This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1870 Excerpt: ... granites, limestones, and syenites exist in immense quantities. Timber, consisting chiefly of pine, spruce, and hemlock, exists in abundance in almost every section of Wyoming. The immense forests on the Black Hills in the east, on the Medicine Bow, Elk, and other mountains east of the main divide, as well as those west, on the headwaters of Green River, are hundreds of square miles in extent, and afford some of the finest timber in the country. These regions are watered by the great streams--the Laramies, Medicine Bow, North Platte, Sweetwater, and Green River--and during the high stages of water lumber may be rafted down to the Union Pacific railroad and placed within the reach of ready markets, thus proving a source of immense revenue and of the highest possible advantage to that portion of the great West deficient in building material. Wyoming is strictly a mountainous region, its general surface being several thousand feet above the level of the sea. The exploration of the country has demonstrated that, with the aid of irrigation, there is a very considerable area which may be made available for the production of cereals and vegetables. The lands in the valleys and along the bases of the mountains in many places are very productive, and by irrigation are susceptible of high cultivation. The region of the Laramie Plains is high, but mostly well watered, and capable of raising vegetables and small grains in abundance. A large portion of Wyoming produces a luxuriant growth of short nutritious grass, upon which cattle will feed and fatten during the summer and winter without other provender. These lands, even in their present condition, are superior for grazing. The climate is mild and healthy, the air and water pure, and springs abundant. The temperature...