| OCR Text |
Show 50 FROM FORT KEARNY TO FORT LARAMIE. much meat as two pack- mules could carry- their riding- mules also being loaded with the same welcome freight. They had killed three elk and an antelope. Ther. in the sun, with fresh breeze, at 12J o'clock, 98*°. Monday, July 9.- Ther. at sunrise, 55°; Bar. 26.26; Wind N. W. I determined this morning to examine more particularly the curious bluffs or range which extends from the Court- house to Chimney Rock, and on beyond nearly to Scott's Bluffs. Siding south from the road for a distance of about five miles over an open prairid, cut up in every direction by hollows and little short ridges, we arrived at a pass or gorge through what appeared to be the main bluff, or southern boundary of the Platte valley. The cliffs on either side of the pass were about thirty feet high, and presented a section of clay, sandy clay, and calcareous sandstone. In some places, projecting from the side of the cliff, were rounded layers of the latter rock, disposed in a vertical direction, presenting the appearance of the vertebrae of some large animal. On reaching the summit of the pass, I found that this range, instead of being the main bluff bounding the Platte valley, was only a high ridge separating it from that of Lawrence's Fork. The latter stream here runs about north- east, through a broad, level prairie, four or five miles wide, bounded by a high bluff on its southern side, and discharges itself into the Platte many miles below; the stream forks just above, and a high, broad ridge, similar in its character to that we had just crossed, divided the two branches, the valleys of which seemed to extend a considerable distance to the west. A few trees were seen on the farther one. In the pass, two handsome varieties of Digitalis occurred, both of a blue colour, one with glabrous leaves, and flowers of a bright blue, the other with pubescent leaves, and flowers not so bright; . a dwarf white chrysanthemum was also found in the same locality. I hoped to find some more specimens of lignite on this stream, which is the same that washes the base of the Court- house lower down, where that substance was seen yesterday. I accordingly rode out to it. It was here a beautiful bubbling brook, flowing with a rapid current over sand and rolled stones, brought down from the Court- house ridge in immense quantities. No lignite was discovered at this spot, although I have little doubt that it exists higher up, near the sources of this little stream. The south side of the ridge, which we followed until nearly opposite the Chimney Rock, presents the same fantastic appearance as does that fronting the Platte valley, being worn by the |
