Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1885-01-03
BIG HORNS SUMMIT.
Some Enormous Gashes lin the Face of
Mother Nature.

seventy miles beyond Fort Custer, Mont,
and to the south west, mother earth has
two enormous gashes in her face. Ten
miles beyond old Fort Smith, with its
well kept cemetery, VIII erein repose The
bones of gallant Dand OF regulars VIII o
fell victims to the Sioux in '76, these
gashes meet at a somewhat acute angle
and beyond their conveyance spreads
and winds the valley of tue Big Horn.
OF the longer of these wounds i'll the
countenance of the world good deal
has been written, and for years the Big
Horn canyon has been regarded as one
of the wonders of wonderful region.
But of canyons the Wes5 has plethora,
aud the more striking marvels of the
adjacent Yellowstone park have claimed
attention to the exclusion of other topo-
graphical phenomena. Striking, even
grand, in any land, however, would be
that other cash which joins the Big
Horn and is known in the vicinity as the
Black canyon. Crow and Sioux have
known the mighty fssure for years, ard,
of course, runors of it reached the settle
ment through the hardy trappers and
hunters Of the later sixties. Hardy and
utterly devoid of fear most ofthose same
trappers have been, for Black canyon
yawns where, up to III or ~, the tiercest
of fierce Indians could be found or would
find the intruder-at almost any day in
the year. To Gen. Sheridan and party
belong the honors of first exploration,
which occurred in 1871 during one of the
long plain and mountain trips of that
officer, and it is understood that he gave
the cash the name it bears.
Black Canyon is reft in the very sum-
NIT OF the Big Horn mountains, and
yawns for a somewhat tortuous length of
thirty miles, stretching from its junction
with the canyon through which the wa
tiers of the Big Horn river force their
way southwestward into Wyoming, and
almost to the boundaries of the national
park. 1t has never been fully explored,
but, except at the southernmost extrem-
ity, maintains a nearly uniform depth of
1900 feet. As westerners knew, noun
tains in these parts are treeless and rise
10 the snow line or beyond in gradual
rounded slores. There is not the slight
est indication of the Black canyon until
one reaches its very verge, and the effect
of the contrast between its densely
wooded sides, where "the tall pines, like
funeral plumes," wave to and fro and
sing ceaselessly, and the treeless acclivi-
ties behind, is as unique as can be i'm
agined. Well is it named "Black." for
these same pines, massed as they are
with naught but the denser foliage dis
played, give an air of Erebus itself to the
whole huge assure. Bringing into more
marked effect the sombreness of the
greater portion of the canyon are huge
white cliffs, perfectly perpendicular, and
with their sheer height of more than a
third of mile towering into impressive
ness which compels silence on the part
of the onlooker, be he garrulous as Fall
staff or querulous as Holman.
He would be queer American who
looking down into the chasm, did not
feel an immediate and irresistible desiIe
to penetrate the depths and look up. To
accomplish this is arduous, but neither
difficult nor dangerous. Two or three
miles south of the debouching of the Bis
Horn canyon bride path leads to the
bottom CT the Black. 1t is partly the
bed of stream which depends upon the
rainy season for its flow and partly q
track made by bears, elk or deer, terrac.
ed as it were in the very side of the
steepness. From the entrance to the
deep wood TO the bottom plateau is about
a mile and three-quarters by this path
and over all but a half mile 1t is possible
to ride. Steep as the side of a house in
almost every part, but winding sufficient
ly to allow the line of direction to be
maintained within ones base, a careful
horse can make good progress until more
than half way down. Then must hi:
rider dismount, for what was steep be
fore becomes precipitous now, and the
footway. instead of being hard and even
is covered with sand, earth, loose stones
and other Getritus from the towering
sides above. Both horse and rider mus
slide; and as in the middle of the steep
est part the path bends round large
rock, at an acute acgle, while at the
right yawns a precipice hundreds of feet
in depth, one has the elation which
comes of semi danger after he has passeG
this evil half mile and remounts for the
last and comparatively easy haIf mile o.
descent with the complaoency of hin
who has encountered and overcome OBJ.
stacles. Yet it isn't really very danger
Gus, since the loose earth helps to hold
one bacK, aud number Of army ladies
have made the descent in perfect safety,
but with more or less damage to habili.
ment.
Once landed on the perfectly level
surface at the bottom of the big canyon,
the explorer finds that the sides do not
meet, as they seemed to do when looked
at from above, but are separateI by from
few hundred feet to quarter ola mile.
The huge bare walls of rocks are even
more impressive when seen from below.