, 1869-01-22

gives the following graphic picture of Lara.
mie City and the Rocky Mountain country
on the line Of the Pacific Railroad:
LARAMIE.
We spent Sunday, or rather that day of
the week observed elswhere as Sunday, at
Laramie. There is saying here that
There are no Sundays on the Plains.
There is also a saying that " The Lord has
never crossed the Missouri River" 1t is
evident that the other Potentate has. On
this Sunday az Laramie all kinds Of work was
going ou as usual. Men were building
houses frames The work upon the rail
road company's buildings was in full progress,
aud the sound of the az aud the hammer
was heard on all sides. The Z" keno shops
and other gambling establishments we're in
full blast, and the dance-halls we're open,
though not in full operation, either from a
lack OF customers or because the moral sense
of the community has been educated up to
the point of disaPprOving Of saltatory exer-
cises on Sunday.
The Episcopalians have a mission here,
aud some worthy people were trying to con-
duct religious exercises in an unfinished
frame building among the halls Of wicked
ness, but had rather a rough time Of it in
consequence Of the interruptions from the
calls Of the keno-playing sinners on one side
and the chatting of the dance-hall girls with
the frontiersmen on the other Occasionally
mountaneer would enter the house of
prayer and listen with reverential air for a
season. aud then with strict impartiality pass
to the gambling shanty next door, and take
a hand in the exercises there. A squad Of
men in front of a rude shanty ou back
street, Indicated the point where border
rough who had shot another man the prece-
dug night, and had also shot one Of his pur
suers, was held Tor safe keeping There we're
hints that the Laramie Vigilance Committee
would attend to his case that night if either
OF the parties shot by him should die.
Laramie is place of some ,5O0 inhabit,
ants. having, like the other railroad towns,
wited, "-as the Il end of the track passed
beyond it, carrying the bulk Of its population
westward. 1t will, however, be pIAce of
some importance, as it is the headquarters Of
the Mountain Division (fOr Second DivisOn)
Of the road, and will have extensive round
houses and machine shops. The railroad
hotel here is the best hotel we have met west
OF Chicago, and is really an odity out here in
the heart of the Rocky Mountains, with its
spacious parlOrs aud dinng-rOoms, aud fur
Gshed with all " he modern Improvement"
Of cooking ranges, water pipe, ventilators,
&c. VensOn, buffalo meat and antelope
steaks are among the ordinary items of the
appetizing bill of iare here. Fort Saunders,
tue garrison post in the Laramie Plains, is
the. pOiut where the Government Commts,
siunrrs to examine the road, Gen. Frank p.
Blair and two others, meet on their inspec
tion tours. The Government measurement is
made by an instrument attached to the wheels
of the train, while the measurements made by
the company are with the tapc-line.
The Laramie Plains are broad Park 200
miles in latitude and 100 miles liz longitude,
shut in by the main range of the Rocky
Mountains on the south aud west, by the
SWeetwater and Black Hills on the north.
and by the Black Hills range ON the east,
with the Rattlesnake range crossing it from
north 10 south through its centre, and is wat
cred BY the tributaries of the North Platte.
! Tue streams rising in the Medicine Bow
Mountains flow north aud cut this vast park
at right angles. The air of the Laramie
Plains is noted for its wonderful clearness
aud purity. Objecs sixty miles away do
not appear twenty miles distant Standing
upon the railroad track we watched for nearly
an hour the approach of an express train
from the west, that first became apparent by
the loom of its smoke, like the appearances
OF the masls OF ship before the hull is visl
BILE; and for a wonderful distance the train
itself was visible, aud though running al the
rate OF thirty miles an hour, its progress was
singularly slow to the eve accustomed t.
measure distances in a denser atmosphere
Leaving Laramie at $3.50 p. M, we took the
train again, passing out Of the Laramie Plains
aud over the main range of the Rocky Noun
tains.. about Z, 200 feet above the level of the
sea. and 1000 feet less than the elevation oi
the pass through the Black Hills. A poinI
called the Divide or Summit shows where
the streams separate, running on one side tc
the Pacific and 90 the other to the Atlantic
The country now is desOlate indeed in il
aspect. No vegetation is to be seen but the
dull colored wild sage aud the greasewood
boh low, scraggy bushes; while pools o.
alkali water, or the incrustatiouS of alkal
upon the earth where the water has stood
serve to mark a country that neither man Vi
animal eau occupy No living thing is to b
seen, beast, bird. or insect, and the bones o
dead horses aud battle, the relics of broker
down Wagons, and now and then mound o
stones showing where some unfortunate way
farer had been buried, serves TO add gloon
10 the dismal landscape We took breakfas
at WAshakie, the summit of the Rocky Noun
tsins, our fare consisting of cold purk, blacl
beans, and coffee aud tea cooked in the SAM
Dot /; price, 81 rs This was the roughes
\ bin of fare we have met since leaving th'
Wyoming House at Omaha. Continuing OF
through this desoIate Bitter Greek country
where the land is neither susceptible Of cult
,yarion or ft for grazing, We reach the Pom
of Rocks, and thence TO this present "ent
Of the road" eight hundred aud fifteen mile
from Omaha, OF nearly as far west OF th'
Missouri river as Washington is east OF 1t.