The Pacific tourist:

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DALE CREEK BRIDGE.
one feel chilly to look at them, they are so cold,
cheerless and forbidding.
In the hills we have just passed, there is an
abundance of game, such as mountain sheep,
bear, antelope, and an occasional mountain lion,
while Dale Creek and all the little brooks which
flow into the South Platte Rtiver are filled with
trout. The speckled beauties are not found
however, in the streams which flow into the
North Platte. This is a well-established fact,
and we have yet failed to discover any satisfactory reason for it, though some of these brooks,
flowing in opposite directions, head not more
than fifty yards apart.
Skbull Jgoc/s.;.-These rocks, found near Dale
Creek, are excellent samples of the granite rocks
which are so abundant in this section, and show
how they bear the effects of the severe weather.
All the massive rocks, which, like the ruins of
old castles, are scattered all over the Black Hills,
were once angular in form, and square masses,
which in time have been worn to their present
forms by the disintegrating effects of the atmosphere.
Tie-Sid,ing,-555.2 miles from Omaha; elevation, 7,985 feet. This is a telegraph station,
with side tracks for the accommodation of the
numerous cars which are loaded with ties, fencepoles and wood. Vast quantities are hauled from
the mountains in the vicinity of the Diamond
Peaks to this siding. There are a few houses,
and the inevitable saloon-houses occupied mostly by woodchoppers and teamsters-while the
saloons generally take the most of their money.
A short distance from this station two soldiers
of an Iowa cavalry regiment were killed by Indians at the overland stage station, in 1865. The
pine board and mound which marks their restinigplace will soon disappear, and there will be noth
from the creek by means of a steam pump. The
buildings in the valley below seem small in the
distance, though they are not a great way off.
The old wagoin road crossed the creek down a
ravine, on the right side of the track, and the
remains of the bridge may still be seen. This
stream rises about six miles north of the bridge,
and is fed by numerous springs and tributaries,
running in a general southerly direction, until it
empties into the Cache La Poudre River. The
old overland road from Denver to California
ascended this river and creek until it struck
the head-waters of the Laramie. Leaving Dale
Creek bridge, the road soon turns to the right,
and before you, on the left, is spread out, like a
magnificent panorama,
Tlhe Great Laramite Plaitis. -These
plains have an average width of 40 miles, and
are 100 miles in length. They begin at the
western base of the Black Hills and extend to
the slope of the Medicine Bow Mountains, and
north beyond where the Laramie River cuts
its way through these hills to join its waters
with the North Platte. They comprise an area
of over two and a half millions of acres, and
are regarded as one of the richest grazing portions of country. Across these plains, and a
little to the left, as you begin to glide over them,
rises in full view the Diamond Peaks of the
Medicine Bow Range. They are trim and clearcut cones, with sharp pointed summits-a fact
which has given them their name, while their
sides, and the rugged hills around them, are covered with timber. Still farther in the shadowy
distance, in a south-westerly direction, if the
atmosphere is clear, you will see the white summits of the Snowy Range-white with their
robes of perpetual snow. Even in the hottest
weather experienced on these plains, it makes
FIKE Pacific roporst.
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