The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1874-01-23
WONDERFUL DISCOVERIES.
The Ancient Fanna Of the Far West.

/ The Ancient Fanna OF the Far West.
| DR.. F. V. Hayden, in letter to the
New York Tribune, gives brief histo-
ry of the United States Geological Sur
vey of the territories, and particularly
of its operations during 1873. From it
we take the following:
For the past twenty years or more the
various expeditions to the Far West
have been accumulating the materials
which will enable the geologist to recon-
struct the physical history of these now
barren, treeless plains. Numerous GEM
eteries of the ancient inhabitants have
/ been discovered, whose remains have
| been more or less disentombed by the
action of the elements. 1t is now known
/ that a vast chain of fresh water lakes
covered the surface of this continent, to
greater or less extent, from the Missis-
sippi to tho Pacific coast, and from the
Arctic Sea to Mexico. Some of these
lakes were of enormous size. The great
ancient lake basin known as Mauvaises
Terres, or the "Bad Lands" covered a
large portion of Nebraska, Dakota and
| Colorado,-an ares. Of 100000 to $780,
600 square miles. AS far back as 1856
the writer visited one of these far famed
bone deposits, on the White Earth river,
in Dakota, near the northwestern base of
the Black Hills. 1t is one of the Wild
est and most desolate regions on this
continent. 1t has been very appropri-
ately named by the Dakota Indians, Ma
Ko-Seetcha, or "Bad Lands" which sig
nifes very difficult country to travel
over,-not only from the ruggedness of
the surface; but also from the absence
of any good water, and the small supply
of wood and game. It is only to the
geologist that this place can have any
permanent attractions He wends his
way through its wonderful canons among
some of the grandest ruins in the world.
1t resembles, indeed, gigantic city fall
en- to decay. Houses, towerA minarets,
and spires may apparently be seen on
every side. These fantastic piles as
sumo the greatest variety of shapes
when viewed in the distance, and not
unfrequently the rising or the setting OF
the sun lights upon these grand old ru-
ins with wild strange beauty. In the
summer the sun pours its rays on the
bare white walls, which reflect them on
the weary traveller with double inten-
sity, not only impressing him with the
heat, but so dazzling his eyes that he is
not unfrequently affected with Temporal
ry blindness. It is at the foot of these
ruins that the fossil treasure are fond
In the lower strata we find the teeth and
jaws of a hippopotamus, a river horse
much like the hippopotamus, which
must have lived in the marshes that bor-
dered the lake. Here, too, the titan
otherium, gigantic pachyderm, associ-
ated with species of hornless rhinoce-
ros. Higher up in some of these lake
sediments thousands of turtles imbedded,
and preserved to the present time with
surprising perfection, with harder por-
tions being as complete as when the an
imals were swimming about in the terti-
airy waters hundreds of thousand OF
years ago. They vary in size from an
inch or two across the back to three
feet. Associated with the remains OF
turtles are those of a number of rumin-
ants, all belonging to extinct genera, and
possessing peculiar characters which
ally them to the deer and the hog. In.
deed DR.. Leidy calls them Illuminating
hogs. Like the domestic species, they
were provided with cutting-teeth and
canies, but the grinding teeth are con-
structed after the same pattern as those
of all living ruminants. The feet ol
these animals were provided with four
toes, and none of them possessed horns
or antlers. They appear to have existed
in immense numbers, and to have
lived in great herds like the bison of the
West. Remains of more than seven
hundred individuals of one species have
been already studied and described bv
DIR. LeidY. Their enemies were numer-
GUS; among them were wolves, hyenod-
ons, and sabretoothed tigers.
"In the summer of 1857 while the wri-
ter was attached to the Exploring Ex-
pedition under the command of Lieut.
Warren, he discovered on the Niobrara
River another of these remarkable grave
yards, of which was entombed a fauna,
closely allied to, yet entirely distinct
from that on White River, and plainly
intermediate between that of the latter
and that of the present period. Several
species of extinct camels, and great va
riety of the horse family characterized
this fauna. One of the horses was about
the size of the common domestic animal
while another allied form, about the size
of Newfoundland dog, was provided
with three hoofs to each foot, though
the lateral hoofs were rudimental. DIR
Leidy hcs already identified twenty.
seven species of the horse family which
are thus known to have lived on this
continent prior to the advent of man
about three times as many as are now
found living throughout the world
Among the carnivores there were seve
raj specimens of foxes and wolves, five
varieties of the cat family, and thre,
spices of the hyena. Some of tn,
skulls of the tiger-like animals exhibited
the marks of terrible conflicts with th,
! hyenas. Among the rodents were por
: cupine, small beaver, rabbit, mouse, &c
"The pachyderms, or the thick-skin
ned animals, are of the greatest interest
| from the fact that none of them are liv
: ing on the continent at the present time
f Five species of rhinoceros are found;
mastodon, an elephant, and numerou
! forms allied to the domestic hog, vary
!, ing in size from that of the African
I hippopotamus down to that of the domes
D tic cat. From the discovery of thi
t group of extinct animals we may dra,
I the Inference that Nebraska and Da
+ kota were the homes of n race closely nj