Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-04-29
PYRAMID PARK.
The "Bad Lands" Of the Yellow
stone Valley.
A BADLY BROKEN UP" COUNTRY.
SpeeuIatioas as to the Causes Of the Pecsl-
lar Fofmations-The Country Along
the Northern Paeiic-Glen-
dve-Wheelingites.
S,,ec,a oO,respOnderce Of ne Sunday Regts.er.


Spectu Correspondence Of tie Sunday RegsSter.
GLENDIvE, NJ. T., April lS.-The
greatest natural curiosity which the
traveller from the East usually sees dur
ing a trip to Eastern Montana, by the
route of the Northern Pacific railroad,
is the pyramid Park" or "Bad Lands
of the Little Missouri" scenic attrac-
ton which Montana and Dakota share
between them, the large portion of this
tract being in the latter Territory. There
are a number of large tracts of what
are termed "Bad Lands" in Montana
in the vicinity of the Yellowstone and
Missouri rivers, but these lands form
only very small proportion of the
country. None of the other "Bad
Lands" equal in picturesqueness, in the
eccentricity of their geological forma-
tons or in extent those of the valley of
the Little Missouri river, which cover
an area extending about fourteen miles
on each side of the liver, and some two
hundred miles from north to south.
This valley contains
ny RAIDS Of Mounds.
buttes, crags aud pinnacles, between
which are canons, ravines, gulches and
precpices. 1t was my fortune to see it
the first time by bright moonlight, long
after midnight, and the wierd character
of the landscape, the curious forms
which required little aid from fancy for
one to see in them castles and towers
and forts and turrets and giants and
monsters, the precipices and black
chasms which continually rose up or
yawned about us as the train rushed
roaring through these solitudes, all
combined to make the scenery seem
the strangest and most awe-inspiring OF
any which have seen in all my travels
by land and sea. Shakespeare's die
tum, mature is greater than Art" is
here revived. AS gazed, the words OF
the Twenty-third Psalm-learned near
Nv thirty wears ago, when | was Sun
day schC oil scholar-c with new force
to my mind, and / wondered if David
could have beheld in imagination n
Scene Like This
when he gave expression to that beau
tiful allegory: "Iea, though l walk
through the valley Of the shadow of
death, l will fear no evil: for Thou art
with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they
comfort me-
IshOuld have enjoyed my trip through
"Pyramid Park" much more If it had
not been for very disagreeable COM
panion which l came in contact with,
and whose acquaintance, made at u
hotel in Bismarck, and whose nudges
and pinchcs at inopportune moments |
found perfectly nauseating. My COM
panion was an undigested supper.
The "Bad Lands" of the Yellowstone
valley of Montana are less rugged than
those of the Little Missouri, and inter-
lying amongst them are many plateaus
and gently graduated slopes and ex-
tensive basins drained by streams run
ming into
The Yellowstone River
or its tributaries. These lands are
toughest in the vicinity of the Yellow
stone, and the tops of the highest hills
and bluffs in them are nearly on a level
with the broad prairies which lie back
OF and between the water courses. Ac-
cordingly, as we travel away from the
Yellowstone in Eastern Montana and
up the valleys of its tributaries, we find
tie valleys to widen out and the height
of the hills above the surrounding coun-
try to diminish until a journey of less
than day generally has brought us
into a country of rolling prairie,
Many theories have been advanced
to account for the existence of the rug
ged formations known as bad Lands"
One las been that they are the result of
volcanic action; that the whole lines of
country forming the valleys dropped
down, owing to grand CONFUSION of
nature. Another idea is that the land
was once level, high plateau under
laid with beds of Ignite, topped over
with strata OF clay that the coal took
fire and baked the clay, and the surface
caved in when the fuel was exhausted,
leaving the unburned masses standing
up alone IN the curious shapes that they
now have. 1t seems probable that this
last mentioned cause has had some-
thin to do with the formation of these
lands, as the brick-cOlOred, baked clay
can be seen in many places, and some
| of
The SubterrRnean Fires
are still burning, and can be seen by
travelling some six miles away from
the railroad near Little Missouri sta
| ton. The main cause, though, Of the
bad Lands" formation is believed by
most of The biologists who have inves-
tigated the subject to have been as fol-
lows: The greater part of Montana
was once a great lake, on the bottom of
which for ages were deposited the clays,
loans and vegetable matter which the
streams brought to it. The lake oc-
casionally subsidized long enough to per-
NIT the growth of trees and foliage,
which under the pressure OF new de-
posts Of clay and loan became the lig-
mite which is now so abundant In Mon
tana. These various strata even takes
on the condition Of stone, were soft,
friable, and capable Of being easily
wasted by the action of water. AT last
this great lake found its outlet,
first through the Missouri river,
and then through the Yellowstone, and
the wear and wash of these strata, first
under the action OF the fierce, but rapid
| ly suHsiding current and afterwards
| under the influence Of
Rain and Frost,
| WIZ WY 6ANhbs 4uS IulRtl
cut out broad channels for themselves
which are the valleys Of the present day.
The smaller streams lead proportionEte-
~ smaller valleys now. The bed Of the
lake was nearly level, and asthe water
subsidized there were left at the general
level the broad prairies between the
water courses. The smaller fragmen-
tary portions WHICH are the hills, gut
tiers, mounds, pillars, ETC., OF to-day,
were sawed off by the rills, and other
streams, afluents Of theriver which were
tributary to the main outlets. 1t il pos
sible, too, that some of these bills, ETC.,
were composed Of closer packed and 80
slightly more refractory material than
| that which had washed away.
The dad Lands" are incorrectly
named, as that term is apt to convey a
wrong idea Of their character and de-
gree of usefulness. Their soil is very
much the same as that OF the rolling
prairie county which lies between the