Ilayden.] ^-tq [Oct. 2. 



covered with a considerable deposit of drift ; but when they 

 are cut through by streams the basis rocks are shown. 



The scenery on either side of this valley is beautiful bej-ond 

 description. On the west side are the snow-clad peaks of the 

 Medicine Bow range in the distance, with numerous intervening 

 lower ranges ascending like steps. The snowy mountains are 

 mostly destitute of vegetation and are covered with eternal 

 snow, but the lower mountain ridges are covered mostly with 

 what may be called groves of pine. Indeed the pine groves and 

 gi'assy openings are so arranged and proportioned that the 

 whole scene appears as if it might have been partially the work 

 of art, and the traveler imagines himself in a sparsely settled 

 mountainous district instead of the unexplored Rocky Mountain 

 Region. These openings and grass}^ slopes will make excellent 

 pasture grounds, for the grass is good, and they are watered 

 with the finest of mountain streams and springs. I would 

 again remark that the pine forests of these mountains must at 

 some period be an object of earnest pursuit. Even now the 

 mountain sides are full of tie cutters, who cut and float hundreds 

 of thousands of ties down the mountain streams fifty to one 

 hundred miles to the Union Pacific Rail Road, whence they can 

 be transported by rail road to any desired point. 



In the moist ravines of the mountain sides are patches of the 

 aspen Populus tremuloides, which from their peculiar mode of 

 growth, form a striking feature in the landscape. They grow 

 very thickly, seldom attaining a height of more than forty or 

 fifty feet, and not more than tweh'e to eighteen inches in diam- 

 eter. The bodies are very smooth and nearly white, and their 

 tops form a rounded cone shaped mass of foliage. These aspen 

 groves are the favorite resort of deer, elk, grouse, and all kinds 

 of game. 



On the east side also is the snow clad range, which in its south- 

 ward extension includes Long's Peak and numerous other peaks 

 in the vicinity. On either side of these lofty ranges, which often 

 rise above the limit of vegetation, are a number of successive 

 lower ridges which descend like steps. There is such a wonder- 

 ful uniformity in the structure of the mountains that a detailed 

 description of a portion applies for the most part to all. 



Our course along the Cherokee Trail was about south-west 

 from the Big Laramie River, over ridge after ridge, and after 

 traveling twenty-five miles, we entered the North Park through 

 some of the most beautiful scenery of that interesting region. 

 From the summit of the high ridges on the north we looked to 



