302 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
The soil of the country is produced by the disintegration of the lime 
stone, sandstone, and granite ridges of this mountain range, and it is, 
therefore, dry, gravelly, and porous, except on the borders of the 
streams. Along the streams the soil is a dark mold, formed from the 
decomposition of the vegetation growing on the mountains. The grasses 
ot the wide plains and valleys and the lower mountain sides are the 
bunch, buffalo, grama, mesquite, and in some valleys the blue-joint, red- 
top, and wild rye-grass. The grasses grow and flourish up to the tim- 
ber and snow line—to an altitude of 10,000 feet. In addition to the 
grasses, there is a great variety of sweet, tender, and aromatic herbage, 
upon which sheep and goats delight to browse. Of the artemesia there 
are twelve to fifteen varieties, of which the wild sage furnishes five or 
six. There are four or five varieties ef the sheep-sorrel; and of the wild 
pea-vine there is an extensive family. There are also many kinds of the 
wild dock and the balm. 
The climate of this region is much like that of Asia. The rain-fall is 
light, being about eight inches annually in the country west of the Mis- 
souri River and east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains; while the snow 
fall, at the altitude of 7,500 feet, is only two feet. The fall of snow at 
any one time is small, and never lies on the ground to afford sleighing 
or to cover the grasses. The rainy season is in May and June, and 
after these months the only rain that falls is from electrical showers. 
While the rain is falling in May and June, vegetation grows luxuriantly; 
but, when the rains cease, the grasses graduaily dry on. the ground, so 
that by the time the frosts come, in September, they have become per- 
fectly cured uncut hay. 
The post surgeon at Fort Kearney, in response to circular No. 4of the 
surgeon general’s office, Nebraska, says or the country surrounding that 
post: “The average temperature for the year 18638 was 52° F. Snow 
dees not remain any length of time.” The report from North Platte 
station, Union Pacific Railroad, states that “the climate is healthful, 
and the extremes of temperature, on account of the dry and rarefied 
atmosphere, are well borne. The rain and saow fall are small.” From 
Fort Sedgwick, Dr. Monroe, United States Army, reports: “'The mean 
temperature for 1869 was 50° F’., rain-fall 8.9 inches, snow-fali 10.82 inches. 
The atmosphere is usually dry. The prevailing winds are from the 
west.” From Fort D. A. Russell, near Cheyenne, at the base of the 
Rocky Mountains, at an altitude of 6,100 feet, Dr. C. H. Alden, United 
States Army, reports: “The mean temperature ior the past two years, 
1868 and 1869, has been 46,539 F’.; average annual rain-fall for the past two 
years, 6.25 inches.” From Fort Laramie, Wyoming Territory, Dr. Schell, 
United States Army, writes: ‘The mean annual temperature is 50.6°. 
The climate is healthy, autumn and winter mild, summer dry and sultry, 
spring usually rainy.” Dr. W. E. Waters reports from Fort Bridger, 
in the extreme western portion of Wyoming: ‘Theclimate is temperate 
and salubrious the greater part of the year; the weather during the 
fall months is mild and delightful, excepting a few storms of short dura- 
tion. During the months of May and June there is a greater rain-fall 
than in all the other months. The rain-fall for the last year amounted 
to 7.97 inches.” Dr. F. L. Town, of Fort Shaw, Montana Territory, in 
latitude 47° 30’ north, writes: ‘The climate of the Territory is exceed- 
ingly dry allthe yearround. Theaggregate fall of rain and snow (melted) 
for the year 1868 was 10.14 inches, Snowrarely lies on the ground long 
after a storm. The mean temperature for i869 was 47.359 F.” Without 
multiplying testimony, the foregoing scientific authorities from the Army 
will prove conclusively that the climate is uniformly dry, that the rain 
