THE IRR1 GA T10N A GE. 197 



abundance of life in the innumerable sheep tracks that covered the 

 ground in every direction. I remember that one of the most spirited 

 arguments that divided our little party was caused by the appearance 

 of these paths which encircled in parallel bands a distant hill, and 

 bore so much the appearance of natural stratifications that it was 

 difficult to tell what they really were. 



And speaking of the sheep of this country I may say that one 

 fact appeared to me indisputable: namely, that the unrestrained 

 grazing of these vast herds over the public lands of the west is ruin- 

 ously destructive to their best use as grazing lands. It seems to me 

 a thing of the highest importance that these lands be divided as far 

 as possible so that they may pertain to the lands under cultivation in 

 the valleys, giving to each holding of irrigated land an extent of 

 grazing land, and giving to every tract of grazing land access to 

 water somewhere. I believe that the outcome of such an arrange- 

 ment will be that more cattle will be produced in that country than 

 were ever produced under the free range system. The cession of the 

 lands to the states in order that they may be thus leased to bona fide 

 settlers is a question of vital importance to many of the western 

 states. 



After we had gotten down into the immediate stream valleys of 

 the Bighorn Basin the country took on a more pleasing appearance. 

 The rich soil of the bottom lands was here and there under a state of 

 cultivation which made it an entirely legitimate flight of the imagina- 

 tion to picture a dense and prosperous future population in those 

 valleys. 



The Bighorn River fully realized the expectations I had formed 

 of it from the many descriptions that have come to my notice. It was 

 a strong, rapid stream, almost perfectly clear where we crossed it, 

 but evidently liable to be completely beclouded at the faintest sug- 

 gestion of rain on the barren hills among which it flows. 



The growth of irrigation in the Grey Bull valley gave convincing 

 evidence of what this country is yet to be, and I remarked to Mr. 

 Mead that the future would see within its limits a population equal to 

 that of the state of Wyoming at present. I need enter into no further 

 comments upon this valley than to say that the abundance of water in 

 the main stream and its tributaries made the purpose of my visit seem 

 minus a sufficient motive, for surely it will be many years before there 

 will be any pressing necessity for the storage of water there or in any 

 other portion of the Bighorn Basin that fell under my observation. 



Of all the localities visited by our party, the Wind River valley 

 has left me with the most agreeable impression, unless possibly it is 

 equaled in that respect by the valley of Jackson Hole. As we topped 

 the Owl Creek Divide and looked expectantly across the valley of 

 Wind River for the vast wall of mountains which we knew lay on the 

 farther side, the deep haze made it for an instant indiscernable: but 



