Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1866-01-17
gil surts Of @ua6 gsaoing.
A Remarkable RsgiOn--What an Engineer Di
covered on the Western Plains.

THE following communication from L. g.
Bennett, Esq, engineer in charge Of the late
Powder river expedi ion, addressed to Col
onel Moor, will be read with great interest
by scientific men, being detailed official &C
count of one Of the most curious portions o!
the continent:
Having but recently returned from the
plains, where tor several months have been
on duty as engineer with the late Powder
river Indian expedition, and knowing your
taste for geological studies will favor you
with some extracts from my report, relative
! to the geography and geology Of the region
we passed through. My knowledge of geol-
ogy is limited, and can only favor you with
an account OF what I saw, and leave you to
make your own conclusions and from your
own theories. Although the march up,
through and across the great sand hills was
not devoid Of interest, yeti viii omit this
and take you at once to the
MAUvAIs TERRIEs OR BAD LANDS. -E
Reaching White River we 1onnd it high,
and the muddy, from the waslGngs Of the
adjacents hills, and OF about the eolor and
consistency OF cream. a deposit of mud on
either bank, three or four feet deep, mired
the teams and obstructed the crossings until
both banks had to be corduryed. Here we
struk an oil trail made by trappers and trad
ers, from Fort Pierre and followed by Gen
eral Harney in 1856 and 1857, which led
across the mauvois terries, or bad land
a MOST REMARKABLE REGION. nm
This is certainly the most singular region I
ever beheld, and men are not far out Of the
way in calling it the " devils own" A great
portion of these lands is entirely destitute of
Vegetation and reminds one Of an old Orick-
yard, or of clay baked in the sun.
PYRAMIDS AND RUINED TEMPLES.
Rising from the plain, sometimes to the
altitude OF FIVE handred feet were masses of
hard clay in the form Of pyramids OF ruined
temples crowned with spires and nlinarets,
and worn by the winds into a variety of fan
tastic shapes No mountain or other scenery
can equal this in dreary wildness and strange
beauty No gam5 and bnt little vegetation
exists here 'Tis truly a land Of desolatior.
Often these huge masses Of clayey rock were
standing in the midst of the plain, isolated
and alone AT other times long range OF bare
hills. like wall, stretched away and became
lost in the hazy distance, while through the
openings between these cliffs, glimpses could
be obtained Of the Black hills, looming up in
the distance like gigantic storm clouds. These
masses of clay were traVersed with veins Of
trap rock generally in a vertical position, and
as the surrounding and softer rock gradually
became worn by winds and storms, were
broken into fragments and scattered over the
plain. 0 ten large areas were covered with
the fragments Of trap rock. Here and there
were pebbles and bUulders indicative Of the
drift period, while iron, rock, quartz, scoria,
and various .crystalized and igneOus rocks in
d;cated the action Of heat
MARINE AND OTHER FOSSILS.
Scattered over the SUBMITS of these cliff,
or around their base, were fragments and
sometimes almost perfect fossils of marine and
other animals, the most Of which were tur-
ties. saw many OF these that were three
feet across, and one that measured seven feet
across the shell. Other parties reported see
ing one that measured lG feet across, and 1
heard OF them being much larger. These
have generally fallen down from the cliffs,
and are more or less mutilated, but enough
remains TO show the outlines and determine
the size Of these monsters of a former age
Mastodon bones and enormous teeth are com
mon. Among the petrefactions of more re-
cent period was wolf nearly entire found
by DR.. Anderson.