GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 127 



hills and sometimes in the lower grounds, forming meadow-like spots. 

 which the various kinds of animals love to frequent, fo feed on the 

 abundant grass. The Old Cherokee Trail derives its name from the 

 fact that a party of those Indians cut its way through the thick pines, 

 about thirty years ago, with a train of three hundred wagons. • 



The traveling was difficult at this time, owing to the ruggedness of 

 the surface and the obstruction from the fallen pines. 



So far as I could ascertain, the trend of the upland mountain ridges 

 of sienite is nearly east and west, and the dip nearly north. The North 

 Park is oval or nearly quadrangular in shape, about fifty miles in extent 

 from east to west, and thirty from north to south, occupying an area of 

 about one thousand five hundred square miles. Viewed from one of the 

 high mountains on its border it appears to be a vast depression which 

 might once have formed the bed of a lake. Its surface is rather rugged, 

 yet there are broad bottoms along the streams, especially the North 

 Platte and its branches. Scarcely a tree is to be seen over the whole 

 area, while the mountains which wall it in on every side are dotted with a 

 dense growth of pine. The grass grows in the park quite luxuriantly, 

 often yielding two tons of hay to the acre. Streams of the purest water 

 flow through it, a few of them forming good-sized streams where they 

 issue from the ground, and I am quite confident that this entire park 

 would make an excellent grazing region for at least six or eight months 

 of the year. Myriads of antelope were quietly feeding in this great 

 pasture ground like flocks of sheep. The soil is Very rich, but the sea- 

 sons are too brief for the successful cultivation of any crops. Indeed, 

 there is frost here nearly every night, and snow falls every month of the 

 year. 



As I have before stated, the park is surrounded with lofty ranges of 

 mountains as by gigantic walls. On the north and east sides may be 

 seen the snow-covered ranges rising far above all the rest, their sum- 

 mits touching the clouds. On the west side there is also a short snowy 

 range. The snowy ranges on its east border have "their north sides 

 abrupt; the south sides are less so as seen from a distance, and the mas- 

 sive, rocky, lower hills appear inclining southward. All along the north 

 side the hills incline south westward, wmile the higher ranges are quite 

 steep, and correspond in the apparent dip of the beds to the lofty snow- 

 clad mountains on the east, which incline south or southwestward. The 

 inclination of the metamorphic beds composing the higher ranges is 

 from 00° to 80°. On the west side of the park long ridges seem to slope 

 gradually down, so that they die out in the plain, forming a sort of en 

 echelon arrangement. It is due to this fact that the area inclosed 

 receives its oval shape. 



The general trend of all the continuous mountain ranges is nearly 

 northwest and southeast on all sides, but there are many local dips and 

 variations from this direction. 



I was much interested to know whether any of the unchanged rocks, 

 which are so well developed in the Laramie Plain, occur in the North 

 Park. I found that the entire series of red and variegated beds, includ- 

 ing' a portion of the cretaceous strata, were fully represented, all in- 

 clining from the flanks of the mountains and gradually assuming a hor- 

 izontal position, or nearty so, toward the central portion of the park. 

 The transition beds or lower cretaceous, form quite conspicuous ridges, 

 inclining 19° to the southwest. They are composed of a very beautiful 

 puddiug stone of small rounded pebbles, most of them flint, cemented 

 together with a silicious paste. On the north side are quite large areas 

 covered with loose sand, which is blown about by the wind, resembling 



