Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-09-25
THROUGH BAD LANDS.
A District of Strange Configuration--.
A Bighted and Blasted Region

Yellowstone Park Cor. Milwaukee Sentinel.
The forenoon was occupied in making a
visit, on horseback or in wagons, through the
Bad Lands towards the south to what il
called the Burning Mine, about eight miles
distant. The district is unlike any other part
Of the world I have seen. It's strange con-
figuration is doubtless due in great part to
the agency of water which has scooped out
deep valleys, leaving the harder masses of clay
in high ridges, and isolated mounds and pin
nacles, their sides destitute of vegetation,
and mostly Of yellowish gray color, with
stratas of blue and red clay, and occasionally
of rock. Fire, too, has played a part in
shaping and coloring the Bad Lands. Ex-
tensive beds of Ignite, substance which ap-
pears to be sort of immature coal-peat
that has been for ages compressed under a
deep stratum of super-imposed clay-exist
here, and in many places, when exposed by
the erosion Of water, have taken fire and
slowly consumed, causing the earth above
them to cave in, and changing it to brick
red.
Masses of rock, too, are found which con-
tain iron, and have been partly fused by the
fires giving them the appearance of volcanic
scoria. The party rode up to the summit of
high ridge overlooking a wide extent of
country. A more chaotic scene of desolation
cannot we'll be imagined; it somewhat re-
sembled, in its lines of CONFORMATION, the en-
cravings of the moons surface, as seen
through telescope. The prevailing hue is
gray with blotches of brick color. Buffalo
grass. now withered, the ash-colored sage
brush, and here and there a clump Of low red
cedars or choke-cherries grow in the valleys,
and the wild sun-fower haunts its bright
blossoms here and there.
Here, too, for the first time, we saw the
prickly pear of cactus, growing wild, but
dwarfed in this high latitude. 1t was for
merly supposed that the Bad Lands were alb
solutely worthless, but experience has
proved that they are excellent for graz
ing purposes. The grass in the valleys
is extremely nutritious, and cattle
thrive in them, throughout the year. They
were formerly O favorite haunt of the buff
falo, and are now being occupied as cattle
ranges The burning mine is bedof Ignite
on fire. The combustion has been going on
since the place was first visited by white
men. In breadth it is fifteen or twenty rods.
The fire slowly advances, making a progress
Of only few feet in year. 1t is several
iCOo OoAo" ChC Jul A1SC, eAiiS, do AZ AuONOo Oiif
the earth gapes into assures above it, and
finally caves in fully eight or ten feet below
its former level A hillocky surface of burnt
red sterile clay stretches back for long dis
lance, marking the course of its progress.
No smoke arises from the spot where the fire
is now active, but the air above it quivers
with intense heat Through the assures in
the earth we would look down and see the
dull red glow Of the fiery mass below.
Bunches of dry grass thrown into them
caught fire before they reached the level of
the ground. Some of the party thrust in
sticks, and lighted cigars with fire from the
subterranean region
All through the Bad Lands are to be seen the
traces Of similar combustion, blighting and
blasting large spaces into red sterility. At 3
o'clock our cars were attached to the regular
train going westward For about twenty
miles the railway runs through the Bad Lands
after leaving the pyramid park station. The
course is through narrow valley, shut in on
either hand by cliffs and buttes of bare clay,
which often take the form Of fortreSses with
bastions and towers. It then emerges into a
prairie region, treeless to the horizon. The
sun is bright and hot ina cloudless, hazy sky.
The dry, grassy plain, the hot, hazy sky melt
into each other with Little change ofcolor to
show where they meet; we are in the midst
of the great grazing region Of Montana.