the
Platte and Arkansas; and thence skirting the bluffs a distance of about
one hundred miles to Denver. At Denver we find two branches making
junctions with our line: one connects us with Central City, the great
mining-town of Colorado, by a series of grades which might appall the
Pennsylvania Central; the other threads the foot-hills and _mesas_
between Denver and the Fontaine-qui-Bouille Spa at Colorado City, with
the possibility of its being extended in time to Canon City on the
Arkansas. From Denver we strike for the nearest point on the
Cache-la-Poudre, follow its bed as far as practicable, and rise from
that level to the grand plateau of the Laramie Plains. Running through
these Plains, we cross the Big and the Little Laramie Rivers, here
shallow streams, crystal clear, and scarcely wider than the Housatonic
at Pittsfield. Just after leaving the Plains, we cross Medicine Bow,--a
mere brook,--and a few hours later the North Fork of the Platte, which
eccentrically turns up in this most unexpected quarter, running nearly
due north from a source which cannot be very far off. The rope-ferry by
which the writer last crossed this picturesque and rapid stream we have
replaced by a strong iron bridge. Leaving the west end of that bridge,
we look out of the rear car and send our final message to the Atlantic
by the last stream which we shall find going thither. A stupendous, but
not impracticable, system of grades next carries us over the axial
water-shed of the continent, by the way of Bridger's Pass. One hundred
and fifty miles of tortuous descent brings us to Green River,--the
stream which farther down becomes the mysterious Colorado, and seeks the
Pacific by the Gulf of California. After crossing the Green by another
iron bridge substituted for rope-ferriage, our first important station
will be Fort Bridger. Leaving there, we almost immediately enter the
galleries of the Wahsatch Range, which form a continuous pass across
Bear River and into the tremendous _canons_ conducting down to Salt-Lake
City. From Salt Lake we pursue the shortest practicable route through
the Desert to the Ruby-Valley Pass of the Humboldt Mountains; we cross
that range to enter another desert, descend to the Sink of Carson, and
reascend to Carson City, thence going nearly due north till we strike
the line of the Truckee Pass, (where a branch connects us with the
principal Washoe mines,) and thence to Sacramento by the long-projected
California s