THE OVEELAND ROUTE COUNCIL BLUFFS TO OGDEIST. 



47 



and granite gneiss brought up by faults and contains some minerals 

 of special interest, among which -are bismuth ores, allanite, and 

 spcrrylite.^ 



Laramie is the second city in population in Wj'oming and is the 

 center of large stock and manufacturing interests. The University 



Laramie. 



Elevation 7,145 feet. 

 Population 8,237, 

 Omaha 573 miles. 



^} 



Mines 



Station, the Wyoming State Normal School, the 



Wyoming State School of Music, and the University 



Preparatory School, is located here. The city, as 



well as the river, the mountam range, and the comity, derives its 



name from Fort Laramie, -which stands at the mouth of Laramie 



^^^^^ r 



Kiver. This most famous fort on the old Overland Trail was named 



amie 



maps 



the early days. The old 

 Stansbury, Sublette, BonncTille, Parknian, and many others have 

 described the old fort in its various stag:es from the small tradincr 

 outpost of a fur company to a United States Army post, 



Laramie was the home of Bill Nye, and here he founded the Boom- 

 erang, a journal of somewhat fitful existence, and A\Tote the articles 

 for the Cheyenne and Denver papers that brought him into promi- 



It is worthy of notice that some 30 3'ears ago 



this 



TVliitcomb Riley published a railway gui 



n 



What 



cursed by a plethora of facts or poisoned with information. Li 



easm 



been tlirottled at the very tlireshold by a wild incontinence of facts, 



meal stations, ror uns reason a guiae 

 has been built at our own shops nud on a new plan. It will not 



permit information to creep in and mar the reader's enjoyment of 

 the scenery." 



The city of Laramie rests on the red beds of the Chugwater forma- 

 tion, which may be seen at several places north of Red Buttes and 

 are conspicuously exposed just north of the city. Cement plaster is 



^ Bismuth, which is used extensively 

 ill the manufacture of dnigs and of alloys 

 that melt at low temperatures, occurs in 

 Jelm Mountain fn the form of carbonate 

 and oxide. Sperr\'Iite, or platinum arse- 

 nide (Pt^Vsg), haa been found at Centen- 



nial, 



Jelm Mountain. It is very 



rare, and this is the only place where it 

 occurs in quantity so large that serious 

 attempts have been made to work it for 



containing cerium, yttrium, thorium, and 

 other rare elements. In some places the 

 ore is nearly pure allanite; in others it 

 contains numerous impurities. Cerium, 

 wliich is now obtained as a by-product 

 in the reduction of thorium from mona- 



zite 



7 



t( 



is alloyed with iron to make the 



"flint and 



sparker" in the modern 

 eel" mechanisms used as 



Cerium oxide is used sparingly in glass 

 platinum. At Albany, in this same making to produce clear glass free from^ 

 region, is found allanite, a black mineral 1 any greenish tint. 



