, 1900-06-09
ON TABLE, MOUNTAIN
A REPUBLICAN CORRESPONDENT
DESCRIBES THE SURROUND
ING LANDSCAPE.
Struck With the Beauty of the Big and
Little Laramie Valleys as Seen
from His Point of Vantage-Beau-
tiful and Extensive Ranches Along
the Little Laramie River.

the Little Laramie River.
Two seasons of the year in Wyoming
are pre-eminetly delightful-the first
growth of grass and flowers,
and the first nights of sharp freezing
in the early fall. The few intervening
arid days of summer are not SO many
as to be specially avoided, and even
the long winters are to be endured
with complacency in view Of these de-
lightful seasons. Linger at you work.
if possible, upon the plains through
the season of spring flowers, that grow
like tuftcd rugs of many odors and coll
ors SO close to the ground that IL
school children call them mosses-in-
viting you to set your feet softly upon
them or place your pillow at night
where they grow, and breathe the per-
fumes never eQualled by human chem
ist. Then, as the season grows warm
and arid, o your camp to the noun
.tains, where the season of grasses and
flowers fingers until frosty nights and
early SHOWS drive you and all other big
game from the mountains; then and
only then, is it becoming to talk of
fairer lands and SUMMER skies.
The other evening, Samuel Thomp-
son, one of the Junior members of Mr..
Bellamy's surveying party, and myself
assembled Table mountain. Our climb
ing was sufficient to satisfy any modest
ambition at the close of a days work,
but ones vision is never quite sufficient
to grasp all the beauties and interest
ing panoramic features of the Laramie
plains. The low ground between us
and Sheep mountain is the upper end
of a depression which is studded with
lakes from the Little Laramie, at Hat
ton. to Lake Hattie and then eastward
until the view of distant lakes and ir-
rigated meadows along the Pioneer ca
nal forms a vast water expanse, rather
than an arid plain; and no fresher
green covers a fairer landscape. The
Dis al dhllt III l diJdltnl COullly
lay smooth and sparkling with waters
from many irrigating bitches, and the
Little Laramie valley, to the north, was
discernible its entire length by the sill
yer and dark green of its irrigated
meadows. A mile or more to the north
were the Reid and Towle ranches-two
of the finest meadow and woodland
ranches on the Little Laramie, and we'll
deserving their names Of "Willow
Brook and Meadow Lawn"-and one
might take all the well-kept lawns of
our shade trees for a woodland along
the banks of a winding and ripping
river, yet he would lack the meadow,
creeks. the green domes of willow, the
parks, the gardens and the rustic bridge
and many other things to make even a
small ranch like these.
Mrs. Towle has not only the super
vision of her own business, but does
the work of the ranch for a large part
of the year without help-marketing
ten to twenty tons of potatoes, buying
and selling the stock of the ranch and
feeding from 100 to 200 tons of hay
consumed during the winter months.
She prefers to sell and retire from such
labOrious work.
NJ. J. Coughlin's ranch, a mile below,
is also a meadow, woodland, and river
ranch, but it has grown too fast in
acres for the few years it has been own
ed by Mr.. Coughlin, to receive the care
full attention to its appearance in de-
tail, so noticeable in the former men,
toned homes. This ranch now COM
prises the old Motley ranch and the
newly purchased ranch of Peter John
son on Mill creek, and yields more than
1000 tons of hay annually. Good-na-
tured Percheon horses and a few Ham,
~bletonians, characteristic of the teams
raised here, and cattle, hogs, potatoes
and dairy products constitute the BUSH
ness of the ranch, while a thirteen,
room house, a large Darn and a plenti-
full supply of smaller buildings are
among the more noticeable improve
ments.
The mild winter has enabled ranch
men to reserve such an abundance Of
hay for spring months that cattle have
commenced spring grazing with such
vitality that little loss has occurred
from late storms or from poison-weed.
Indeed l have not heard of any loss in
this neighborhood, and cattlemen are
feeling happy.
Daily Renublice only 5oc a month