62 



GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



Hills rise from the river level 



by a series of escarpments^ and about 2J 



town 



pments, compo 



formation 



the transition beds between 



the Steele shale and the Mesaverde, which are illustrated in Plate 

 XII, A. If the traveler were to make an excursion to these two 

 ridges he would observe that the strata in the Rattlesnake Hills dip 

 toward the northeast, whereas those in the ridge south of Fort Steele 

 dip toward the south. If the strata of these two ridges were projected 

 nnward alonp^ their din till thev met, thev would form an arch whose 



crest would be a little south of Fort Steele. 



Mesaverd 



WIk^u th€ 



at one time 



a matter of fact the 

 over such an arch. 



were probably fractured at its crest, Alon 



moi 



fin 



;r 



to 



streams 



underlyi 



time 



axis of the arch, which was originally a ridge^ was reduced to a valley 

 bordered on either side by flarmg walls of sandstone. This valley, 



miles wide, is followed bv the railroad from 



to RawUns. 



more 



pump house. Water from the wells that furni 



Grenville. 



iwn 



in locomotives because it 



-ins mineral matter 



,5S0 



mill 



f^*' that incrusts the boilers. Consequently water for 



generating steam is pumped to Rawlins from North 

 Platto River at Fort Steele, a distance of 15 miles, with a lift of 

 236 feet. 



Far to the north may be seen the Seminoe Mountains, named for 

 Semmoe Lajeiniesse/ a French trapper and fur trader. In plain 



* It is said that Lajeunesse's real name 

 was Basil and that the name Seminoe 

 was corrupted from a French nickname, 

 '^Ciralneau/' although some reporta have 

 it that Seminoe was the name given to 

 him by his Snake squaw, Lajeunesse 

 established a trading post on the Over- 

 land Trail above Devila Gate. Early in 

 the sixties, with two men and fifteen pack 

 animald loaded with goods, he started out 

 to trade with the Sioux. On the way the 

 I)arty was attacked by Indians in Bates 



eunesse 



killed 



eunesse 



trapi)e 



who remember him say that the moun- 

 tains were called Seminoe to nprnetnatp 



the name of one of the bravest and truest 

 pioneers of Wyoming. He accompanied 

 Fremont on the first expedition into 

 Wyoming, and was one of those chosen to 

 make the ascent of Fremont Peak. He 

 is reported to have accompanied United 

 Stat^ troops as a scout on a number of 

 expeditions. His uncle, Gabriel I^a- 

 j eunesse, was, so tradition says, the hero 

 of Longfellow* a '* Evangeline." 



It is interesting to noje that some recent 

 maps show these mountains as the Semi- 

 nole Mountains,- the compilers of the maps 

 evidently assuming that they were named 

 for the Seminole Indians and that the ''!" 



mistake 



Semi 



noe. 



