The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1874-01-24
From the New York Tribune


For the past twenty years or more the
various expeditions to the Far West have
been naccunlulating the materials which will
enable the geologist to reconstruct the
physical history of these now barren, tree
less plains4 Numerous cemeteries of the
ancient inhabitants have been discovered,
whose remains have been more or less dis
entomed by the action of the elements. 1t
is now known that vast chain of fresh
water lakes covered the surface OF this
continent, to greater or less extent, from
the Mississippi to the Pacific coast, and
from the Arctic Sea to Mexico. Some OF
these lakes were of enormous size. The
great ancient lake basin, known as Mau-
Vaises Terres, or the . Bad Lands" COW
cred a large portion of Nebraska, Dakota,
and Colorado, an area of 100000 to l50, 900
square miles. AS Tar back as 1858, the
writer visited one of these far-famed bone
deposits on the White Earth River, in Da-
kota, neart the northeastern base OF the
Black Hills. 1t is one of the widest and
most desolate regions on this continent.
It has been very appropriately named by
the Dakota Indians, Mako SeetGha, or
''aBad Lands - which signifies very diff
cult 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. 1t is
only to the geologist that this place can
have any permanent attractions. He
wends his way through its wonderful can
ons among some of the grandest ruins in
the WORLD 1t resembles, indeed, a gigan-
tic city fallen to decay. Houses, towers.
minarets and spires may appar-
emily be- seen on every side. These
fantastic piles assume the greatest
variety of shapes when viewed
in the distance, and not untrequently the
rising or the setting sun lights up these
grand old ruins with wild, strange
beauty. In the summer the sun p0urs its
rays on the bare white walls, which reflect
them on the weary traveller with double
intensity. not only expressing him with
the heat, but so dazzling his eyes that he
is not unfrequently affected with tempo
rary blindness. 1t is at the foot of these
ruins that the fossil treasures are found.
In the lower strata we find the teeth and
Jaws of ahyopotamus, river horse much
like the bippopotamus, which must have
lived in the marshes that bordered this
lake. Here, too, the titanotheriurn, a gi-
gantic paehyderm, was associated with a
, species of hornless rhinoceros. Higher
up in Some of these lake sediments thou
sands of turtles were imbedded, and are
preserved to the present time with sur
prising perfection, their harder portions
being as complete as when the animals
were swimming about in the tertiary wa
tiers hundreds Of thousands of years ago.
They vary in size from an inch or two
across the back to three or four feet. As
sociated with the remains of turtles are
those of number of ruminants, all be-
longing to extinct genera, and possessing
peculiar characters which ally them to the
deer and the hog. Indeed, DR.. Leidy calls
them rulninating hogs. Like the domestic
species they were provided with cutting
teeth, and CANNES, but the grinding teeth
are constructed after the same pattern as
those of all living ruminants. The feet o.
these animals were provided with foul
toes, and none of them possessed horns OF
antlers. They appear to have existed il
immense numbers, and to have lived il
great herds like the bison of the West
Remains of more than seven hundred in
dividuals of one species have been already
studied and described by DIR. Leidy. Theil
enemies were numerous; among then
were wolves, hy@nodons, and saber-tootn
ed tigers.
AN ANCIENT GRAVEYARD.
In the summer of 1857, while the writer
was attached to the exploring expedition
under the command of Lieut.. Warren, h
discovered on the Niobrara River anothe
of these remarkable graveyards, i'm whicl
was entombed fauna closely allied to
yet entirely distinct from, that on Whit
River, and plainly intermediate between
that OF the latter and of the present period
Several species of extinct eamels. and
great variety of the horse family character
lied this fauna. One of the horses wa
about che size of the common domesti
aAimal. while anotler allied form, abo
the size of Newfoundland dog, was prc
vided with three hoofs to each foot, thong
the lateral hoofs We're rudimental. Dl
Leidy has already identified twenty-seve
species of the horse family which are thu