AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF WYOMING TERRITORY. 549 
by the North Platte and its tributaries; the Wind River or Big Horn 
District ; the Powder River country, and the Green River District. All 
of these divisions, except that drained by Green River, lie on the east 
side of the main divide of the Rocky Mountain range. 
The district drained by the North Platte amounts to about 22,000 
square miles, and embraces nearly one-fourth of the Territory, and, with 
the exception of a few smal! sections, it includes the most desirable por- 
tions, and the greater part of the arable land. This district is not only 
very irregular in its outline, but it bears the same varied and irregular 
character interiorly. The mighty convulsive force which heaved up 
these vast Rocky Mountain ranges seems here to have scattered the 
hills and mountains in wild confusion. In the eastern portion, stretch- 
ing north and south, is a range of rough and lofty mountains which, at 
its northern extremity, is rent into fragments and scattered in decreas- 
ing peaks and ridges to the northwest. Along the southern border, 
turning in nearly every direction of the compass, are lofty ranges, whose 
summits wear crowns of perennial snow. Westwasd the mountain 
ranges, trending northwest, sink beneath the immense deposit of local 
drift which here covers the mighty chasm; but they show themselves 
farther north in the granite peaks which, like islands, shoot up from the 
Sweetwater Plains, and farther on they emerge in the Wind River 
range. Between these irregular surroundings lie the broad Laramie 
_ Plains, which might appropriately be called the Great Park of Wyoming. 
The plains east of the Black Hills slope toward the Missouri River, 
while the area lying west of them, as shown by the course of streams 
and also by the barometer, slope north and east, sending the waters of 
its streams through the northeast angle of the district. The average 
level of this entire portion is higher than that of either of the others 
east of the divide, the western portion being on an average about 6,500 
feet above the level of the sea. The difference of level between South 
Pass and the mouth of the Sweetwater is about 1,500 feet. The area 
east of the mountains varies from 4,400 to 6,000 feet above the level of 
the sea. On aecount of its altitude and the direction and force of its 
atmospheric currents, the temperature of this distriet is lower than that 
of the others east of the divide, within the bounds under consideration. 
As a general rule only such products as are adapted to a cold climate 
and short seasons can be raised to any advantage; yet it is mmportant 
to know that a mining section can produce the principal cereals, as 
wheat, oats, and barley, and the more useful vegetables, in quantities 
sufficient to supply its own wants; and also to know something in re- 
gard to the locality and extent of its arable lands. A few acres of pro- 
ductiye soil in the vicinity of a rich mine will often yield a greater 
profit than a large farm in Ohio or [linois. 
It is difficult to give any very reliable estimate of the land suscepti- 
ble of cultivation in this district, as much of it is in small bodies of irreg- 
ular shape. By proper efforts at least 2,500 square miles, or 1,600,000 
acres, can be brought under cultivation.- This may be thought 
an exaggerated estimate, when we take into consideration the large 
proportion of the area occupied by mountains, the barren tract south 
of the Sweetwater, and the deficiency in the supply of water on the 
plains east of the Black Hills; but when more effectual means of hus- 
banding the water are adopted, as by tapping the streams near their 
exit from the mountains and keeping it above the surface by forming 
reservoirs, &c., the supply will be found greater than is at present sup- 
“ay and the estimate given, instead of being too large, may prove too 
small. 
