LAKAMIE HILLS. 5 



feet above sea-level, while rising above this height are but few prominent 

 points, with probably only one that attains 9,000 feet. 



Among the chief elevations are Sanders Peak, just north of the Chey- 

 enne Pass wagon-road, and on the extreme western edge of the hills, 9,077 

 feet; Central Peak, 8,774 feet, about 5 miles in a northeast direction from the 

 town of Sherman; Arrow Peak, 8,683 feet, at the head of the Chugwater; 

 Sherman, a bleak, dreary summit-station, has an elevation of 8,271 feet, and 

 is the highest point along the line of the railroad between the Missouri 

 River and San Francisco. 



The drainage from the Laramie Hills is all eastward. Six principal 

 streams carry the waters from the mountains out on to the plains to the Platte 

 Rivers ; the Sybille, Chugwater, and Horse Creeks running into the North 

 Platte, while the Lodge Pole, Crow, and Lone Tree contribute to the South 

 Platte. In addition, two small streams. Dale and Box Elder Creeks, run 

 southward and join the Cache la Poudre: the former, rising near Sherman 

 on the western side of the hills, falls into the main stream before leaving the 

 mountains; while the latter, on the eastern side, flows through a valley in 

 the upturned Palseozoic strata on the flanks of the mountains, then turns 

 breaking through the beds, and runs in a southeast course, until it joins the 

 Cache la Poudre 8 or 9 miles out on the Great Plains. It is an interesting 

 fact that no streams whatever run westward on to the Laramie Plains, 

 although a few small springs near the base of the hills furnish a scanty 

 supply of water. \ 



Between the Chugwater and Crow Creeks lies the most elevated por- 

 tions of the mountain mass. The canons or valleys all trend eastward, 

 similar in form, with gentle slopes, and many side-valleys supplying tribu- 

 tary streams. The divides between the streams are usually rounded ridges, 

 broken by innumerable small hills and knolls of granite, giving a diver- 

 sified and picturesque scenery, but by no means grand or rugged. To the 

 north of the Chugwater, the plateau-like summit falls off gradually toward 

 the Laramie River, and, for 3 or 4 miles before reaching the stream, 

 becomes very mucli broken up, and loses its former character. To the 

 south of Crow Creek, or rather to the south of the Pacific Railroad, the 

 hills again fall away toward the Cache la Poudre, but gently, presenting 



