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VALLEY FEETILE BUT UNINHABITED. Vo 



eyer side tlie banks are oldj large cotton- wood trees grow in 

 considerable nnmbers j but the side npon -wHch tlie river is 

 wont to encroach is usually bare, tbe trees Laying fallen 

 into the cnrrent as the banks gave way. In many places the 

 stream had made for itself an entirely new channel, and the 

 old bed had become a thick tangle of willows, young cotton- 

 woods, reeds, and rushes. 



The Santa Fe road, from Fort Harker and EUesworth, ran 

 along the northern bank ; and as all the wagon-trains for lN"ew 

 Mexico took this route, from the termination of the railroad, 

 we had no difficulty in finding out our position from the 

 passing teamsters. "We were forty-two miles east of ITew 

 Fort Lyon, and six miles below thfe mouth of Sand Creek. 



The valley on both sides, as far as we traversed it — that is 

 to say, for fifty miles — was most fertile, the grass was of 

 very good q^uality, and, like all the vegetation, grew most 

 luxuriantly. ■ There was no sign of alkali, nor was the 

 valley anywhere sandy or barren. It varied considerably in 

 width as the bluffs, which formed the edge of the elevated 

 plateau on either side, approached or receded from the river. 

 It seemed curious to us that, for the whole distance I have- 

 named, not a ranche, farm, hut, or cultivated patch of land 

 was anywhere to be found. There were no flocks or cattle of 

 any kind to graze upon the beautiful pastm^e-lands, if we 

 except the few oxen and mules of the passing wagon-trains. 

 All this abundance was going to waste, year after year, from 

 two causes — the presence of Indians, and the absence of 

 railroads. 



Following uj) stream, we passed Bent's Fort, and Old Fort 

 Lyon on the following Saturday, and arrived at Kew Fort 

 Lyon on Simday the 14th. Bent's Fort and Old Fort Lyon 

 lie close together. The former is a small square building, 



