before a cheerful fire, talking over the peculiarities of the country and incidents of the day.

A most excellent supper of coffee, warm rolls, boiled potatoes and stewed antelope, together with the fatigues of the day, inclined us to seek early repose; but here new embarrassment awaited us. There was but one spare bed in the ranch, and there were at least three of our party for whom, with proper deference to age and rank, the enjoyment of this luxury would seem quite appropriate; but both Mr. Williams and Gen. Dodge were inexorable; and I, whose romance had nearly oozed out during the day, was obliged to submit to the mortifying necessity of occupying the comfortable bed, while they camped down in their robes and blankets upon the floor, in opposite corners of the same room.

ANTELOPE PASS AND LARAMIE PLAINS.

We were again on our way early the following morning. Having ordered the wagon to halt for lunch at the Willow Springs stage station, we followed up the valley of Dale Creek in the direction of Antelope Pass, which we reached at one P. M. This pass is supposed to be the lowest point in a depression extending several miles longitudinally along the crest of the Black Hill range, and is about 8,000 feet above the sea. From this summit we were greeted with our first view of Laramie Plains, extending as far to the northward as the eye could reach, bounded on the east by the Black Hills; and on the west by the much higher range of the Medicine Bow Mountains, which form the easterly side of the North Park.

This pass was named "Antelope" by Gen. Case (who first explored it for the Union Pacific Railroad Company 'n 1864), on account of the numerous herds of antelope

that he found in its vicinity. We saw several groups, but they were careful to keep beyond the range of our carbines; and we were therefore obliged to proceed on our journey with only a mountain grouse, and jack rabbit in our haversacks, which I had brought down with my Ballard carbine during our morning ride.

Our descent toward the Laramie Plains, soon brought us to an intersection with the stage road, which we followed to the station at Willow Springs, where we found our attentive commissary prepared to receive us, with an excellent lunch for ourselves, and provender for our animals.

A further ride of six or eight miles, brought us to Fort "John Buford," just at sunset, where we were most hospitably received and entertained by Col. Mizner, the officer in command. In addition to his own quarters, which he placed at our disposal, he caused to be put up another fine wall-tent for the accommodation of the balance of the party; and our stay thus far of one night in his camp has been both pleasant and refreshing.

V.

A DAY AT FORT JOHN BUFORD, ON THE LARAMIE PLAINS-MR. WILLIAMS' LETTER-EASTWARD BOUND-DEATH OF THE ELK— CROSSING OF THE BLACK HILLS AT EVANS' PASS-DESCENT TOWARDS THE PLAINS-CAMP ON DALE CREEK-LONE ROCKNARROW ESCAPE OF A HERD OF ELK-CAMP ON LONE TREEBOX-ELDER-DEATH OF THE ANTELOPE-RETURN TO LAPORTE.

LAPORTE, COLORADO, Monday, October 1, 1866.

Thursday, the 27th of September, was spent by our party at and about Fort John Buford, on the Laramie Plains. Mr. Evans and myself took a leisurely ride in the afternoon, of some seven or eight miles down the Laramie River, for the purpose of inspecting one of the crossings proposed for the Union Pacific Railroad. Mr. Williams employed himself in posting up his notes, writing letters, and examining maps and profiles with General Dodge. And the General himself examined, with his military eye, in company with Colonel Mizner, the extensive warehouses, barracks, etc., which were in process of construction for the better accommodation and protection of the troops and their supplies.

The following letter was written by Mr. Williams on the day of our sojourn at the Fort, a copy of which he has kindly furnished me:

FORT JOHN BUFORD, DAKOTAH TERRITORY, September 27, 1866. To the Editor of the Fort Wayne Gazette

My last was from Berthoud Pass, September 18th. The day was delightful. The next day we encountered a snow storm. Stopping half way down the eastern slope of the mountain, we found the snow

* Name since changed to "Fort Saunders."

on the morning of the 19th eight inches deep—icicles on the eaves two feet long, and the thermometer only sixteen degrees above zero. West of the mountain range, the snow fell to the depth of two feet, compelling Mr. Brown's engineer party to abandon the survey, for the time being, and cross the range for subsistence for the mules, after dividing with them the rations for the men. At Denver there was but a sprinkling of snow. Such are the varied meteorological effects caused by difference of elevation, and the influence of the mountain range, in arresting and precipitating the moisture.

