The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1859-09-08
tts eirature agriculture sie loratp unseute



north side of. and very near to Cache-le
Poudre, and henccforth we overtake M
emigrants moving westward--none o
any sort-but meet few in wagons ma
king for Boulder City, or the Gregor.
Diggings. Since we crossed Clear Greek
on which there is here decent fringe oi
cottonwood, we have seen but the meres
shred of small Cottonwoods and some
shrub willows, at wide intervals, along
the larger INTERCOURSE; but the pine
still sparsely covers the face of the Rock ,
Mountains. Cacbe-le- Poudre has quite a
fair belt of Cottonwood Thenceforth
there is scarcely cord of wood to town
ship for the next fifty or sixty miles, and
the Pine is no longer visible on the hills
near US, because they expose little rock,
and hence arc swept by the annual fires
The high prairie on either side is tbinly.
poorly grassed, being of moderate fertili-
ty at best, often full of pebbles Of the av-
erage size of a goose egg, and apparently
doomed to sterilty by drouth This re-
gion, though inferior in soil, and less
smooth 10 surface, is not dissimilar to
Lombardy, and like it will in time be
subjected to systematic irrigation, should
the gold mines prove rich and extensive.
Some of the streams crossed by our road T,
might easily be so damned at their egress
from the mountains as to irrigate miles in
width to the South Platte, forty or fifty
miles distant; and at the prices which
vegetables must always command here,
should the gold mines prove inexhausti-
bic, the enterprise would pay we'll. Twas
told at Cache-le- Poudre, that encouraging
signs of gold bad been obtained on that
stream, though it had only begun to be
prospected.
We were up and away betimes, still
over thinly -grassed and badly.watered
prairie, rather level in its general out.
lines, but badly cut BY steep banked wa
ter-courses, now dry. Some shallow
ponds are also formed here in the wet
season, but the last of them had just dried
up. We drove fifteen miles, aud stopped
for breakfast on a tributary of Cache-le-
Poudre, named Box Elder, from a small
tree, which l first observed here, and
which is poorer stuff, if possible, than
Cottonwood. This is the only tributary
which joins the Cacbe-le. Poudre before
its egress from the Mountains. All the
streams of this region are largest where
they emerge from the Mountains, unless
reinforced below by other streams having
a like origin; the thirsty prairie contrib
utes nothing. but begins to drink them up
from the time they strike it. The smaller
streams are thus utterly absorbed in the
course of five or ten miles, unless they
happen sooner to be lost in some larger
creek Drouth, throughout each summer
is the desolatiDg and inexorable tyrant
of the plains.
Rising from the valley of the Box Ed
er, we passed over divide, and were
soon winding our way among the Buttes,
or irregular, loosely aggregated hills
which form a prominent feature of the
next seventy or eighty miles, and which |
must try to give some idea of.
The soil of this region, like that Of the
plains generally, is mainly clay, with some
sand and gravel intermixed-tbe gravel
probably washed from the mountains
Here, though not at distance from the
u fountains, loose, wster.rounded stones,
from the size of pigeons egg up to that
of a mans head, are often though By no
means uniformly intermingled with the
soil, especially near the beds of streams.
These stones are of various kinds and
,olors, including Quartz, indicating
mountain origin. But there seems to be
no underlying rock in place-that is, none
1t any depth attained by the deepest wa.
er courses-and the soil, when sodden
~ the pouring rains of winter and early
pring, seems unable to oppose any resis-
ance to the washing, wearing influence of
'vcry stream or rill. The average level
# the plains would seem to have once
,een at least forty feet higher than at
'rescnt, the greater part of the earth hav-
ng been gradually worn away and car
led down the streams to the Missouri
md lower Mississippi. But there are To-
alities which, from one cause or another,
more or less obstinately resist this con-
tant abrasion; and these are gradually
moulded into hills by the abstraction an
ually prosecuted all around them. Some
f them have been washed down to SO
,entle slope that grass covers them CON-
letely, and prevents further loss; but the
reater number are still being quilted,
Tashed aDd worn away by the influence
{ each violent rain. Others have living
treans at their bases which having once
AIKEN a sheer against them, are conse-
uently increasing the acuteness of their
Dgles and gougiDg more and more deci-
edly into their banks, occasionally fin
ing down tuns of undermined earth in
0 their channels. to be gradually carried
ff, as so much has been already. In
uch places the Battes are perpendicular
nd square-faced; but they are more apt
, be circular, and sleeper near the sum-
lit than below. In some instances, the
arth is of bright vermilion color; in
theirs partly thus and partly white; CIV
,g the Buttes q variegated and fantastic