Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-07-02
TIE ALKALINE REGION or THE
PLAINS


PLAINS.
A correspondent Of the Chicago Tribune
writes Of The country west Of Laramie, on
the Pacific railroad 44
"From Laramie to here the country is
very miserable and very curious. Here and
there a patch Of buffalo grass may be seen,
bat rarely anything except sage bush and
cactus The ground seems incapable Of
producing anything else. The banks Of
all the small streams glisten with white
where the alkali water has evaporated
Almost all the small streams here are im-
pregnated with this aikali. II renders the
water almost useless for all practical pur-
poses, but il produces some very queer
effects, az the woTkaen on the road and
visitors can testify. If one drinks much Of
il the same eject is produced as if strong
dose Of salts is taken. The greatly dis
gusted the Rorkmen when they were forced
20 drink it, ...
"Nor can this water be nsed in the en-
giHes with any effect; the eteam it makes
has no power. The water eIpends itself
in froth and suds, and il eats and corrodes
the boiler. This has been a great source
Of annoyance, and is one Of the worst OBJ
Gtaclos that the road has to overcome. Az,
other eculiarityof this water il the effect
it produces on the skin Of those who wash
IN It; IL roughens the skin Of the land
Just as a cod wind chaps it in winter Il
also peels the skin from the face, 80 that
person who FUSES this water has new kin
about every seven days. This is especially
the case where soap Is used in washing
The graders west of here, where the alkali
in the wa4e- is much stronger, say that
when soap is wanted for washing clothes,
etc, they put some grease 10 the alkali
water, stir it up with a stick, and there is
soap. Naturally il costs but very little,
and when freights are reduced on the road
il is proposed to supply the whole United
States with cheap and good soap Unfor-
tunately there isno demand for that article
among the Indiana, and the Great Western
Soap Factory cannot be started al present.
As il is every man is his own soapmaker
"The result Of this bad water has been to
force the railroad company to dig deep
wells along The line Of the road. But even
this ia not always satisfactory; the we'll at
Wyoming, fifteen miles west Of Laramie, is
almost useless on account of the alkali Ia
come places along The road the country is
.
sage brush, useless for anything except in
some places where the wood Is 50 large chat
il can be- burned. Ia this region, where
the land is free from the sage brush, il is
often impregnated with the alksli, that for
two or three inches down The earth crum-
bles aud sinks beneath the feet like ashes.
Every now and then there are found in
this region drifts Of fossils Of fish, oysters,
clans, etc, thrown up from the bottom Of
the sea quite a time ago Some Of these
fish are so well preserved that the glitter Of
gold and silver on their scales is almost
IA bright as ever. The oysters and clans
are tremendous in size, and would we'll do
for the giants Of the olden DAYS. Some Of
the snakes are quite large in size, but few
Of them are perfect. Some of them are
found imbedded in red sandstone, while
others lie loose in the earth. Along with
these are TO be found many sea SHELLS Of
various kinds. In some cases the fish will
be found split open, aud all the bones per
fectly preserved. Some of these drifts are
on the top Of bluff, while others are low
down" arH#. a...H- s cen