, 1891-05-29
FORT LARAMIE.
A Survey of the Historic Ground
Now in Progress.
Size, Shape and characteristics of
the Reservation.
1t Will be Thrown Open to Settle
ment This Year.

County surveyor w. ". owen and
George Harvey returned Yesterday From
tbo nor,b wboro NJ Owon hos i,s, 800
u "O' "ne d Just eU
pieted the survey oil the ~oandone Fort
Laramie military reservation, begun the
latter part Of April.
This survey was ordered by the govern
meut for the purpose of getting the land
into the interior depa rtment and nlao,ng
it on the market for occupancy by SET
tiers. Mr.. Owen has some back to work
IN his notes and send them to Washing
ton. As soon as this is done and the snr.
yey is approved and accented the reser-
vation will he thrown omen IN settlemant
L. IN ,.ah.hIn -.
"n van W. N al pres
ehl year
h reserve Is IN the form OF a paral-
telegram nine miles in length, north and
south, and six miles in width from east to
west. 1t embraces fifty four sections, or
"a, $50 acres of land. The tract lies one
and one-half miles west of the confluence
of the Laramie and Platte rivers, in the
forks formed by those streams. A good
part OF the land shows up the finest soil
MIR. Owen ever saw, he thinks, but it
does not seem thai 1t Will be possible to
Hrlga1e IT, ne was greatly Unsupported
IN the reservation, OF Whlch SO muGh mas
Deen saIu anu ",iten' out which uld not
mar eome up 10 MS expectations.
That section has somewhat the ad-
vantage Of this in altitude. being only
4 600 teet above the 80. level Tbe r,in.
tai. is greater than onrs and tho ooason
is at least a month or siv veots o~a,l;o,
Whom the ou,H. won't thoro in All ,ha
trees wore IN bloom and Tho .ross vas
sIro.dy ou;,o biob AIn,os, no.n.t;..
can be raised there too bu, ,ba ,.;nra1l
is not to be wholly relied upon and irri-
CATION is next to impossible. as it is hard
to take water from the Platte anywhere,
while the Laramie at that point is not
more than halt as large as it is here.
Mr.. Owen was greatly SURPRISED at the
oonn.roivo s;zo. or ,ha 90 s,.1au :,
I.e wv at
their luhction. ne "aued the Laramie
where 1t emptles into the Platte, without
the least trouble, a thing that could not
be done here. What becomes OF its
"NNSAo bSt"SSh NhiS SAJ ahu lhab pOlub, 10
a question, but the probability is that it is
nearly all taken out for irrigation pur-
poses; IN the otner nana the average OF
in nlacos ,b,s IA ionraasaJ 10 haIFn III"
where the country is low and sandy. He
found the Laramie full of buffalo, catfish,
sturgeon ETC. n had the law expired
a. a"S ,iIne'
" t DtuEe' '"1'e'
uht Ny u kon' pu'
nave prooaoly oeen turned over 10 the
state and are now the property OF Laramie
county. One OF these IS an iron and
steel bridge I 500 feet LONG across tho
Dr. ~. Iii
Ifa'Ie' '"a' couiu not nA'e COST less than
80 as all the material bad to be
hanled 10 by teams. There is also an
excellent wooden bridge across the Lara
nile. Both structures have been neglected,
however, and are sadly IN need OF attention.
Ihey nave become loose and need tighten
ing up or they Will soon 20 to pieces,
whereas, they could easily be made as
o as new.
III the course OF his survey Mr.. Owen
discovered traces of he nresence of the
oId La, r. ~ e~.-t.N
'"o ns' "nne
settlers IN TINS region, VINO established 4