Page:Edward Ellis--Alden the Pony Express Rider.djvu/177

 “Yas; long afore we get that fur.”

“I am glad to hear you say that.”

“And I’m mighty glad that ye are glad,” grimly commented Shagbark, who proceeded to explain that the Laramie Range would be crossed some fifty miles to the south of Fort Laramie. A depression there made an easy passage through the rugged spur, whose western slope would be followed northward to the military post named. The same direction was to be held before turning westward again. This was the route of the trains and Pony Express riders, who followed the line of the least resistance as may be said.

By that time they would be well into the prodigious mountainous region which would confront them for a thousand miles or more, for it is the foothills of the Rockies. The present state of Colorado is traversed by the main axis or continental divide of the Rocky Mountains which there finds its greatest northern development. The culminating crest of the main range is the Wind River Mountains in the west-central part of the State, which is traversed by numerous other ranges, including the Big Horn in the north-central section, the Laramie Mountains already mentioned,