O A 



Haj'Qen.] '^^ [February 19, 



been observed in the foot bills of the mountains. Usually tliey form 

 a most conspicuous feature . in tbe scenery. Their absence here is due 

 either to the comparatively small erosive action, insufficient to v^ear away 

 the cretaceous and tertiary beds ; or to the fact that they are covered 

 with a thick deposit of drift. The inclination of the beds are gentle and 

 the ascent of the mountain side is as it were by steps ; one series of foot 

 hills rising slowly above another, until the snow capped ranges are 

 reached. In this region all the hills, and even the gorges through which 

 the little streams flow, are so covered with debris and the whole surface 

 is so clothed with grass, that the rough points are smoothed down and 

 the underlying rocks are difficult to see. Even Elk mountain, which 

 must rise at least 1500 feet above the bed of Medicine Bow creek, is so 

 smooth and so covered with grass, that the rocks are nowhere visible. 



North of the road for 30 miles or more, the tertiary beds are on the 

 contrary woi-n by atmospheric agencies into a great variety of rugged 

 forms, so that the scenery recalls portions of the "Bad Lands" on the 

 Ui^per Missoiiri composed of the same formations. Fig. 1 illustrates the 

 character of the coal-bearing formation of the Upper Missouri, but is 

 equally descriptive of the region under notice. The featui-e of greatest 

 interest is that which affords evidence of comparatively recent glacial 

 action, not merely in valleys of erosion, but in vast deposits of water- 

 rolled rocks, everywhere visible. The mountain sides toward the plains 

 are literally paved with rounded boulders, commonly of no great size ; 

 but the sides of the hills opposite the mouutains, have scarcely any on 

 them, and are in most cases covered with bushes or with grass. The 

 bottoms of the streams are also covered with pebbles or boulders ; and 

 the nearer the mountains the larger and more numerous these rocks 

 become. 



FIG. 1. 



The Medicine Bow creek, a fine mountain stream fringed with a con- 

 siderable belt of cotton-wood, has a valley extending far into the moun- 

 tains, with a gradual ascent. It is by far the most beautiful valley west 



