1S6S.] ^gg [Ilay.lcn. 



I'oi't Sanders find Laramie CitA^, b}^ the reported discovery of 

 rich gold diiii^ings near the sources of Little Laramie River. 

 This district has a regular organization, hundreds of claims 

 have been staked out and the name of " Last Chance" diggings 

 given to it. Some very large and valuable nuggets of gold 

 have been taken from these mines, and the usual exaggerated 

 reports of their richness have been circulated everywhere. 



August 20th. I started from Fort Sanders to make an exami- 

 nation of this district under the auspices of Maj. Gcn'l Gibbon, 

 U. S. A., the commander of the Rock}' Mountain District. We 

 were so fortunate also as to have the company of Prof. James 

 TIall, State Geologist of New York. Our course was nearly 

 south-west up the valley of the Little Laramie River to its 

 sources in the Snowy Mountains. From Fort Sanders to the 

 Little Laramie River the distance is eighteen miles over a very 

 nearl}^ level country, underlaid by Cretaceous beds holding a 

 horizontal position nearly. Nos. 2 and 3 are quite well shown. 

 No. 2 with its dark plastic cla^^s is first observed at the Big 

 Laramie Stage Station, six miles west of Fort Sanders. 



In the broad, level plain coiintr}', west of this point No. 3 

 attains a thickness of fifty to one hundred feet, sometimes exhib- 

 iting its usual chalky character, but mostly composed of thinly 

 latninated calcareous shale. All through it are thin layers of 

 fibrous carbonate of lime, the fibres at right angles to the plane 

 surface, and attached to these masses or layers are myriads of 

 the little oyster 0. GonrjCHta. I also found a number of the ver- 

 tebra of a saurian animal. 



From the Stage Station we passed directly up the valley of 

 the Little Laramie. On either side were long ridges covered 

 with grass and water-worn rocks, but from their sides projected 

 a bed of rusty sandstone which contained Inocei^amus and other 

 marine fossils, which indicate the upper Cretaceous or No. 5. 

 These beds continue for about fifteen miles, to a point where the 

 river issues from the foot hills of the mountains, and thence to 

 its source we follow its windings through some most beautiful 

 and rugged scenery. The river itself has wrought its way 

 through a synclinal valley caused by two separate minor ranges 

 projecting out from the main range of mountains, and the trend 

 of the minor ranges is nearly north and south. 



One of these small ranges is quite peculiar in its character. 

 On its east base, which fronts the Laramie Plains, the upper 

 Cretaceous beds jut up against its side, and no unchanged rocks 



