THE NORTH PLATTE DISTRICT. 491 



appearance could not have been produced even if they had been 

 grain-fed and stable-housed all winter. Only one was lost, the 

 furious storm of December coming on before it had gained suf- 

 ficient strength to endure it. The fact that seventy exhausted 

 animals, turned out to winter on the plains the first of No- 

 vember, came out in the spring in the best condition, and with 

 the loss of but one of their number, is the most forcible com- 

 mentary I can make on the quality of the grass and the charac- 

 ter of the winter.' 



" These plains have been favorite herding grounds of the 

 buffalo away back in the pre-historic age of this country. 

 Their bones lie bleaching in all directions, and their paths, 

 deeply worn, cover the whole plain like a net-work. Their 

 ' wallows,' where these shaggy lords of animal creation tore 

 deep pits into the surface of the ground, are still to be seen. 

 Elk, antelope, and deer still feed here, and the mountain sheep 

 are found on the mountain sides and in the more secluded val- 

 leys of the Sierra Madre range — all proving conclusively that 

 this has afforded winter pasturage from time immemorial. 

 Since 1849 many herds of work-oxen, belonging to emigrants, 

 freighters, and ranchmen, have grazed here each winter. 



" South of the Laramie plains is the North Park, one of 

 three great parks of the Rocky Mountains, so fully described 

 by Richardson, Bross, and Bowles. This North Park is 

 formed by the great Snowy Range. It is a valley from six to 

 eight thousand feet high, ninety miles long, and forty miles 

 wide, surrounded by snowy mountains from thirteen to fifteen 

 thousand feet high. These mountain tops and sides are com- 

 pletely covered with dense growths of forests ; the lower hill- 

 sides and this great valley are covered with grasses. The 

 forests and mountains afford ample shelter from sweeping 



