94 PRAIRIE SCENERY. 



and the Rocky Mountains. From the summit of the divid- 

 ing ridge, to the eastward, a view is had of the vast sea of 

 prairie which stretches away from the base of the moun- 

 tains in dreary barrenness, for nearly a thousand miles, 

 until it meets the fertile valley of the great Missouri. 

 Over this boundless expanse, nothing breaks the uninter- 

 rupted solitude of the view. Not a tree or atom of foliage 

 relieves the eye ; for the lines of scattered timber, which 

 belt the streams running from the mountains, are lost in 

 the shadow of their stupendous height, and beyond this 

 nothing is seen but the bare surface of the rolling prairie. 

 In no other part of the chain are the grand characteristics 

 of the Far West more strikingly displayed than from this 

 pass* The mountains here rise, on the eastern side, ab- 

 ruptly from the plain, and the view over the great prairies 

 is not therefore obstructed by intervening ridges. To the 

 westward the eye sweeps over the broken . spurs which 

 stretch from the main range in every direction ; while 

 distant peaks, for the most part snow-covered, are seen at 

 intervals rising isolated above the range. On all sides the 

 scene is wild and dismal. 



Crossing by this pass, we followed the Yuta trail, skirt- 

 ing a pine-covered ridge, in which countless herds of an- 

 telope, tame as sheep, were feeding. Numerous creeks 

 well timbered with oak, pine, and cedar, intersect it, and 

 game of all kinds was there abundant. Mr. Barrill proved 



