Page 256 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
P. 256
Around the World in 80 Days
two hundred miles, the travellers at last found themselves
on one of those vast plains which extend to the Atlantic,
and which nature has made so propitious for laying the
iron road.
On the declivity of the Atlantic basin the first streams,
branches of the North Platte River, already appeared. The
whole northern and eastern horizon was bounded by the
immense semi-circular curtain which is formed by the
southern portion of the Rocky Mountains, the highest
being Laramie Peak. Between this and the railway
extended vast plains, plentifully irrigated. On the right rose
the lower spurs of the mountainous mass which extends
southward to the sources of the Arkansas River, one of the
great tributaries of the Missouri.
At half-past twelve the travellers caught sight for an
instant of Fort Halleck, which commands that section; and
in a few more hours the Rocky Mountains were crossed.
There was reason to hope, then, that no accident would
mark the journey through this difficult country. The snow
had ceased falling, and the air became crisp and cold. Large
birds, frightened by the locomotive, rose and flew off in
the distance. No wild beast appeared on the plain. It was a
desert in its vast nakedness.
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