Bellevue gazette. [volume] (Bellevue City, N.T. [i.e. Neb.]) 1856-1858, 1858-06-10
MISCEL ECU s.
The Bad Lands of Nebraska.

The important fact is now becoming
positively established, that so far as the
occupation of arabic land is concerned,
we have reached the extreme limit of our
territorial extension, striking westwards
from the Missouri valley. The banks of
the Missouri rixer, it is true, including
tract, on an average, an hundred and hf-
ty miles wide, are fertile, but here, on the
westernmost side, arabic soil terminates.
Two very remarkable features mark the
territory which then commences. One Is
u vast extent Of rainless plain which marks
the easternmost slopes of the Rocky
Mountains. The other is the Bad Lands,
or Mauvaises Terres," which exist in
their most remarkable development, SO
far as present exploration goes. IN Cen
trail and Northern Nebraska, but which
are to be found also in Western Kansas
and Arkansas. These lands have recent
ly been the subject of surveys, undertaken
both by the Smithsonian Institute and by
the American Government.
The geological formation of the Bad
Lands is fraught with many important
lessons. AS corroborating the Mosaic
narrative of a deluge, they speak with
peculiar emphasis. The dreary level Of
the surrounding prairie, is appalled, by the
| sight of q basin of fossil cemeteries, sink
ing nearly two hundred feet below the ad'
iacent surface. On the sandy soil Of this
basin rises an infinite series of minaret
looking peaks, some jut,ing up two hun
dred feet, and many painted on the sides
with the prismatic hues. The quaint
looking towers, the winding alleys which
separate block from block, the oCcaslona
bui,resses which round of one line o.
streets, the chimney-iike .urrets that rise
over the level of the larger and more
compact masses, give all the evidences o.
some vast but deserted metropolis; when
however, the observer descends TO The
supposed city, the delusion vanishes. Th'
perpendicular walls fall backwards int
slanting, weather beaten rocks. Th'
pavements crumble into sands, which, IL
the torrid heats OF August, parch th'
travellers feet as mu' h as The vertical Sun
oppresses his brain. The chimneys ar,
but blocks Of rock, and the mlnarels spin
ters of spar.
These castelated structures, however
though they are not the evidences Of hu
man civilization, are the water meters b.
which are noted the progress Of event
far more stupendous than those Of mer
mechanical enterprise. The iurrets an,
columns of the Bad Lands are incrus;e'
with the fossil remains of races depositc,
by the fresh weters Of the early tertiar
period. Animals which preceded In
mammoth and mastodon, and betwee
which and the mammoth and the mastodo
there exists chasm which neither clas
has oyerpassed, are here TO be found in uu
equalled completeness. Thus. for instance
in the .drehtOteriuDa, a specimen discover
ed by David Dale Owen. in his explora
tion, and examined by DIR. Leidy (Owen
Geog. Sur, l9S,) are united vharactel
belonging to the pachyderms, the plant
grades, and the digiIigl ades. With the,
are grouped series of other individual
which demonstrate, TO use the languag
of Mr.. Owen, himself by no means a
intentional supporter of the Mosaic az
count, that cat the time these singulI
animals roamed over the Mauyaises Te
res of the Upper Missouri, The cOnfgur
ton of our present continents was vel
different from what il now is. lEaFol
and Asia were thea, in fact, no contine
at all, being represented only by a fe
islands, scattered over a vast expanse
ocean. The Atlantic seaboard of d
United States, back 10 the moun,a
ranges. and up the Valley of The Miss
sippi, as high as Vicksburgh, was yet q
der water. In Europe, during the peri
following the determination Of the Eoce
Fauna of Nebraska, the Alps have be
heaved up nearly their whole height a