GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 11 



difficulty, and its danger from Indians. In the ordinary 

 sense of the word it is no pass at all ; that is, it crosses 

 no mountain range. It is, as already stated, simply a 

 ravine between two parallel ranges. The road was made 

 through it in consequence of its supply of water. The 

 Union Pacific Eailroad runs parallel to, and almost within 

 sight of, the old waggon road, for several hundred miles 

 west from Laramie City, the rail crossing a succession of 

 comparatively level plains, while the waggon road was 

 obliged to wind its way close to the great ranges, 

 climbing and descending rough and difficult foot hills, 

 crossing deep and dangerous ravines, increasing greatly 

 the distance, and a hundredfold the difficulty : attri- 

 butable to that prime necessity ' water.' 



The ' Church Buttes,' still farther vwest, are another 

 remarkable feature. The bed of a great lake probably 

 of fresh water has been thrust up, so that it now 

 stands from 100 to 200 feet above the surrounding 

 plain. 



This elevation must have taken place before the 

 material had time to solidify into rock. Though stratified, 

 the ' Buttes ' are quite soft, and filled with remains of rep- 

 tiles, &c. The faces of the ' Buttes ' are still nearly perpen- 

 dicular ; and, however long they may have been exposed 

 to the elements, not a very great deal of the material has 

 been washed down, the surrounding plain appearing to be 

 of very different composition. At a little distance from 

 half a mile to a mile from the 'Buttes' the plain is 

 covered with agates and petrifactions. Some of the 

 most beautiful specimens of moss agates come from this 

 plain. 



Every one has heard of the ' Bad Lands,' a singular 

 formation which appears at intervals from the Loup 

 Eiver to the mouth of the Yellowstone. This was all, 

 undoubtedly, once the bed of a very shallow lake, or 

 inland sea, which must gradually have subsided, since it 

 remained for ages a marsh. The whole formation is full 



