| OCR Text |
Show 258 HEADS OF LODGB POLB AND CROW CREEKS. thin, varying from half an inch to six inches, between which an occasional layer of brown and reddish argillaceous limestone was found interposed. ' Passing, over an undulating and gradually rising country, for seven or eight miles, we at length overtook the train, which had halted to noon on- a small tributary of the Laramie River. Aspen, fir, pine, and cedar here occurred in scattering clumps, and the grass has been abundant. From this point we continued our course more to the north- east for four or five miles, over ground considerably cut up by ravines, when we reached the summit of the ridge, which gives rise to the head of Lodge- pole Greek, an affluent of the South Fork of the Platte, into which it discharges its waters nearly south of Ash Hollow, and about seventy miles above the junction of the two great branches which form that well-known stream. Lodge- pole Greek here takes its rise in a high ridge, and falling with a rapid and sudden descent, forms a deep and precipitous cation, at the bottom of which it continues to wind its way until it reaches the plain at the foot of the eastern slop? of the Black Hills. It is represented as having a width between the cliffs which enclose its valley, sufficient for a road, by grossing the streamv from side to side; but I was deterred from attempting the passage, not only by the rugged descent from the ridge, but by the quantity of timber growing in the cafion, through which it would have been necessary to cui our way the whole distance. In addition to this, the ridge appeared to be much lower to the southward, in the direction of the heads of Box- elder River and Fontaine qui bauity . while, toward the northward, it appeared to become higher and still more rugged. This induced me to believe that we had crossed the ridge too far to the northward, and that a more feasible route could be traced south of our line of travel, by which much of the elevation we had attained ( which amounted to about a thousand feet) might be avoided. We accordingly followed down the ridge in' a S. S. E* direction for six miles, when we struck uppn a little stream, which we supposed to be a branch of Lodge- pole, but which, as we afterward ascertained from some Cheyenne Indians, was a branch of Grow Greek, another affluent of the South Fork, and which flows into it from thiB point in a north- easterly direction. Here we encamped for the night, with good grass and water, after a very interesting, though somewhat fatiguing journey of twenty- two miles. Immense droves of buffalo were seen in every direction during the day-. An |
