66 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 



J 



Throughout this part of the route the strata he nearly horizontal, 

 but there are long stretches of desert on which Uttle can be seen 



except the bunches and tangled growths of stunted 

 Red Desert. sagebrush and greascwood. (See PI. XIII, B, p. 61.) 



This part of tlie Great Divide Basin is called the 

 Red Desert. Coal beds crop out in it west of Latham sidmg, about 

 5 miles beyond Creston, but the coal is of poor quality and little 

 use has been made of it. West of Creston is obtained the first 



rehensive view of the Eed Desert. A few miles north of the 



is a great stretch of sand dunes, which extends 100 miles, 



Green Eivcr to North Platte River. The dunes, many of them 



com 



from Green River to North Platte River. 



more than a hundred feet high, are constar.^.^ ..^,^....^ „^^xx ^.x^^ ^j^^- 

 vailing winds in a direction a little north of east. If a few camels and 

 an Arab or two were added to the scene, the spectator could easily 

 imagine himself in the Sahara Desert. Frequent mirages, endless 

 variety of feature, and wonderful coloring make the desert far from 

 the monotonous stretch it may seem to be at first glance. As the 

 name suggests, the dominant colors are red^russct, brick-red, and 

 vermihon — but there is every tone of gray and brown, with not a few 

 shades of green, purple, and yellow. Unlike the colors of an eastern 

 landscape, those of the Red Desert are not dependent on the season, 

 for there is httle vegetation to hide the coloring of the rocks and soil. 

 Despite the sparsity of vegetable growth, the Red Desert is a winter 

 sheep range. The scattered "bunch grass 



* 



meaner 



into 



having a high nutritive value. In summer, when the desert is dry 



mount 



water is abundant and grass is green and tender. The early snows, 

 falling fii-st in the higher mountains and extending week by week to 

 lower altitudes, drive the flocks into the rough f aU range between the 

 mountains and the desert. Here they are held until the snow falls 

 on the desert itseK, but with the fu^t heavy snowfall they are driven 

 from the foothills to spend the winter in the open, where they find 

 pasture in the spaces cleared of snow by the winds. The winds are 

 not tempered here, but neither is the lamb shorn, and Wyoming winter 

 winds make heavy wool when shearing time comes. 



It may be noted that the great problem of stock raisino- in this 

 western country is not so much to find pasturagc^although the ran<re 



srrea 



C3" """^ -""o 



-as to find water. This is true not 



almost everv orrazinDr nrAn tViTr^iuTlir^iif. 



!UU 



may be watered are 



means 



number 



custom for large stock own 



