The sun., 1888-02-12
AMID DRIFTING SANDA
Strange Scenes Among the shifting Danes OF
Nebraska.

Strange Scenes Among the Shifting Dunes OF
| Nebraska.
| Prom the Chicago Tribune,
The "sand hills" in Nebraska are pecu-
liar Drifted east west. north, SOUTH every
by each T hs hs vnd c on
tomorrow; tossed about hithsr and thither
most most as hckie and csprioiops as the wind itself
biosvy Rss sfs Ocean on may m @
ns1 ssus sand eR ybs ahns osa
The The waves W M rising and falling only slower. Fit.
Our road lay among tSe sand hs ior over
hundred miles Along 1t we never saw house
company near its tracks for the section men 10
live In. and very few others belonging to set;
few head of stock. 1t was impossible TO make
ss: Event ndRsa ss
me to have seen It pull "a roots oHt of The
The sand Hills are desolats. dreary. silent
aas he 81 these
drifts Of sand ono afternoon whom the sun was
hs9s
Ny sS Essys6 ys9w slds the
to the SOUTH % and ridden oil among ths hills on
ssSs9s sfe T1s wn s st% %ssGSsE
has to Rs t
sh eo hga.s hno ths ohs II sbs T.
feet high perhaps-each Ike all the others
each casting dark semi-circular shadow. As
10 % become lost and sraduaiiy' melt into c one an.
other, but ths shadows remaaed making
sht. III % shadows lay thicf and resuisr e over
the sandy waste. as II some giant had gone
tn: soshsd huge Rp
with dark blotches. Their. edges almost met,
with only a tracery & OF sunlight @ dividing them.
Hus snsP aodS yns
redder than usual, little like Indian summer
with hay Light and erhsd%aIy
Of the antelopes had started after, on. top Of
surprise at the iaet that thought was was going Ding
to get them: t sit{,ng Il, half way up the side o.
ote. At the foot OF the ono where stood lay
scattered the bones Of, two or three .buffaloes.
rai-iook Ing skulls and black % horns. The ep rest
sieSd d. VIZ M6 Ss. suSd the
seemed as il could feel the silence. 1t pressed
all around i was won:
noises Of Of the world Without penetratsd. dts spoEe
and 1t sounded like a voice from behind the
strange-thls deep silence,,snd as tho shadows
Srspt gradually up the hills tho whole scene
rinth, OF shadows-shut In among the shadows
S kn.a began to doPbs
fhara " Gnrh n thing n g dirAotinp or dfctap
| -on'y shadows. and more shadows and a dead.
heavy, almost painful silence. I wondered Il
s oi saed
hill cranes flying over 80, far above that they
spnns wnSs ns snd disns s, sss
Then little bnrrowhg owl fey out Of the
WS apober
vent in what appeared to mo would be a rather
Gess pPnrsu dd the bounded
-, There was no limit e the vlew-hil!s and
n g
to the east before the fertile country was en-
h rs sg to 2S hs ns to Ths &
Tas not above tSo miles t9 the line between
the great Sioux Indian reservation, reaching
away e tho north almost 800 miles. It made
was equally wild and uninhabited whether 1t
was desert or fertile plain. Ten miles to the
ws rSSsh the 5ssHesn slee% ow
e sd rs way u Ss nseaS
west, it seems as large as at lis mouth. Be:
hepE up BY the sands ard
uniSrtunate Niobrara struggles hall It's course
sIGS wGo S1Iy VARIATION to thls sssne q IL! sni
sf aesa 10 Ss q" @ Hse m ass oas
pIacs the mis- grew lower TIL gradually tic
ean ana ar 6s n%t
tom OF which, cleaning in the. sun, lay a little
silver lske-a ,gimmering mirror among the
some dry season had whrIed the sand M away away
and sc3oped down lower than usual-below the
~ and formed the little pond II was a well
aVg shs .ia %iin3 sIass cou,d around tb,s
Grass spa. gre, grew rsHk and tall and held back the
Msnr ts one not IT visible from rom where was. Was.
pphGy paSy gro IN" reputed headwaters OF the Keya-
stream In the sprlng when the snow melts and
enough Of tho water escapes the sands to flow
valleys at long sps Intervals hroash
M me sand hilis-slender oqsssIan2rding lust
enpTns Ts grass for occasional bands md OF antsl9pss
on their northwest, sides. as II the heaviest
winds came from that dlrection-,eyen those
| which had become somewhat packed. and on
Nnd which were few bunches OF gray; dusty grass
n ana an oechsi"nal sh4rp ana hrirkiE bayonet-
! were hal; luwn away To the northwest
tod phsse sands boy nbout all wlntsr.ttey are
soon blows on, and with 1t the hill on which il
lay Along. tho railroad heavy wind will ire.
9uently drift the sand into the outs till Il stops
sand on the track In some places hSayT
| rain will partially subdue the sand for a very
| much longer
| ! stald I'M the shadows began to run together
till tho hlOts scattered over the landscape had
| gone, aud in their send. dotted over tho whole
y.T were -hinin@ r4inls 4, Of ligh, boating lnthe
sp1ts 0f goii"the TOPS OF the hflis i,ist tomcEo
with the last light from the. setting sun. /
turned west on the trail as it was 6ecomlng
sttsr the moon had risen and was throwing ths
shedows to the west, more ,dark, strange. and