GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 9 



my opinion brought this portion of the continent from 

 the depths of ocean. 



In some portions of the middle plains Nature seems 

 to have endeavoured to outdo her previous efforts, and to 

 try how many and varied forms the surface of the earth 

 could be forced to assume by means of partial upheavals. 

 Some of the most curious of these formations are to the 

 west of the Laramie plains. 



The ground is broken, in every possible way, the 

 lines of upheaval running at all points of the compass, 

 and parallel, perpendicular, or oblique to neighbouring 

 mountain ranges. 



One very remarkable peculiarity presents itself in 

 several ranges of hills in the vicinity of Fort Fred Steele. 

 Extending sometimes for miles, a portion of earth, more 

 or less broad, is as it were turned on edge, as one might 

 partially open the cover of a book lying on a table. The 

 lifted edge rises almost perpendicularly from the earth, 

 showing the stratification ; while the other face of the hill 

 thus formed is the natural surface of the ground, covered 

 with prairie grass, shrubs, &c. 



Immediately behind this long narrow hill, and 

 probably by the same convulsion, is elevated another 

 similar hill, with one sheer stratified face, the other not 

 so steep, and with a natural surface. This is continued, 

 and I have seen as many as five distinct ranges of hills, 

 each one in rear overtopping that in front ; all the front 

 faces being masses of stratified rocks, whilst all the rear 

 faces are the natural surface of the ground. The front 

 face of the range opposite Fort Fred Steele is not more 

 than seventy feet in height, while the summit of the last 

 is at least 600 feet above the plain below. 



The Eattlesnake Hills present another curious featured 

 They are a series of four or five ranges of hills, from \ 

 600 to 800 feet in height, parallel to, and the nearest / 

 from half a mile to a mile distant from, the great 

 Medicine Bow Eange of the Eocky Mountains. They are 



