46 NEW TRACKS IN NOETII AMERICA. 



of time, been washed away from the harder foundations, 

 leaving the latter standing on the open plain as grotesque 

 masses of sandstones, marls, &c. 



Many of these were named, and formed good land-marks ; 

 such were Castle Rock, Monument, Carslile, Hall, Chalk 

 Bluffs (not made of chalk, however), and others all along the 

 route. Their average height ahove the plain was from 100 

 to 300 feet. 



The most singular of these formations is that met with 

 about six miles east of Fort Harker, and known as Mushroom 

 Eock. The engraving is an exact representation of it. 



The worst j)art of the route was from Donner Station, 

 twenty miles west of Hayes, to within twenty miles of Fort 

 "Wallace, a district of about sixty miles across, and even over 

 this sixty miles there was no lack of forage ; and in many 



F 



places Ycry fair grazing could he liad, suitable eitlier for 

 sheep or for horned cattle. On neariug the Eocky Mountains 

 the rain-fall gradually increases. Along its eastern spurs it 

 is pretty abundant, producing a good growth of hardy and 

 nutritious grasses, amongst which may be noticed the moun- 

 tain bunch-grass, as well as the grama [Boiitclorca oligaduchjn\ 

 both most excellent for cattle. 



Early in March I found the cattle actually fot ; they had 

 been out all winter, without shelter or hay, and the frost was 

 still in the ground. I am now sneakinf]: of the coimtry 



& 



o 



between Fort Wallace and Denver, and north of Denver, 

 towards the Black Hills. I may add, however, that the 

 entii-e belt of country along the spxu's of the moimtains, espe- 

 cially to the southward, cannot, except in New Mexico, be 

 surpassed by any other region for purposes of sheep farming. 

 Almost due west of Fort Wallace, a considerable spur 

 from the mountains juts out into the plains. This spur is 



