ORIGIN AND DEFINITION OF THE TERM “LARAMIE” 533 
restricted usage, unless it is held that the expression ‘‘ North Platte 
River” was really intended instead of Medicine Bow River—a view 
which is sustained by the width of 50 miles from east to west which 
is given for the plain, and by other expressions given in the context; 
while in the statement that the North Platte River cuts its ‘“way 
through immense canyons between the North Park aad the Laramie 
Plains,” and again, ‘“‘the Medicine Bow and the two Laramies ... . 
take their rise in the elevated snow-capped mountains on the south 
side of the Laramie Plains,’’! the term is clearly used in its broader 
sense. In all of the geological references the term is used in its 
broader sense. 
Hague, in speaking of the western limit of the Laramie Plains, 
says in 1878: 
To the northwest, however, the Plains are not entirely rimmed in, the open 
country stretching for a long distance without marked geographical boundary. 
For most purposes, however, it will be well to regard the western boundary of 
the Plain as limited by the Como Ridge just north of the Medicine Bow Range. 
. As thus defined, the Laramie Plains measure at least 80 miles in length by 
about 30 miles in breadth.? 
This is clearly the restricted usage, but it recognizes a broader usage. 
It is in this broader sense that the phrase “‘Laramie Plains” is used 
by the present writer. 
HAYDEN’S INVESTIGATIONS 
Hayden studied the exposures in the Laramie Plains in 1867, 
1868, 1870, and 1875. In the fall of 1867, after the completion of the 
field-work on the geology of Nebraska Territory, he passed over the 
Front Range into the Laramie Plains and proceeded along the Over- 
land Stage Road as far west as the now famous Rock Creek locality. 
He then proceeded by way of the Overland Stage Road to South 
Bowlder Creek, a short distance north of Denver, thence northward 
« Ibid. 
2 Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, Vol. II (1877 [1878]), p. 73. 
3 American Journal of Science, Second Series, Vol. XLV (1868), pp. ro1, 102 
(letter to J. D. Dana, dated Cheyenne City, Dakota Territory, October 31, 1867); 
tbid., pp. 199, 200, 204, 205; Final Report, U.S. Geological Survey of Nebraska (1872), 
pp: 46, 54, 55. Hayden states that the last report was printed without revision in 
exactly the same form, except for certain omissions, as it was transmitted to the com- 
missioner of the General Land Office on March 1, 1868. 
