SAL^RATUS LAKE. 6T 



the two mountain ranges, wliicti bound it on either side and form 

 its limits. The artemisia seems to have taken complete possession 

 of the soil, growing five or six feet high, with twisted stems, re- 

 sembling somewhat in their texture the ground cedar of the New 

 England coast. At the Devil's Gate I noticed some, quite seven 

 feet high and nine inches in diameter. The Wind-River Moun- 

 tains were seen on the horizon — their sides, for a third part of the 

 distance down from their summits, glistening with snow, in the 

 rays of the morning sun, like burnished silver. They presented a 

 very beautiful object. 



About a dozen burnt wagons and nineteen dead oxen were 

 passed to-day along the road ; but the destruction has been by no 

 means as great as upon the North Fork of the Platte and the cross- 

 ing over to the Sweetwater. 



In the morning we passed what at a distance appeared to be a 

 small lake or pond, frozen over and covered with a very light fall 

 of drifting snow. The illusion was perfect, and was maintained 

 to the last moment, even when riding up to its very margin. It 

 was found to be a slight depression, about four hundred yards 

 long, by one hundred and fifty in width, covered with an efflo- 

 rescence of carbonate of soda, deposited on the ground from the 

 evaporation of the water which had held it in solution. This 

 substance, indeed, covers a large portion of the country, and is 

 quite abundant on the banks of the river. The emigrants use it 

 in mixing their bread, and prefer it to the salseratus of the shops 

 for that purpose. 



On the south range of mountains, about fifteen miles above the 

 Devil's Gate, a ravine, formed by a small stream, exposed a 

 section of the rocks. The strata evidently belonged to the car- 

 boniferous system, and had been acted upon by heat. The lime- 

 stone was in some instances converted into marble, and other spe- 

 cimens afforded examples of its partial change. It belonged to 

 the dark slaty-coloured variety, such as had been found at the 

 quarry near Fort Laramie, and has since been seen wherever the 

 lower beds have been tilted up. The red and white sandstone 

 had also been affected by heat, their structure being more crystal- 

 line. The dip was to the south, and was very great, varying from 

 70° to 80°, and some of the lower beds of the red sandstone were 

 nearly vertical. The sequence of the strata seemed to be exactly 

 the same as had been observed near the Red Buttes. On the west 

 surface of the hills, which were precipitous, and covered to a great 



