New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-03-26
A Remarkable Region.

The following communication from L. g. Ben
| nett, ESQ, engineer in charge with the late Pow.
der river expedition, addressed to Col Moore, will
| be read with great interest by scientific men,
being detailed official account Of one of the
most curious portions of this continent: lex.
| Having but recently returned from the plains,
where for several months have been on duty as
engineer with the late Powder river Indian expedi-
ton, 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 geology is limited, and can only favor you
with an account of what saw, and leave you to
make your own conclusions and form your own
theories. Although the march up through and
across the great sand hills was not devoid Of III.
terest, yet will omit this and take you at once to
| the
MAUvAIs TERREs OR BAD LANDS.
Reaching White river, we found it high and the
water muddy, from the washings from the adjacent
hills, and OF about the color and consistency Of
cream. deposito Of mud on either bank, three or
four feet deep, mired the teams and obstruced the
crossings until both banks had to be corduroyed.
| Here we struck an old trail made by trappers and
traders, from Fort Pierre and followed by Gen.
Harvey in 1856 and 81, which led across the mau-
vais terres, or bad lands.
MOST REMARKABLE REGION.
| This is certainly the most singular region ever
| behed and the men were not far out OF the way
in calling it the " devils own" A great portion
Of these lands are entirely destitute of vegetation,
and reIninds one of an old brick-yard, or of clay
| baked in the sun.
! PYRAMIDS AND RUINED TEMPLES.
Rising'from the plain, sometimes to the altitude
OF five hundred feet, were masses of hard clay in
the form ofpyramids or ruined temples crowned
with spires and minarets, and worn by the winds
into variety of fantastic shapes. Nomountain or
other scenery can equal this in dreary wildness or
strange beauty. No game and but little vegeta-
ton exists here 1t is truly land of desolation.
standing in the midst of the plain, isolated and
alone. At other times, long ranges of bare hills,
like WALL stretched away and became lost in the
hazy distance, while through the openings between
these cliffs, gmpses could be obtained of the black
hills, looming up in the distance like gigantic
storm-clouds. These masses of clay were trav.
ersed with veins of trap rock, generally in yer.
teal position, and as the surrounding and softer
rock gradually became worn by winds and storms
were broken into fragments and scattered over
the plain Often large areas were covered with
these fragments Of trap rock. Here and there
were pebbles and boulders, indicative of the drift
period, while iron, rock, quartz, scoria and various
crystaized and igneous rocks indicated the
action of heat.
MARINE AND OTHER FOSSILS.
Scattered over the summit of these cliffs, o.
around their base, were fragments and sometimes
almost perfect fossils of marine and other ami
mails, the most common of which were turtles.
saw many of these that were three feet across
and one that measured seven feet across the
shell. Other parties reported seeing one tina
measured sixteen feet across, and heard of the
being much larger These have generally faller
down from the cliffs, and are more or less mutila
ted, but enough remains to show the outlines ant
determine the size of these monsters of former
age. Mastadon bones and enormous teeth are
common. Among the petrefactions of more re
cent period was wolf nearly entire, found b.
DR.. Anderson.
DIVERSE THEORIES.
There are many theories advanced in regard Il
the pecuarities of this region. These fossils ant
shells, and remains of marine animals attest the
action Of water. Indeed. the first impression o,
reviewing these fragments and broken monument
of past age is that this was once an elevated
plain, level with the tops of the present cliffs
and that the violent action of water has carried
away vast areas of soil, and left the substantial
portions standing in the present cliffs, column
and pyramids all bearing evidences of being one
/. submerged by an ocean of waters. At a subse
quent period another food has cut this secon
F plain into deep ravines, leaving the dry waite
courses which still intersect the country in ever
direction The inquiry naturally arises, fror
, whence come the fragments of scoria. pomic
stones and other igneous rocks tine result Of vol
canic action, and which lay scattered promiscr
ously with marine deposits? Perhaps these hay
! come from the neighboring mountains, the Blac
; Hills.
; MASSES OF FOSSIL sHELL-FIsH..
On the ridges separating the Elk, Bear, Mniwal
} 81 and Bear Butte creeks were found large masse
OF fossil fish and other marine animals, some of
!, huge size. Often the hills seemed entirely con
posed of these remains. Exposure to the air an
t storms have broken them into fragments, yet til
outlines of turtles, shell fish and orthesera coul
be distinctly traced. found portions of the vel
tebre of some extinct species, beautifully coru:
Gated with sutures and joints. For miles on
horses at each step. crushed to atoms, these re
mains of past but ever living age. Hills of fos
sis that for ages have been Wondering away an
becoming portions of the soil, until but faint out
lines here and there indicate that the earth an,
| rocks we tread upon were once living animal mat
| ter, may well excite surprise Here are indica
j, tons of volcanic action and of deuge strangel
| comminged and laying side by side.