cause-it.] WYOMING RANGE. 693 



The Big Sandy is of small importance in an economic point of view. 

 Its waters can be used in irrigation only to a very limited extent, as it 

 is in low rock canon through a great part of its length, audits bottoms, 

 where there are any, are very narrow. 



The country south of the lower course of this stream and east of Green 

 Eiver is a desert without possibility of amelioration through human 

 agencies. The soil is drifting sand, alkaline clay, baked smooth and 

 hard, or loose, friable clay, produced by the disintegration of masses of 

 " bacl land." Water can by no possibility be brought to it. 



Farther up the Big Sandy, the strip lying between the stream and 

 the foothills of the Wind Eiver Range shows in the natural state a de- 

 cided improvement. Sage is the predominating growth, as every where r 

 but some fine bunch-grass is to be found in it. There is, however, no 

 possibility of irrigating it. 



The great area lying between the Big Sandy and the Green, an area 

 30 miles in width and at least 60 in length, is entirely without water. 

 Like the Great Plains, it is not perfectly level, but slightly rolling, ris- 

 ing and sinking in long swells. This is the plateau, or bench, which on 

 the west edge breaks off in bluffs to the Green.- This, also, as far as 

 being of use to man is concerned, is a desert, as water cannot be 

 economically brought up on its surface. Sage is everywhere abundant, 

 but grass is very scarce. It may be fair to suppose that here the fugi- 

 tive name " Great American Desert," after having been driven half 

 way across the continent, has at last found a resting place. 



THE WYOMING KANGE. 



This range lies west of the northern part of the Green River Basin ; 

 southward, it runs out into long north and south ridges, which gradually 

 decrease in elevation, merging into the plateau about the head of the 

 " Muddies." It is limited on the west by the canon-like valley of John 

 Day's River, a large tributary of Snake River. Its length, considering 

 its southern end to be at Thompson's Pass, is, within this district, about 

 35 miles, while its average breadth is about 8 miles. Most of the drain- 

 age of the range goes off to the eastward into Horse, Marsh, Bitterroot, 

 and Piney Creeks, whde on the west side, along most of its length, it 

 presents a sheer continuous wall to the valley of John Day's River. 

 Two tributaries of John Day's River, only, head up into the range to any 

 great distance, the southern one, McDougal's Creek, heading in Mc- 

 Dougal's Gap. The elevation of the peaks ranges from 10,000 to 11,000 

 feet, and the two highest peaks are respectively 11,276 and 11,490 feet 

 above sea-level. 



The principal passes in this range are Thompson's, at its southern end, 

 at the head of the southern branch of the Piney, and McDougal's Gap, 

 25 miles farther north. There is a great difference in elevation between 

 the east and west bases of the range, which at the latter pass amounts 

 to 1,500 feet. This pass, or gap, is cut down very nearly to the eastern 

 base of the range, so that the stream on the east, a branch of Marsh 

 Creek, has very little fall, while, on the other hand, the ascent from the 

 west is very steep, being 1,500 feet in about 8 miles, and the greater 

 part of this is in the first two miles from the summit. The canon of this 

 creek is very narrow and difficult to traverse on account of swamps, 

 fallen timber, and rock slides. A heavy trail, however, crosses the 

 range here, and it is probably one of the main routes of the Shoshone 

 and Bannack Indians. Farther north, an old trail crosses the range at 

 a great elevation, but I was unable to examine the route throughout. 



