OCR Text |
Show CA$ 0N OF THE SWEETWATER. 69 it is found on the tops of the hills. The strata seemed perfectly horizontal. At our nooning point yesterday, the carboniferous rocks were found rising up at a considerable angle, " but no section was obtained. The only rock exposed was the red sandstone, which had been rendered partially crystalline by the action of heat. The surrounding rocks had not been disturbed. Some beds of very coarse conglomerate were seen cropping out near the river. In the course of the day, Captain Duncan, of the Rifles, who had passed us at Bitter Creek on the 19th of July, in pursuit of deserters, came into camp, having followed his men to within fifty miles of Fort Bridger. He had come upon them at daylight, while they lay asleep, disarmed them, secured their horses, and was now on his return, having taken also another man who had deserted previously- so that he had five in all. The pursuit was one of great hardship, privation, and fatigue, and the energy and perseverance with which it had been continued was the subject of admiration with all. ' Encamped on the Sweetwater, at a point where the road leaves it to avoid a cafion above, which is impassable for wagons for several miles. March, in the last two days, forty miles. Saturday', August 4.- Morning clear and cool. Leaving the train to follow the beaten track, which makes a short cut over the hills, I determined to follow up the cafion of the Sweetwater. The stream, as I had anticipated, was shut up between lofty, rocky eminences, coming down directly to the water at an angle of from 45° to 60°, along the sides of which we scrambled, sometimes walking and leading our mules over crags where it was impossible to ride, crossing and recrossing the stream ever and anon, to enable our animals to get along at all. A short distance after entering the cafion, the red sandstone was found cropping out at an angle of 45°, with a dip to the north; and a little farther on the crystalline rocks appeared, forming the sides of the cafion. The prevailing rock was gneiss; but sienite and granite were found in some places constituting the principal bulk of the formation. A narrow bottom occasionally gave room for some fine groves of large aspens, the sight of which, after our long and dreary ride without a particle of shade, was truly refreshing. The bed of the river was filled with large boulders and fragments of rock which had fallen from the cliffs above, among which the waters foamed and fretted with a gurgling murmur, which, when |