of the basin is covered with thick beds of sand, into which the wheels of our wagons would sink 2 or 3 feet at times. On Camas Creek are some interesting sand dunes. On the northeast side are some conspicuous hills of blown sand, visible at a distance of twenty to forty miles, which indicate that the direction of the winds is from the south- west. Dry Creek, which in the spring season affords a channel for a large body of water, forms a caiion in the basaltic floor, with walls 50 feet high. In midsummer there is no running water. On this creek there is a stage-station called " Hole in the Wall," which derives its
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