I 



43 



' other same. There are facilities for grazing stock to a limited extent 

 in summer, but its chief point of interest lies in the feet that it offers a 

 convenient trail from the Green River and Wind River regions toward 

 the Teton Pass and the National Park through an otherwise most 

 rugged and difficult country. 



In tracing the geological features between the Continental Divide 

 and the Snake River basin beyond we find the whole region along its 

 upper tributaries covered with lignite beds of enormous thickness, 

 composed of whitish, fine grained, friable sandstone, sand, clay, and 

 gravel, dipping at variable angles from 10° to 40° to the eastward and 

 from underneath these the Cretaceous, Jurassic, Triassic, and Carbon- 

 iferous make their appearance in succession as we pass down stream to 

 the canon. The bluffs rise abruptly into foot-hills and mountains on 

 each side 1,200 to 1,500 feet above the bed of the stream, and the differ- 

 ent layers enumerated appear at prominent points along the way, con- 

 spicuous among which are the brick red sandstones. 



The Gros Ventre Valley is evidently subjected to strong prevailing 

 winds from the west. All the hills and slopes having a western expos- 

 ure are thrown into a series of drifts or wave-like markings by the 

 action of winds, and the surfaces thus exposed are comparatively bare 

 of vegetation. The trees are confined almost exclusively to situations 

 sheltered from that direction. Many plants, enumerated at Lincoln 

 Pass, are also found there in favorable places, but the bleak slopes are 

 covered only with a meager growth of stunted grass and weeds. Little 

 breaks in the foot-hills are often brilliant with Gilia aggregate in sandy 

 soil, along with Lonicera involucrata and a purple variety of Fentstamon 

 eonfertus. Veronica alpina, Gentian a amarella, Crepis elegans, Antennaria 



Her 



other 



common and characteristic species which suddenly change as the river 

 passes out into the level and more fertile plains beyond the canon. 



SNAjpB RIVER BASIN. 



The region along Snake River, from where the Little Gros Ventre 



enters it to the mouth of Lewis's Fork, at the boundaries of the park, 

 is one at" the most interesting and remarkable on our route, and one, 

 which for grand mountain scenery and picturesque landscape beauty is 

 probably surpassed by but few in the world. As we descend the Gros 

 Ventre Eiver to the top of a high ridge near the canon, the mountains* 

 which all along have shut out our view to the northward, abruptly end' 

 and the broad expanse of Snake Eiver Basin, with the Grand Teton 

 range rising 7,000 feet nearly vertical out of the plain, suddenly opens out 

 before us. It is scarcely possible to view the scene whicfi there presents 

 itself, without feelings of rapture and awe. Embracing, as it does, nearly 

 every element that can contribute to heighten our impressions of 

 grandeur, with no sign of human beings to relieve the solitude which 

 reigns supreme, and with every feature that could add a charm to the 