Passing north to the Black Hills; and beginning the ascent of this range at the Cache-la-Poudre, the largest tributary of the South Platte, which takes its rise in the snowy heights of Long's Peak, we followed on horseback to this place, another of the experimental lines run for the Union Pacific Railroad, crossing at Antelope Pass. Our party in this most interesting reconnoissance consisted of Gen. Dodge, Chief Engineer of the U. P. R. R., Col. Silas Seymour, Consulting Engineer, and Mr. Evans, the engineer who made the surveys. Travelling in a northwest direction, we had the snow-capped peaks of the grand snowy range always in view twenty to thirty miles to the left. The highest altitude reached on this survey is 8,050 feet above the sea. The transition from the sedementary rocks forming the slope near the base, to the granite which everywhere composes the central and higher parts of these mountain ranges, is plainly marked. In the secondary formation, and lying geologically next above the granite, is observed near the base of mountains on both slopes, what our geologist decides to be the veritable "old red sand-stone" of Hugh Miller; which the genius of that distinguished devotee of geological research invested with so much interest in the scientific circles of Europe.

The valley of the Laramie river, in which we have travelled for twenty miles, on the western side of the mountain, is a vast plain without a shrub. It is twenty-five to thirty miles wide. The groves of pine on the Medicine Bow Mountains, forming its western boundary, and on the Black Hills to the east, is a relief to the view.

Fort Buford, from which I write, is a newly established U. S. military Post, now in the course of erection, taking the place of both Forts Halleck and Collins, which are to be abandoned. It is on the Laramie Plains, 125 miles northwest of Denver, on the road to Salt Lake. The name is in honor of the distinguished Cavalry General, who defeated the rebel General Stewart in Virginia, but died soon afterwards. Col. Mizner, of the 18th U. S. Infantry, who hails from Detroit, is in

command. His kindness to our party, while resting here for a day, is unbounded.

From this point we expect to return over another experimental survey, crossing the Black Hills further north at Evans' Pass, and thence to Crow Creek and Lodge Pole Creek-branches of the South Platte. In that section the Indians indulge in mule stealing (and sometimes in scalping their owners), having recently taken seventy mules from a transportation train. General Dodge has been furnished by order of the Department Commander, with an escort of twenty soldiers, ten of whom are mounted.

Major-General Dodge, before the war, was a civil engineer on the railroads of Illinois and Iowa, and had explored, extensively, these plains and mountains. Until recently, he was in command of this military department; and by all these opportunities has acquired much knowledge of the topography of this region. His services in the location of the Pacific Railroad will be valuable, as, in the late war, they were eminently distinguished in the high commands which he held in the Union army. But the people of the Council Bluff district, in Iowa, are about to lay violent hands on him, and, without any effort on his part, make him a member of the Fortieth Congress.

J. L. WILLIAMS.

I desire to add my testimony to that of Mr. Williams, in relation to the perseverance and skill which General Dodge has brought to bear in directing the surveys during the past year, through this difficult and mountainous country. And, also, to the intelligence manifested by Mr. Evans, in all the important details of topography connected with the extensive surveys and reconnoissances made by him for the Railroad Company, during the past three years, upon this and other portions of the line.

Captain McCleary, the very accomplished and gentlemanly officer second in command at the Fort, returned in the evening from a hunting excursion on horseback, with his horse and that of his orderly literally laden with wild geese and ducks, which he had slaughtered during the day on the Laramie River, within a few miles of the Fort.