126 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



many little streams cut their way, forming huge canons, which exhibit 

 along their sides the series of beds in their order of succession. 



From a point near the source, for twenty or thirty miles, the river 

 flows through a synclinal valley, the conspicuous red beds clipping from 

 either side. Along the valley of the river are marked deposits of drift, 

 the result of glacial action ; but the most beautiful feature is the well- 

 defined terraces, about fifty feet high and smoothed off like a lawn. 

 These terraces are covered with a considerable deposit of drift ; but 

 when they are cut through by streams the basis rocks are shown. 



The scenery on either side of this valley is beautiful beyond descrip- 

 tion. On the west side are the snow-clad peaks of the Medicine Bow 

 range in the distance, with numerous intervening lower ranges ascend- 

 ing like steps. The snowy mountains are mostly destitute of vegetation 

 and are covered with eternal snow, but the lower mountain ridges are 

 covered mostly with what may be called groves of pine. Indeed, the 

 pine groves and grassy openings are so arranged and proportioned 

 that the whole scene appears as if it might have been ijartially the work 

 of art, and the traveler imagines himself in a sparsely-settled mountain- 

 ous district instead of the nnexplored Eocky Mountain region. These 

 openings and grassy slopes will make excellent pasture grounds, for the 

 grass is good, and they are watered with the finest of mountain streams 

 and springs. I would again remark that the pine forests of these 

 mountains must at some period be an object of earnest pursuit. Two 

 years ago the mountain sides were full of tie- cutters, who cut and floated 

 hundreds of thousands of ties down the mountain streams, fifty to one 

 hundred miles, to the Union Pacific Eailroad, whence they were trans- 

 ported by railroad to any desired point. 



In the moist ravines of the mountain sides are patches of the aspen, 

 Populus tremuloid.es, which, from its peculiar mode of growth, forms a 

 striking feature in the landscape. It grows very thickly, seldom at- 

 taining a height of more than forty or fifty feet, and not more than 

 twelve to eighteen inches in diameter. The body 'is very smooth and 

 nearly white, and the top forms a rounded, cone-shaped mass of foliage. 

 These aspen groves are the favorite resort of deer, elk, grouse, and all 

 kinds of game. 



On the east side, also, is the snow-clad range, which, in its southward 

 extension, includes Long's Peak and numerous other peaks in the 

 vicinity. On each side of these lofty ranges, which often rise above 

 the limit of vegetation, are a number of successive lower ridges which 

 descend like steps. There is such a wonderful uniformity in the struc- 

 ture of the mountains that a detailed description of a portion applies 

 for the most part to all. 



Our course along the Cherokee Trail was about southwest from the 

 Big Laramie Biver, over ridge after ridge, and after traveling twenty- 

 five miles we entered the North Park through some of the most beau- 

 ful scenery of that interesting region. From the summit of the high 

 ridges on the north we look to the southward over a series of lofty cones 

 or pyramids, as it were, all clothed with a dense growth of pine. The 

 metamorphic rocks of which these mountains are composed, disinte- 

 grate so easily that the surface is covered with a deposit of loose mate- 

 rial, as fine earth and fragments of rock. The hills have, therefore, 

 been so smoothed down that it is difficult to see the bass rocks in con- 

 tinuous lines. We saw enough, however, to show us that red sienite in 

 its various forms constitutes the principal rocks, while now and then a 

 bed of hornblendic gneiss, white quartz or greenstone, occurs. All 

 through the mountain region are small open areas, sometimes on the 



