PART IX.
MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS.
Descriptive, Personal, etc.)
(Unless otherwise noted, the letters in this part have not before been published.)
CHAPTER I.
NOTES ON THE WESTERN COUNTRY.1
The Rocky Mountains and the Prairie Ocean- Scarcity of timber - A deposit of alabaster - Independence Rock - Chimney Rock - The Platte and some other rivers -A tornado on the plains-An ode.
Sweetwater River, July 14, 1841.
Verv Reverend and Dear Father Provincial:
LREADY two long months have elapsed since we +~ began our journey; but we are at length in sight of those dear mountains that have so long been the object of
our desires. They are called Rocky, because they are almost entirely formed of granite and silex, or flint stone. The length, position and elevation of this truly wonderful chain of mountains have induced geographers to give to it the appellation of " the back-bone of the western hemisphere." Traversing almost the whole of North America, from north to south, containing the sources of some of the largest streams of the world, this chain has for its branches, toward the west the spur of the Cordilleras, which divide the Empire of Mexico, and toward the east the less known but not less wonderful mountains of the Wind river, where are
1 From Father De Smet's narrative of his journey in 1841. Letters and Sketches, p. 76.