THE MISSOURI AND PLATTE RIVERS, ETC. 13 
much wood on its banks, and the country bordering is not valuable 
for agricultural purposes, and posseses few resources. 
ermilion has a good ford nearly in a direct line from Fort 
Pierre to Sioux city, the stream being about 20 yards wide; below 
this point it is difficult to ford. The valley is broad and not all 
overflowed. 
There is some timber along its margin, and the country adjoining 
is fertile. I consider it about the western limits of agricultural lands. 
muddy, and not fordable. The soil of the land bordering it is good 
and productive, and the stream is fringed with cottonwood. It will 
no doubt be valuable for steamboat navigation. A ferry is being es- 
tablished at its mouth. 
ROUTES, TRANSPORTATION, &c. 
the surface, is gravel or sand, and ordinary rains do not seriously affect 
it. In crossing the divide from the south fork to the north, we gain 
the summit by easy slopes, but the descent is very sudden into Ash 
take a loaded wagon up this steep. Ash Hollow is bounded on all 
Platte, but at a point so near the Fort that they might be left on the 
north side in charge of a detachment from the garrison. The route 
along the south side of the Platte has at least to cross the south fork, 
which, in the time of melting snows and spring floods, would occasion 
serious delay. I am not, therefore, prepared to say whether Fort 
Laramie could be best supplied from Fort Leavenworth, or from the 
