TOPOGRAPHICAL REPORT ON THE YAMPA RIVER DISTRICT. 



CHAPTER I. 



MAECH FKOM EAWLINS SPEINGS TO THE WHITE EIYEE 



AGENCY. 



According to instructions the Yampa Division, consisting of the neces- 

 sary assistants, as packers and a cook, and accompanied by Dr. C. A. 

 White, geologist, proceeded on the 19th of August, 1870, from Eawlins 

 Springs, Wyo., a station on the Union Pacific Eailroad, to that por- 

 tion of Northwestern Colorado which was assigned to the division for 

 geographical exploration. This district is situated in the extreme 

 northwestern corner of Colorado. It embraces an area of 3,000 square 

 miles, and extends from parallel 38o 58' fifty miles north to parallel 

 40O 30', and from the White Eiver agency, situated in longitude 107° 

 48', westward to longitude 109° 30', or 25 miles across the western 

 boundary of Colorado. 



More popularly expressed, the country may be described as lying 

 between the White and Yampa Eivers, and between the White Eiver 

 Ute agency and Green Eiver, where it is flowing in the Wonsits Valley. 



The nearest and most practicable route for reaching the most eastern 

 points of the district in order to enable us to make geodetic connections 

 with the work of j)revious years, was in a southwestern direction and 

 over the plateau country which lies between the Union Pacific Eailroad 

 and the Snake Eiver, a distance of 80 miles by the trail which was 

 selected. We succeeded in making the distance to Snake Eiver in four 

 days-marches, which, considering the usual breaking-in of the pack-ani- 

 mals, which for some time have been unaccustomed to the performance 

 of disciplined work, may be considered as successful marching. For 16 

 miles southwest of Eawlin's Springs we had the advantage of a tolera- 

 ble good road, although it led through an arid country of forbidding 

 aspect. Its dryness and destitution of any kind of vegetation save sage 

 and occasional bunches of grease- wood rendered it exceedingly desolate. 



Leaving this region we ascended the high plateau, which towards the 

 north and east presents bluffy faces, rising from 800 to 1,000 feet above 

 the general level of the surrounding country. This high plateau extends 

 to within a few miles of Snake Eiver, but it is continuous to the west- 

 ward of that river. It is one of the most fertile grass plateaus of all the 

 West that have come under my observation. It is well watered and 

 abounds in game, principally antelope. 



The Snake Eiver* presents a fine valley at the point of our crossing. 

 It is a splendid clear-water stream of 75 feet in width, and from 15 to 18 

 inches in depth. Its velocity is considerable, and for a distance of 10 

 miles there are some excellent bottom-lands, together with magnificent 



*This river ought to bo called the Snake River of the East, to distinguish it from the 

 great South Forls of the Columbia, which is also named Snake Eiver, a name derived 

 from the Shoshone or Snake Indians who inhabit the country near its source. 



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