y the conductor, who
took from me a cushion more than was my due; so I had to spend the
rest of the night nodding on a box at the end of the car. However,
even the longest and most comfortless night will come to an end; and
when at last the morning broke, I went out to ascertain whereabouts we
were. I found that it had snowed heavily during the night; and we now
seemed to be in a much colder and more desolate country. The wind
felt dreadfully keen as I stood on the car platform and looked about;
the dry snow whisking up from the track as the train rushed along. The
fine particles somehow got inside the thickest comforter and wrapper,
and penetrated everywhere. So light and fine were the particles that
they seemed to be like thick hoar-frost blowing through the air.

We have, I observe, a snow-plough fixed on the front of the engine;
and, from the look of the weather, it would appear as if we should
have abundant use for it yet. Snow-fences and snow-sheds are numerous
along the line we are traversing, for the purpose of preventing the
cuts being drifted up by the snow. At first, I could not quite make
out the nature of these fences, standing about ten yards from the
track, and in some parts extending for miles. They are constructed of
woodwork, and are so made as to be capable of being moved from place
to place, according as the snow falls thick or is drifting. That is
where the road is on a level, with perhaps an opening amidst the
rolling hills on one side or the other; but when we pass through a
cutting we are protected by a snow-shed, usually built of boards
supported on poles.

At Laramie City, we stop for breakfast. The name of "City" is given to
several little collections of houses along the line. I observe that
the writer of the 'Trans-Continental Guide-book' goes almost into fits
when describing the glories of these "Cities," which, when we come up
to them, prove to be little more than so many clusters of sheds. I
was not, therefore, prepared to expect much from the City of Laramie;
and the more so as I knew that but a few years since the original Fort
Laramie consisted of only a quadrangular enclosure inhabited by
trappers, who had established it for trading purposes with the
Indians. I was accordingly somewhat surprised to find that the modern
Laramie had suddenly shot up into a place of some population and
importance. The streets are broad and well laid out; the houses are
numerous, and some of them large a