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Show 70 , FROM FORT LARAMIK TO FORT BRIDGRR. contrasted with the flat, silent waters of the Platte, Was very pleasant to the ear. It reminded one of th#( clear, purling streams we had lfcft at home. The river here ia truly a mountain- stream, with great fall, rapid. turrent, and water as clear as crystal, ojF the temperature cf 55°. On emerging from the district of primary rocks, we came upon the stratified, which were formed of micaceous, slaty shales, and red sandstone, all . evidently metamorphic: their beds were inclined at an angle of from 40° to 70° to the north. , Veins of quartz were observed in them in some places. Trap dikes were very frequent ifc the Crystalline rocks. The surface rock on the hills in the vicinity appeared to be a continuation of the same ghaty formation. The aspen, beech, willow, and cotton- wood were found growing on the bottoms, and on the hills cotton- wood, pine, and cedar. Sage hens, ( Tetrao urophasianus,) a species of grouse, were seen in great numbers, and the men shot as many as we could conveniently carry. They are very good eating, and qome of the older ones, werfe larger than a full- grown barn- door fowh. - , In £ h& afternoon, we met the mail from Great Salt Lake City, with upward of six thousand letters, and were glad to avail QUT-selves of the opportunity to write to our friends. Camp on Sweetwater. Day's march, twenty- three miles. Monday*, August 6.- Leaving the valley of the Sweetwater, we crossed, this morning through the South Pass over to the head branches of Sandy Creek, an affluent of the Colorado, or Green R} ver. of tl\ e West, and nooned at the " Pacific Springs," at the foot of the pass, on the western side. This celebrated depression through the Rocky Mountains is now so well known that any further description of it would be superfluous, Tnat of Fremont conveys a very accurate idea, of the locality, which has nothing remarkable in its features. The water. at the Pacific Springs is not very good, but is quite eold.. It is a favourite camping ground of the emigrants on account of the grass. Encamped for the night on the banks of Dry Sandy, where we had to, dig in the bed of the stream for water; but a very scanty supply was ob- . tained; and the grass moreover was so scarce, that our animals were allowed to rim loose all night under, the protection of the guard, instead of being picketed as usual. In the afternoon, one of our best mules died from the bite of a snake. In the morning her jaws and fauces had been . observed to be very much swollen, and before, sundown she became so weak, that we were |