40 



the surface is so heaped up into moraines and hummocks and covered 

 with bowlder drift by glacier action as to be fit only for grazing pur- 

 poses. Even the unpromising region on the north from Crow Heart 

 Butte to the Big Horn, which would be at once rejected by the inex- 

 perienced as a hopeless desert, is a good winter range for cattle when 

 there is snow to supply them with water. The canons and ravines 

 contain many nutritive plants which, though small and inconspicuous, 

 seeming more dead than alive, are eagerly sought after by stock, and 

 possess far more fattening qualities than the finer looking grasses of 

 the mountains. It cannot be occupied in summer for want of water. 



Below 0,000 feet the trees and shrubs are confined to the margins of 

 streams, and consist of bitter cottonwootl, box-elder, willow, red osier r 

 dogwood (Cornusstolonifera)j birch (Betula Occident alls), and plum bushes. 

 The following berries were collected at Murphy's ranche on the Little 

 Popoagie, August 5: Amelanehier Canadensis, Ribes eereum, Skepherdia 

 Canadensis, and Ehvagnus argentea. Over the open plains the common 

 sage (Artimesia tridentala) is w everywhere very abundant, along with 



greasewood or ehico (Sarcobatus vermiculattis) and the so-called white 



sage {Eurotia Ian at a), the grama and buffalo grass, and perhaps one or 

 two other kinds, which, together, give assurance of a dry climate, a 



light fall of snow in winter, and with a supply of water include all the 

 indications to be sought in a typical cattle range. Most of the thirty- 

 nine species of grasses collected are to be found at one place or another 

 within the limits of the valley. A very curious and showy little plant. 

 Lewisii redivirus, well worth cultivation in our gardens, is common on 

 the dry hillsides, much prized by the Indians for its edible root, which 

 they collect in the spring when the leaves first put out. The rare and 

 handsome Astragalus ventorum, found but once before, was collected on 

 the banks of Wind River, Among the species found along the route, 

 more or less characteristic of the region between Washakie and De 

 Hoir Creek, are the following: Hedysarum Maekenm, Oenothera pinnati- 

 fida, (E. cccspitma, Gl. triloba, Ferula multifida, a new variety of Aplopap- 

 pus unifiorusy Aster Fremont ii, and a new variety of Erigiron ccespitosus 

 (to be named later). The beautiful golden-yellow Mentzelia Uevteaulis, 

 M.pumila, and also a white species, are often very ornamental along 

 barren sand ridges, where there is little else to attract attention. As 

 we proceed up the valley the species multiply with the increased eleva- 

 tion, and the flora of the plains passes gradually into that of the 

 mountain region ahead of us. 



FROM WIND RIVER TO THE <iR08 VENTRE* 



From the point of departure on Wind River over the Continental Di- 

 vide to the Gros Ventre Valley the country is for the most part densely 

 wooded, and but few exposures of the underlying strata come to the sur- 

 face. The singular looking striped buttes, eroded into fantastic shapes, 

 which have been so marked a feature along our last two days' march. 



