The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1876-08-17
CLIMBING THE BIG HORN
Graphic Description Of summit Scenes
Immense Coal Deposits-Burning
Beds Of Lignite.

Beds o. Llgnlte.
While awaiting the arrival Of his re-
Inducements Gen. Crook, with a party
of officers and civilians, crossed the Big
Horn range and explored some of
its Gallons and parks. A eorrespon-
dent who accompanied him gives the
subjoined account of the return trip:
We began "a return toward camp
about twelve O'Clock. The ruggedness
of the ascent from the valley of No
wood Creek was understandable, but it
was determined to avoid the bottomiess
oeze of the canon of the south fork of
the Tongue River. Attaining the sum-
NIT of pass after pass, oyer lodges and
debris of granite, a seemingly inter-
minable chain of green glens and rocky
cations, with dark and spongy bottoms,
reeking with melted snow and lined by
lofty gaps between the granite cones,
while on the right was the great GEN.
tral wall-the snowy range-which pre-
scented for a long time as we plodded
fbv no inviting nasaaoe s,,cb as
was + oh;act of onr carol Onr
mules Scrambled over rocks LOGS and
boulders, through thickets and marshes
and snow drifts. At length the noun
tains became less lofty on the west ana
the valley more omen We suddenly
10 the head Of a lake bevond which
a-laroe herd Of elk was grazing. Most
Of them were cows. attended nv their
calves. Some of the packers of u
party fired at them prematurely. and
they ESCAPED several yolleys at long
range un harmed.
MORE aousTais EXPERIENCE.
The second night spent On the wes-
tern side and near the crest of the
was yery cool. although the
was higher than it might
have been supposed, in consideration
Of the proximity of the everlasting
snow. We rose about three O'Clock in
the mornin Q and had eaten with rusto
a breakfast of big horn. buffalo. elk and
deer meat. when the sun timidly g
ed over the granite ridge. first making
the topmost drifts family blush like a
maiden who is conscious of a secret
pleasure; then the light fell through the
gap ON the right upon the little pools in
the canon; then it burst upon vi lin all
its splendor, with dazzling reflections
In every nook that was glazed with ice
snow. A silvely texture of frost
glistened on everything, but the beauty
Of the picture was cold and inhospita-
BILE. The verdure of pines and turf was
the gray cliffs and towers of
granite were unrelentingly stern in as
pect, the snow upon their foreheads q
badge of gloomy, frowning old age,
which had witnessed the lapse Of geol-
ogical cycles; their Qrizzled mien like
that of an ungracious Magog, glowering
and unhumbled in the spell which
bound them to motionless silence.
Westward of our bivouac ground the
seemed to have been flatten-
L1ltO SIttuud1cu bUcpS VI pldbo<buS
leading down to the great valley of the
Big Horn from the wide but lofty pass
On the right. A faint trail was discern
able, viii CHI is probably one of the high
ways of the Sioux in entering the coun-
try Of the Shoshones when bent upon
war. 1t probably was originally mark
ed by the migration of the elk from the
lower to the upper submits of the
whittier they are driven in
by the mosquitoes and the
heat. The mules had luxuriated dur
ing the night upon the short, rich grass
the Alpine valley and were very
for the start.
Having slept at an elevation Of about
II, 800 feet, the ascent to the top of the
pass, which is more than 1900 feet
above b level OF the sea, was soon ac-