. THE FOSSIL FIELDS OF WYOMING 



The various Government surveys have at some period 

 within the last thirty-five years examined the geology in part 

 of the Laramie Plains and vicinity. In 1842, Captain (after- 

 vs^ard General) John C. Fremont and party passed down the 

 North Platte Caiion and barely came out with their lives, losing 

 nearly all their outfit. 



Fremont in his report speaks of passing through North Park 

 and the Laramie Plains, and of the wonderful variety and beauty 

 of the flora. 



In the following pages I quote from the reports of Clarence 

 King, Arnold Hague, F. V. Hayden, J. J. Stevenson, Marvin 

 and Endlich. 



Arnold Hague, in "Geology of 40th Parallel," speaking of 

 the Laramie Plains, says: "They may be 80 by 30 miles and 

 are limited on the north by the hills at Como. On the south 

 they are shut in by the coming together of the Medicine Bow 

 and Laramie Ranges near the 41st parallel. The plains are 

 elevated from 6,800 to 7,300 feet above the sea and the surface 

 is so undulating that in the distance it seems to be apparently 

 level, with ridges 1 00 to 200 feet high. 



"The Laramie Hills on the east are a continuation of the 

 Colorado Range and are scarcely 1,500 feet above the plains. 

 The Medicine Bow on the west rises 3,000 to 4,000 feet 

 higher." 



Clarence King, in the "Geology of the 40th Parallel," says: 

 "The Laramie Plain is essentially a broad, level upland of the 

 Colorado cretaceous." 



Hague further says: "The Laramie Hills lie chiefly 

 between 4 1 "^ and 42*^ north latitude, extending to Laramie 

 River on the north and Cache la Poudre on the south, having 



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