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Show 70 FROM FORT LARAMIE TO FORT BRIDGER. contrasted with the flat, silent waters of the Platte, was yery pleasant to the ear. It reminded one of the clear, purling streams we had left at home. The river here is truly a mountain- stream, with great fall, rapid current, and water as clear as crystal, of the temperature of 55°. On emerging from the district of primary rocks, we came upon the stratified, which were formed of micaceous, slaty shales, and red sandstone, all evidently metamorphic: their beds were inclined at an angle of from 40° to 70° to the north. Veins of quartz were . observed in them in some places. Trap dikes were very frequent in the crystalline rocks. The surface rock on the hills in the vicinity appeared to be a continuation of the same shaly formation. The aspen, beech, willow, and cotton- wood were found growing on the bottoms, and on the hills cotton- wood, pine, and cedar. Sage hens,>{ Tetrao urophasianus,) a species of grouse, were seen in great numbers, and the men shot as many as we could conveniently carry. They are very good eating, and some of the older ones were larger than a full- grown barn- door fowl. In the afternoon, we met the mail from Great Salt Lake City, with upward of six thousand letters, and were glad to avail ourselves of the opportunity to write to our friends. Gamp on Sweetwater. Day's march, twenty- three miles. Monday, August 6.- Leaving the valley of the Sweetwater, we crossed this morning through the South Pass over to the head branches of Sandy Greek, an affluent of the Colorado, or Green River of the West, and nooned at the " Pacific Springs," at the foot of the pass, on the western side. This celebrated depression through the Rocky Mountains is now so well known that any further description of it would be superfluous. That of Fremont conveys a very accurate idea of the locality, which has nothing remarkable in its features. The water at the Pacific Springs is not very good, but is quite cold. It is a favourite camping ground of the emigrants on account of the grass. ' Encamped for the night on the banks of Dry Sandy, where we had to dig in the bed of the stream for water; but a very scanty supply was obtained ; and the grass moreover was so scarce that our animals were allowed to run loose all night under the protection of the guard, instead of being picketed as usual. In the afternoon, one of our best mules died from the bite of a snake. In the morning her jaws and fauces had been observed to be very much swollen, and before sundown she became so weak that we were |
