New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-07-27
AN OVERLAND JOURNEY.
XVII.
LARAMIE TO SOUTH PASS.

lodsDg III LARAMIE before applying to TIE com
NADER Of the post, but no ole else could C"f
would afford NE shelter OF any terms, so uade
virtue Of necessity and applied 10 Capt ClarA'
who Al once ass gued me room-thefe being e"
troops al this post at pre,eut-and Tor The I'VE dai
remained there / slept between door ana
roof after Eve weeks experience of'Ee more Prini
tie methods of keeping cold and storm at bay.
,,ss treated with more than hospitslity-with gen
/ erous kindness-by Cspt CLARK, Lieutf. Ha'con
! and Foett. aud DR.. Johns-ani yet the ions 'a'.!
| became at length .Tksome, because nsd alIea''
| lost 700 much time, aud was moat an1lou' 20 "e
+! moving westward. Finally, the nail stase ifou'
the East hove in .ight on tae morning Of June ~
! but halted lust across Laramie River all day, Il
| pairing coach, and it was Z r; when II starte"
i aloLe peIched on the summit OF ITS seventee1
nsil.baps as pa.seDger-he who had thus far hiieo
that exalted post kindly giving way for NE, and
! agreeing 10 take instead the slower wagon
that was to follow neat morning We lord
| I'd the swollen Laramie tao miles above
| the Fort in the last yestiges OF twilight
had the usual trouble With mules turning
about in mid stream, tangliDg up the team and
| threatening 20 upset the wsgon-but oScFcame 1t
after whlle, got safely out, drove On hiteen miles
| to Warm SPRING. fountain which throws out half
water enough for grist-mill all which is drank up
by the thirsty sands through which it takes Its
course before it can reach the Pl1tte only three or
four mile, distant. We camped here till daylight,
then lost two hours in hunting up our mules,
which had been simply tied IN pairs and allowed 10
20 at large in quest Of the scsnty grass OF inst re-
| gion They were found st last and We went on
our way rejoicing.
| shall not weary my readers with journal OF
our travels for the sst iour days Hitherto, snce
| / left civilized Kansas, ! bad trayersed routes
either newly opened or scarcely known to the MESS
| of readers; but from Laramie haze followed the
regular California and Oregon Overland Trail.
already mapy times described, and BY this time
| familiar TO hundreds Of thousands Suffice il that,
| for over two hundred miles from Laramie, It
| trayerses q region s.bstantialy described in ny
notes of nv Journey from the Buffalo range 10
| Denver and from Denver to Laramie, region, Tor
| the most part rainless in Summer aud Autumn, yet
| one " hose soil Of more less sandy clay lacking
support from ridges of underlying rock, has been
| more seamed, and gouged and gnlici, and washed
away BY the acton of foods and streams than any
| other on esrth-a region Of bluffs and buttes, and
deep ,ayines ard intervaIes, and shallow alkaline
lahelets, how mainly driedUp and streams running
milky. even when low with the clay quilted from
! their banks AID sent off 10 render the Missouri a
| river of mud ard to fertiizs the bottoms of the
lower Mississippi Occasionslly but not 80 fire.
auently as south Of Laramie the clay hills, hardened
into rock by some alchemy Of Nature, present the
PERPENDICULAR fronts and ruinousoaste aspects al
ready describcd-in u isw instances, the scanty
creeks which make their way from the mountains
to the North Platte or the Sweetwater run through
nsrrow caiOus Of such rock; but usually each
creek has washed out for Itself WIDE valley and
the bluffs Or buttes where they exist, are distant
many miles on one side if not on both. In ie"
places, the mountains arc so near that their thny
scattered, stuDted ;craggy Yellow Tines are plain
" seen-are even cose beside US; but usually the
prospect is composed Of rolling prairie very scanty
erased and often tbckly covered for miles on miles
by the everlasting Sage bush of this desolate region.
| This is not an anomaly as might he supposed-tne
stem lives for years perhaps centuries, tbough the
| shoots and leaves die every Autumn Another
| shrub less common, but which often thchly covers
| hundreds of acres, is the Greasewood-a low
| prickly bush growing in punches like the Sage
| bush and looking ike bad imitation OF the Engush
| pryet. Beside thcse two miserable shrubs the
dry land other than the mountains for hundreds oil
| miles. produces q very little burntup grass IN
| patches, ard good many lll-layored weeds Of no
known or presumed value. OF wood, the flatte
and It's more easterly tributaries have at intervals
| & shred of the eternal Cottonwood Of the Plains,
much of it the more scrubby and worthless species
Known as Bitter Cottonwood, with avery Little OF tne
| equally worthless Box Elder-and that is all. But
! 40 miles this side of Laramie, We leave tue
Platte which here comes from the south. and strike
nearly forty miles across barren divide to It's
| tributary, the Sweetwater, which We hnd just oy
| INDEPENDENCE Rock, quite landmark m this desc
late region, with several low mountains oil almost
naked rock around it. having bsrel! soil enough III
their crevices to support few dwaTh'h I!hes'
| Five miles above this is the Devils Gate-s
passage of the Sweetwater through perPendcu-
lar canon some - feet wide and said to be 900 lee.
| hiph-a passage " hich must have been cut while
IN. rock WAS still clay. Here large party OF
Mormons were caught by the SHOWS OF Winner
while ON their way 10 Salt Lake some yesrs since,
and compelled to encamP for the Winter, 30
scantily provided that more than hundred OF
| them died of hunger and hardship before Spring.
| Many more must have fallen victims had mol
| sunnly train from Salt Lake reached them early IN