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| View
looking northeast at town of Swan Lake and Lake Bonneville shorelines. The
Bonneville level is at the bench at the top of the wheat field to the left
of the grain elevator. The Provo level is near the base of the grain elevator,
(June, 1995). |
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| Mount
Smart, west of Franklin, looking northeast from Highway 91. Franklin cemetery
is in the foreground. Cemeteries for Mormon settlements were generally constructed
out of town (possibly for sanitary reasons or to provide a central location
for several villages), and trees planted around them. The Bonneville shoreline
is near the top of the hill. The Provo shoreline is at the prominent bench
just at the level of the top of the trees, (September, 1986). |
Geography
About
half of Cache Valley is geographically in Idaho, but 80% of its people live
in Utah. Logan, at the southern end of the valley, site of Utah State University
and a Mormon Tabernacle, has historically been the center of commerce. The solidly
Mormon agricultural towns of Preston and Franklin on the east side of the Bear
River, and Oxford, Clifton, Dayton, and Weston,west of the river, are geographically
and economically closer to Logan than to the Idaho towns of Malad City, Montpelier
or Pocatello. This area was settled by Mormons who thought they were living
in Utah Territory,and even in the 1990s, some Preston area residents see themselves
as part of Utah, feeling that they have little in common with the politicians
in Boise who collect and spend their tax money.
Geologically, Cache Valley
is a graben, bounded by normal faults on both the east and west sides. On the
east side is the Bear River Range, which passes into the Portneuf Range on the
north side of the Bear River across the canyon at Oneida Narrows. These ranges
contain mainly Late Proterozoic and Paleozoic bedrock (limestone and quartzite)
above the Paris thrust fault, which is exposed on the east side of the Bear
River Range. West of Cache Valley are the Bannock and Malad Ranges and the Wellsville
Mountains in Utah, underlain by the same Paleozoic formations as well as Late
Proterozoic strata beneath, including the Brigham Group and the Pocatello Formation.
Lake
Bonneville
Cache
Valley was filled with the northeastern arm of Lake Bonneville, and the lake
flooded to the north through Red Rock Pass into Marsh Creek, the Portneuf River,
and Snake River. The unconsolidated sands and silts deposited on the floor of
Lake Bonneville form the surface of Cache Valley, and, when irrigated, make
excellent agricultural soil. A network of canals, the trademark of lands settled
by Mormon Pioneers, provide water to much of the valley.
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| Bear
River Range and city of Franklin, Idaho's oldest town, looking southeast
from just west of Cub River. The Provo shoreline is obvious below
the uneven bare hills. The Bonneville shoreline is less prominent,
400 feet above, on the steep face of the bare hills. High Creek is
the prominent canyon in the background. The base of the mountains
are underlain by east-dipping Late Proterozoic and Cambrian Brigham
Group; Paleozoic limestone forms the summits, (June, 1992).
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Osborne Russell's Journey
from Fort Hall to Cache Valley, March, 1835.
"On March
25th we left the Fort and traveled about six miles southeast and encamped
on a stream (called Portneuf) running into the Snake River about twelve
miles below the Fort. The next day we followed up this stream in an
easterly direction about 15 miles. Here we found the snow very deep.
From this point (in Marsh Valley) we took a south course in the direction
of Bear River. Our animals were so poor and the traveling so bad that
we had to make short marches. We reached Bear River on the first day
of April. The place where we struck Bear River is called Cache Valley,
so called from its having formerly been a place of deposit for the fur
traders. The country on the north and west side of the river is somewhat
broken and uneven. It is covered with wild sage. The snow had disappeared
only upon the south sides of the hills. On the south and east sides
of the river lay the valley but it appeared very white and the river
nearly overflowed its banks in so much as it was a very difficult crossing.
"The next
morning I took a walk up a smooth spur of the mountain to look at the
country. This valley commences about 30 miles below the Soda Springs.
The river, running west of south, enters the valley through a deep cut
in the high hill. After winding its way through the north and west borders
of the valley it turns due west and runs through a deep canyon of perpendicular
rocks on its way to the Salt Lake.
"The valley
is nearly surrounded by high and rugged mountains from which flow large
numbers of small streams crossing the valley and emptying into the river.
There are large quantities of Beaver and Otter living in these streams
but the melting snow raises the water so high that our trappers made
but slow progress in catching them." (Haines, 1965, p. 9)
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