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Show --~ I __________ ___________ _.J c z H 0 ~ 55 [ 174 J here a pretty little creek, an afllnent of t!te right bank. It is well timbered with cottonwood in this vicinity, and the absiuthc ha, lost its f:hrnbldw character, and beeomes small trees ix and c•ight feet iu height :wd ometimes eight inchl'S itt diameter. Two or three llliles above this creek we made our encampmcllt, haviug trav ll<'d to-Jay twenty-five mile~. Our a11imals fared well Iter~, a:-; there i, an abundatJce of grass. Tltc ri vcr bed is tuade np of pcbbl<'s, at1d in the b~uk, :tt the level of tile water, is a couglomeratc of coarse pebbles about the ::-ize of ostrich eggs, aud wl1ich 1 remarked iu tile banks of tile Laramie fork. It i , overlaid by a ... oil of mixed clay and s~11d, six feet thick. By astrO IJOilJica.l observations, our position is in lougituJe l Our; 54' 32", and latit ude '12° ~l '. Julv !30.-After travelling abont twelve miles tl,j tuorning, we rcachnd a place where the Indian villagf" h~d cr-ossed the river. 1 [ere wt•rc the poles of discarded lodg<'s :md skf'letous of horses lyi uo- about. 1\lr. Car on, who had never beeu higher up tl1an this poiut 011 tlte river, which Ita · the character of bci11g exccPdiugly rugged, a11d wallt·d in by precipice above, tho ught it advisable to camp 11ea.r this place, where we were certaiu of obtainiug gras~ a nd to-morrow make onr crossing <UTIOIJO" the rugged lulls to the "'weet \Vater ri ver. J\ceordi ngly we turned back aud descended the river to au isla.ud ncar by, which was about twenty acres in $ize, covered with a luxuriant growtll of grass. The formn.tion here I found highly interesting. immediately n.t rhis islnnd the river i agaiu sltnt up in the rugged hills, which come do\~1 to it fro111 the main ridge in a succe .. iou or spurs three or fou r ltultdn>d feet htgiJ, aud alternatl.!d with green level prairil/ons or meadows, bo rdered on tltc river bank::; with thickets of willow, and having many plants to interest the travclln. Tile island lies between two of these ridgrs, three or fon r hundrt'd yards apart, of which that on the right bn11k is con1posetl entirely of red argillaceous sandstone, wjth thin layers of fibrons gypsum. Ou the left ba1d, tile ridge i · composed eutircly of siliceous pudding sto11e, the pebbles in the nnmcrous strata increasing iu size f'ro lll the top to the bottom, where tl1cy nrc as large as a man's head. So fur as I wa able to determine, these str:..tta incline to the northeast, with a dip of about 15°. This puddiwr "touc, or conglomerate fo rmation, I was cuahlctl to trace thrungh an extended rauge of country, from a few 111i les cast of the meridian of Fort Laramie to where I fonncl it uperposcd on the gn:UJitc o( the l{ocky mottnt:tin ·,in lougitu~c 109° 00'. From its appoart1nce, the main chain of the Laramie moutJI.am is composed uf th1s rock; a nd in a lllllllber of places I fo und isolated lulls, which served to mark a formc•r .lev I, which ha.t.l bee11 probably swept away. Tllese convlonH'rate" arc ve ry friahlc, nud ensily dt'composcd; and I am incli11ed t~ think tl1is formatiou is the .omce from which was derived tile g reat d1' posile of sand :UJd g r:tvcl which form tlte sllrface rock of the prnirie COUll! ry west of tile M iss is:-:;ipp i. . . . . Cros .. ing tlte ridge of l't'd saud:-)tonc, u11d traver ·ing the ltttle pra1ne wl11ch lies to the :southwa rd of . it ' we made in the aftern oon :tn l'XCttrsiOtJ to a place which we hnvc called tltc l lot Spriug nat e. This place lias llliiGh the Up· peara11ce of a gate, by wiJiclt tl 1e Pla lle pa. ses throngh a rid ge c~mposed o!' a wl1ite and caleareou · ~and s t ouc. The ll'ngth of the passage t. about four hu11dred yards, wirlt a ~lllon r h green prairie on eitiH·r siJe. Throu ?h tl1is pl acl~, thcs!reatu Jlows with a qniet current,nllbrnlwu by :ltlyrtq>Jcl, and. is about scv ctlty yards \\ iuc bctwetm the wall", which rise P " l'[H!ll- |
