After leaving Fort Laramie the first thing which particularly attracted
my attention was a perfect mountain of rock, fully a hundred feet in
height and more than a mile in circumference, father told me, which
stood near the Sweetwater River, between the ranges of mountains which
border the Sweetwater Valley.
It was an "imposing work of nature," so Colonel Russell said; but to me
the most interesting thing about it was that the first celebration of
the Fourth of July by a company of people bound to Oregon was held at
the place. On the rocks, as high up as one can see, are a multitude of
names, many, many hundreds, some painted, and others cut into the soft
stone by those who had visited the place.
[Illustration]
Another thing about Independence Rock which causes me to remember it
even more than as "an imposing work of nature," was that near it one
could pick up all the saleratus he needed, for there are veritable
ponds of it, where, so father said, water filled with the salts had
evaporated, leaving the saleratus itself in pools which looked as if
made of milk.
Next morning we came upon a great gap in the mountain wall which is
called the Devil's Gate; through it flows a beautiful stream, on the
banks of which we found wild currants and gooseberries in greatest
abundance.