18G8.] ^Y7 [Ilayden. 



the southward over a series of loftj^ cones or pyramids, as it 

 were, all clothed with a dense growth of pine. The metamorpliic 

 rocks of which these mountains are composed disintegrate so 

 easily that the surface is covered with a deposit of loose material, 

 as fine earth and fragments of rock. The hills have therefore 

 been so smoothed down that it is difficult to see the basin rocks 

 in continuous lines. We saw enough however to show us that 

 red sienite in its various forms constitute the principal rocks, 

 while now and then a bed of hornblendic gneiss, white quartz 

 or greenstone, occurs. All through the mountain region are 

 small open areas, sometimes on the hills and sometimes on the 

 lower ground, forming meadow like spots which the various kinds 

 of animals love to frequent to feed on the abundant grass. The 

 Old Cherokee Trail derives its name from the fact that a party 

 of those Indians cut their way- through the thick pines about 

 thirty years ago with a train of three hundred wagons. 



The traveling was difficult at this time, owing to the rugged, 

 ness of the surface and the obstruction from the fallen pines. 



So far as I could ascertain it, the trend of the upland moun- 

 tain ridges of sienite was nearly east and west, and the dip 

 nearly north. The North Park is oval or nearly quadrangular 

 in shape, is about fiftj' miles in extent from east to west, and 

 thirty from north to south, occup3'ing an area of about fifteen 

 hundred square miles. Viewing it from one of the high moun- 

 tains on its border, it appears to be a vast depression which 

 might once have formed the bed of a lake. Its surface is rather 

 rugged, yet there are broad bottoms along the streams, especially 

 the North Platte and its branches. Scarcely a tree is to be seen 

 over the whole area, while the mountains which wall it in on 

 every side are dotted with a dense growth of pine. The grass 

 grows in the park quite luxuriantly, often yielding at least two 

 tons of hay to the acre. Streams of the purest water flow 

 through the Park, and there are some of the purest springs I 

 have yet seen, a few of them forming good sized streams where 

 they issue from the ground. I am quite confident that this 

 entire Park would make an excellent grazing region for at least 

 six or eight months of the year. Mj-riads of Antelope were 

 quietly feeding in this great pasture ground like flocks of sheep. 

 The soil is very rich, but the seasons must be too brief for suc- 

 cessful cultivation of any crops. Indeed there is frost there 

 nearly CA'cry night, and snow falls every month of the year. 



As I have befoi'e stated, the Park is surrounded with lofty 

 ranges of mountains as b}' gigantic walls. On the north and 



