It is probable that a portion of the Virgin River can be used to advantage below the Beaver Dam Mountains in Nevada, and that a sufficient amount to irrigate 25 square miles can be used to good advantage in Utah. The time when the volume of available water furnished by any stream bears the least ratio to the demands of the growing crops is the most critical period in the cultivation of the soil where artificial irrigation is a necessity. This time, depending as it does upon the crops cultivated, the character of the soil, and the source of the water supply, whether from springs or from melting snows, differs in different localities. In the valley of the Virgin it occurs in June. At this time the river, though not at flood height, which occurs in April, carries a large volume of water, and, by reason of the source of this supply being in the rapidly melting snows of the Colob Plateau, is decreasing but slowly, and thus the amount available at this critical period bears a greater ratio to the flood of the stream than is usual in Utah. But little information has been obtained concerning the amount of water necessary to irrigate an acre. It is thought, however, to be much greater than in any other portion of Utah. KANAB CREEK. Kanab Creek rises in springs bursting from underneath the cliffs forming the southern boundary of the Pauns-a-gunt Plateau, and flows southward until it joins the Colorado River in Arizona. Small areas of arable land are found along its course after it has descended to an altitude of 7,500 feet, and thence until it passes beyond the boundaries of Utah. The largest area in one body is in Kanab Valley, at the foot of the Vermilion Cliffs. It is greatly in excess of the water supply, is at an altitude of about 5,000 feet, has a fertile soil, and requires but comparatively a small amount of irrigation. The amount actually under cultivation in 1877 is placed by the best information attainable at 700 acres. The critical period in the cultivation of this area occurs in June. At that time the stream is falling rapidly, and crops have sometimes been seriously damaged. Estimates of the volume of water in the stream, made at different seasons and in different years, give 15 cubic feet per second as the flow in June. Some desultory attempts have been made to increase the supply by ponding, the cañon through the Vermilion Cliffs above the arable lands affording many opportunities. When this improvement is made on some well considered and well executed plan, and the waterways flumed through some bad sandy ground that now absorbs much water, the amount available at the critical period can be at least doubled. Some years ago a settlement was established at the foot of the Pink Cliffs, on the headwaters of the Kanab, but the town site was eventually abandoned because of the deep snows of winter and the frosts of summer. THE PARIA RIVER.