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Show [ 174 J 122 d about . their sides ometimes dark with forests of pine, and sometimes rwoiutnh lofty pr'e cipices, was~ed by the n.v er; w I .l b I .f h . 11 e e ow, as 1 t e~ mdem. nified themselves iu luxunance for the scanty spac_e, the g~· eeu nver _bot. tom was covered with a wilderness of flowers, the:tr tall ~pt_kes sornettmes · ·ng abO\'C our heads as we rode among them. A prof u 1011 o[ blossoms ~1~1 a w!J ite flowering vine, (clematis la.1iant hi,) whic~ was a bnndam •!ong the river, contrasted handsomely WJth the o-r~en folta::,e of the tre_es. ~he mountain appC'ared to be composed of a greenish gra~ ~nd red g_ramte, wh1~h in 1'0me places appeared to be in a state of decompositlou, making a red ?II· The stream was wooded with cottonwood, box elder, a~1d cherry, With currant and serviceberry bu:shes. After a somewhat labonous day, Jmiug which it had r:-tined ince;:)sautly, we encamped uear the e~1d of_ the pass at the mouth of a mall creek, in sigbt of the great ~aramte pla~ns.. 1t ?on. tinned to rain heavily, and at evening the mountams were lnd 111 m1 ts; but there wa no lack of wood, and t lie laro-e fires we made t? dr~ our clothes were very comfortable; and at night the bunters came 111 With a fine deer. Rouoh and difficult as we found the pa. s to-Jay, an excellent road may be m.i'de with a lillie labor. Elevation of the camp 5 540 feet, and distance from St. Vrain·s fort 5G miles. July 30.-The day was bright again ; the thermometer at_ sunri.0 52°; and leaving our encampment at 8 o'clock, _in about half a ~nile we crossed the C£1.c!ze-li-la-Poudre river for the Ia t ttme; and, enten11g a smoother country: we tr8 vel led along a kind of val!on, bo~mded on the right by red buttes and precipices, while to the left a !ugh rollmg country ex_tetJdeu to a range of the Black hills, beyond which rose the grrat mountallls around Long's peak. . . . By the great quantity of snow VIsible among them, It had pr~)bably snow. ed heavily there the previous day, while it had rained 011 us Ill the valley. We halted at noon ou a small branch ; and in the afternoon travelled over a hioh country, gradually asr:ending towards a rallge of buttes, or high hills 0 covered with pines, whieh forms the dividing ridge bet ween the waters we had left and those of Laramie river. Late in the evening we encamped at a spring of cold water, near ~he summit of the ridge, having increased our elevatiou to 7,520 feet. . D11nng the day we had travelled 24 miles. By some indiaerent observatwns, our latitude is 41° 02' lD". A species of lledeome was characteristic along the whole day's route. . .. Emerging from the mountains, we entered a region of bnght, l~1r weather. In my experience in this country, I was forcibly impressed w1th the different character of the climate on opposite sides of the Rocky mou~l· tain range. The vast prairie plain on the east is like the ocean; the r~lll and clouds from the constantly evaporatino- snow of the mountains n~ l11ng down iuto the heated air of the plains, on which yon will have occas1on to remark the frequent storms of rain we encouutered dnring our jonruey. Ju~y 31.-The morning was clear; temperature 48°. A fine rolling roa~, among piney and gra.sy hills, brought us tltis morniug into a large trail where an Indiau village had recent I y passed. The weather was pleasaut and cool; we were di tm·bed by neither musquitoes nor flies; and _the country was certainly extremely beautiful. The slopes aud broad rav111es were absolutely covered with fields of flowers of the most exqui .. itely hcautl· ful colors. Among those which had not hitherto made their appearance, and which here were characteristic, was a new delpllinium, of a o-re en aud 123 [ 174 J lustrous metallic blue color, mingle? with compact fields of sev_eraJ brig~tcolored varieties of astragalus, which were crowded together 111 sple~dtd profusion. This trail ~011ducted us through a rema~kable de.fil_e, to a httle t"mbered creek up whtch we wound our way, passmg by a smgt~ lar nnd ~assive wall of dark-red ~ranite. The f~rmation of th' country IS a red feldspathic granite, ~verl~mg a d~compos111g mass_ of the same rock, forming the soil of all this regwll, whte_h_ every where ts red and gravelly, and appears to be of a great floral f?rttbty. . . . . As we emer()"ed on a small tnbutary of the Laramte nver, comlllg 1n ight of its pri~cipal stream, tlte ilora became perfectly magnificent; and we corJO"ratulated ourselves, a we rod along our pleasant road, that we had substituted this for tlote uninteresting country between Laramie hills and the Sweet Water valley. We bad no men.t for supper Ia t night or breakfast this morning, and were glad to see Carson come in at noon with a good antelope. . . . 0 , , A meridian ob ervat10n of the sun pln.ced ns 111 latitude '11 04 06 . In the evenino we encamped on tlte Laramie river, which is here very thjnJy timbered wi'th scattered groups of cottouwood at cou, i<terablc intervals. From our camp, w are able to J i tingni, h the gorges, in whic~l . are the sources of C:lche-a-la-Poudre and Laramie rivers; and the MeJtcme Bow mountain toward the point of w llich we are directing our comse this afternoon has' been in sight the greater part of the day. By observation, _the latitt;de was 41° 15' 02", and longitude 106° 16' 5 '1". 'l'hc same beant1ful flora cnnrinued till about 4 in the af'ternoo11, when it suddenly di~ nppeare<.l, with the red soil which became sn.ncly a1td of a whitish-gray color. The ' 0 evening was tolerably clear; temperature at ~uu et 64°. The day's Jour-ney was :30 miles. .llugwst l.-Tlle moming wa calm and clear, with sunrise tcmperalure at 42°. ~re travelled to-day ov r a plain, or open rollino- country, at the foot o[ tile .Medicine Bow mOUiltain; the soil in the moruing being sanuy, witlt fragmeuts of rock abun<.lant; and in the af'ICrnoon, wlle_u we approaclH~ d clo er to the monutain, o stony that we made bnt little way. The beautil"ul plants or yesterday reappeared occasionally; flax in bloom occurred during the morniug, an<.l esparcettc iu luxuriant abn1tdance was a characteristic of tlte stouy grouud in the afternoon. The camp was ronsed into a little excitement by a chase after a bn [alo bull, and an cncoun ter with a war party of Sioux and Cheyenne fndians about 30 strong. I~nres and antelope were seen during the day, and one of the latter w~s kliJed. The Laramie r ak was in sight this aftemoon. The evenlllg was clear, with scattered clouds; temperature 62°. The day's jouruey was 26 miles. .llugust 2.-Temperature at sumise 52°, and scene~y ~nd :veather n;ade onr road to-day delightful. The neio-hbori11g monuta.m 1s thtcldy stn~lc1ed with pi11es, iutermingled with the brighter foliage of aspens, ~nd occaswnal spots like lawus between the patr.ltes of snow among the pmes,_and h~rc and there on the heights. Our route below lay over a comparative plnm, covered with the same brilliaut vegetation, and the day was clear aud pleasantly cool. During the morning, we crossed many stre,tms, clear and rocky, and broad grassy valleys, of a strong black soil, wa, hcd do~vn from t_he mouutains, and producing excellent pasturage. The e were timbered wlth the red willow and long-leaved cottonwood, mingled with aspen, as we approached the mouutaiu more uearly towards noon. Espm·c:ette was a char- |
