
          The upper prairies are an immense deposit of sand 
and gravel, covered with a good and very generally
a rich soil. Along the road on reaching the little
stream called Sandy creek, the soil [crossout: unreadable] became more
sandy. The geological formation of this position is
lime- and sand- stone. The Amorpha was
the characteristic plant, in many places being as
abundant as the grass. From its mouth to the
junction of its main forks the valley of the Platte
generally about four miles broad is rich and 
well timbered, covered with luxuriant grasses. The 
large purple Astor? [insert: was] [crossout: w] here the characteristic,
flourishing in great magnificence. From the
junction to Laramie's fork the country may be
called a sandy one, the valley of the stream is
without timber, but still the grasses are fine and
plants abundant. On our return in September the
whole valley looked like a garden. It was yellow with
fields of sunflower which was the characteristic.

Between these two main forks of the Platte, and from
the junction to Laramie's fork the formation consists of a
calcareous marl, a soft earthy limestone, and a
granitic sandstone. In the region traversed from 
Laramies fork to the mouth of the Sweet Water river
the soil is generally sandy, the formation consisting of 
a variety of sandstones, yellow and grey sandstones
[crossed out: with compact gypsum or alabaster] a red argillaceous
sandstone with compact gypsum or alabaster and fine
conglomerates. The Sweet Water valley is a sandy plain
about 120 miles long and generally about 5 miles broad,
bounded by ranges of granitic mountains between which,
        