12 



mails and calcareous concretions, passing up into fine sand- 

 stones, which decompose so readily that the valleys and 

 the hills are covered with loose sand. 



No. 55. Granite Rocks, near eastern base of Laramie Peak. As we 

 approach the base of the mountains, the red feldspathio 

 granites rise in thick picturesque ridges, 50 to 100 feet high, 

 like ruined walls, lending a peculiar as well as picturesque 

 appearance to the landscape. 



The granites afford most excellent rock studies of their 

 kinds. The tendency to weather into rounded forms by ex- 

 foliation and the jointing are finely shown. The principal 

 lines of fracture are mostly continuous, and have a strike 

 east and west, while the other set trend nearly north and 

 south. 



The tendency to exfoliate by the Stripping off of their con- 

 centric layers has enlarged the openings, sometimes several 

 feet. The granites are thus divided in regular rhoinboidal 

 masses, many of which have fallen down at the foot of the 

 ridges, and by exfoliation have become so rounded that they 

 appear like immense transported boulders. 



The texture of the rock is an aggregate of large crystals of 

 reddish feldspar, with quartz and mica, the feldspar so pre- 

 dominating that it gives the character to the rock. 



No. 50. Lakamie Peak. View from a distance. 



No. 0t. Lakamie Peak. Near view from the head of Litter Cotton- 

 b'1 wood Greek. The valley of this little stream, of which the 

 view gives us a good idea, is a series of beautiful park-like 

 openings, extending away up into the mountains, and is a 

 favorite resort of the wild game so plentiful in this region. 

 The peak itself, which is the highest point north of Long's 

 Peak, is a little less than 10,000 lectin height, but usually 

 retains no snow upon its summit after May. 



It is' just about the center of the range, and rises far above 

 it, a most prominent land-mark for a great distance in any 

 direction. 



No. 00. Tiie foot-hills of the main peak, and characteristic of the 

 rest of the range. 



Nos. 02, o:>. Damp on the L.\ Bonta. 



No. 64. Cotton woods on the La Bonta, 



No. 05. FOBD ACROSS THE La BONTA. A very pleasant and pictur- 

 esque feature of the La Bonta are the beautiful meadow-like 

 valleys, covered with a luxuriant growth of grass, while all 

 about are dry, parched, sage-covered hills, and the magnifi- 

 cent cottonwoods, with wide-spreading branches and dense 

 foliage. 



No. GO. NATURAL BRIDGE in the Canon of the LaPrele ; view from be- 

 low. 



No. 07. Natural Bridge. La ride Canon j view from above, a 



most marvelous natural curiosity, rivaling its famous name- 

 sake in Virginia. 



It is situated in La Prele Cafion, about ten miles south from 

 Port Fetterman, on the North Platte. The canon is formed 

 by the passage of the creek through a long ridge that ex- 

 tends from La Bonta to the Led Luttes. Where the La Prele 

 emerges from the canon, it cuts through the limestone and 



