The Bad Lands cow boy. [volume] (Little Missouri, Dakota [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-1886, 1885-11-26

burning mines, OF which every one has
heard 30 much. I determined to see
them, and engaging conveyance and
guide, we set out. Ne rode q buck
board, !" and othing but d ebnck ckboard',
wonld haze remained upright Our
mustangs took us up hills and down 4
decliyities, our vehicle tipped frst't one
side and then TO the other, until It seem
ed as though nothing could tip it over.
Ny guide was "frum CaIiforny, and :
didn't like this country, and; 60 would
soon return. He told me we might see
some deer, and once when upon an emf
nence his trained eye discerned an ami
mai on a distant plateau. / leYeled my
field glass and discovered deer lying
down, secure from intrusion, however,
because Of the guliies between us and
him. Cedar Canonis we'll described by
its name. Along series Of gull whose
depths are tangle of bushes and cedar
trees, whose sides are the sides of buttes
that rise hundreds of feet and terminate
in point, buttes that are table lands \
and haYe little hay fields for their tops, \
buttes that take the shapes of beasts and
men, bnttes that rise in terraces, buttes
that have been mixed with others and
tossed /, about indiscriminateIy buttes (
that behave themselves and stand as ord
erly as soldiers, buttes that rise In con-
scions majesty above the common herd,
buttes that crouch with modesty in the
shadow Of the monarchs, buttes with
their heads shaggy in their coverings OF
cedars, buttes rs bald aS billiard balls,
slender little buttes that tip their heads
,coquettishly, and try to hirt with the !
clumsy, corpulent buttes across the way,
ambitious buttes that fail in their
attempt to be dignided because they are
so small, Indian bnttes Chat take on all
tile colors they can And, tho green Of the
tI1zszrs tho ress-sffs The gragaf
the clay and the HE sand,
battes fantastic, gFotes6 Oil. pIain,s
commonplace. These were the hills I
Isaw in Cedar Canon. It Was wildly
beautiful, and an adequate description
demands more eloquent pen than mine.
The burning mines were the objective
point of the trip, and after many ups and
downs, twists and turns, we at last
reached them. We smelled the sulphur
Of the burning coal from afar, and as we
approached, the hot air rose from the
place just as have seen it often from
tile mouth of furnace in which iron
was being melted. There was little
smoke, though I am told that at times
great volumes ascend. i On one side Of
the butte was a depression, in the center
of which was tho greatest heat, and with
this spot as a center there were innum-
cradle cracks in the lines of concentric
rings, formed as the earth sank in the
center. These cracks ranged from few
inches to a foot or more in breadth, and
the center was an underlined opening.
Placing one Of my feet over one Of the
outer cracks it was quickly warmed and
I thought how great an improvement this
Z. would be over the ordinary method Of
warming by hot air registers. Approach
ing cautiously nearer the center, threw
into one of the orifces q handful Of
grass, and 1t blazed and was consumed
within eight feet of my hand. If such
is the heat at the surface, what must it
be at the center, in the heart of the burn
ing hilll ". @,..3s5s ,..g,;.s.
I, This was very easy lesson in geology,
and saw right there the process nature
had adopted to form the Bad Lands
Along the streams that years and years
ago flowed across the country, drift-wood
accumulated in immense quantities
Then followed q long period in which
sediment, sand, gravel and dirt, was
y deposited. and the wood was buried two
or three hundred feet deep. This drift
T wood in time became coal, which b.
: spontaneous combustion or electricit!
: Twas ignited. AS it burned. the deposit
? above fell into the cavities where TIL
Q coal had been, and the depressions wer,
t widened and deepened by rains ant
9 winds. This. at least, Is the theory o
n scientists; and it is very reasonable
q Where the coal veins remain unburnet
g the buttes are lofty and eften their top
o are plateaus on a level with the eountr,
n on both sides Of the Bad Lands. Yer,
Q many Of the bnttes show on their sum
( mits unmistakabie signs Of heat. The
e are as red as burned bricks and th
6 scoria, or burned clay. has an appearans
g very similar to broken bricks. Many
e the prominenees are surmounted viii
i great formations best described by ti
6 name sclinkers, z almost exactly
]. appearance like the '4clinkersp eYerybod
3 has seen in the ashes Of bitulninona Goa
{. These have assumed fantastic and somi
d times startling shapes, one remindin
y me Of q blallketed Indian, another Of II
T human face and still another Of 4
Z crouching animal. Fragments Of thes
\ \ formations ron down Tue sides of u
a buttes and are encountered ereryWher
u II. wilcox III minneapolis Tritun