Profile surveys in Bear River basin, Idaho

Bear River rises on the northern slope of the Uinta Mountains, in
the northeastern part of Utah, and after a circuitous course in
which it leaves Utah and enters Wyoming, Utah, and Wyoming in
turn and makes a long detour in Idaho it returns to Utah and finally
discharges its waters into Great Salt Lake. The maximum elevation
of the upper rim of the basin is 13,000 feet above sea level.
The upper part of the basin comprises a rough, broken country,
well drained by numerous short streams, most of which are confined
to steep, narrow canyons. The streams are fed by many small springs
and by the melting of the snow which forms the greater part of the
precipitation. The rocks of the extreme headwater region are chiefly
sandstones and quartzites and are covered with a thin layer of soil
that supports scattered groves of fir and aspen. A few small lakes
lie near the head of the river.