554 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 
east of Horse Creek; but the ditch from the river would require two 
short aqueducts at the Devil’s Gate. The soil of this plain is rich in the 
elements of fertility, though in some places strongly impregnated with 
alkali. At present it is covered with “ grease-wood” and sage, except 
in the little areas which are frosted over with alkaline incrustations. 
Along the ridges and in the narrow valleys which lie around the head- 
waters of Horse Creek, and in the vicinity of Willow Springs, are some 
excellent grazing lands which have long been a favorite resort of the 
buffalo. The country along the North Platte, from the mouth of Sweet- 
water to Poison Spring Creek, is rongh and mountainous, the river for 
the most of this distance running through deep, and often perpendicu- 
lar, gorges. 
The length of the Sweetwater Valley, from its commencement above 
St. Mary’s station to the Platte, is about ninety miles, and the average 
width of the land which can be irrigated and rendered suitable for eulti- 
vation may safely be estimated at five or six miles. This would givean 
area of about five hundred square miles, or 320,000 acres of tillable 
land. Judging from the altitude, surroundings, and slight information 
received on this point, there are good reasons for believing that the cli- 
mate will prove more favorable to agriculture than that of the Laramie 
Plains, to which it.is much inferior as a grazing region, though the river 
bottoms and some of the mountain slopes afford very good grass on 
which numerous herds of antelopes at present graze. Timber is scarce 
from the vicinity of St. Mary’s station to the Platte. The bordering 
hills and mountains bear a few pines, and the bottoms a few small wil- 
lows; but these would hardly furnish a supply to even a moderate pop- 
ulation. A supply might be obtained from the mountains at the east 
or the west end of the valley. 
THE EASTERN PLAINS. 
Under this name may be included all that part of the Territory lying 
east of the Black Hills. It includes, in addition to the open plains, the 
valley of the North Platte from the Red Buttes to the eastern boundary 
of the Territory, and the valleys of the numerous tributaries which enter 
- into it between these points; also the valleys of Crow Creek, Larren’s 
Fork, and Lodge Pole Creek. This seetion contains about nine thousand 
square miles, of which perhaps one-sixth, or nearly one million of acres, 
can ultimately be irrigated and rendered suitable for farming purposes. 
This estimate of the arable portion is much larger than has generally 
been made, but from recent information furnished this Department is 
not considered exaggerated. A more careful examination of the volume 
of water sent down by the North Platte and its tributaries, and of the 
rain-fall during the growing season, may somewhat modify this esti- 
mate, but will not reduce it to any considerable extent. Some idea of 
the general level and topography of this area can be obtained from the 
following list of elevations recently taken: Beginning at Red Buttes and 
following the Platte, the elevations above the level of the sea are as 
follows—Red Buttes, 5,528 feet; five miles below the Old Bridge, 5,252 
feet; on the river bottom near Fort Fetterman, about 4,970 feet; Fort 
Laramie, about 4,500 feet; mouth of Horse Creek, 4,895 feet. This 
shows that the entire fall from Red Buttes to Horse Creek is 1,133 feet, 
or about 7 feet to the mile. From Red Buttes to the Bridge, 18 feet to 
the mile, and from Red Buttes to Fort Fetterman, 9 feet. The elevation 
of the Laramie bottom at the mouth of Chugwater is about 4,500 feet; 
the Chugwater Valley where the stage road to Fort Laramie strikes it, 
5,460 feet; and that of Cheyenne, 6,040 feet. These figures develop a 
