, 1889-07-28
GOLD WORLD, WONDERS.
Cheyenne Mans Sight Seeing N the
Bad Lands.

ranch you may come suddenly upon a
narrow rift in the earth with a crown of
green ~protruding. 1t is about six feet
across and twenty feet deep. 1t opens out
into one of the most interesting canyons
in that part of the Niobrara broken coun-
try which extends northeastward into the
bad lands of Dakota. At the bottom of
this ravine Zone of many you may find
inscribed on the white front of a buffalo
skull: Field Glen no rrespassinE. July
18th, 1882" The honor is appreciated,
and may it ever remain cORSecrdted
ground. | did not know then that | was
surrounded by the remains of a pre.his-
toric age. We make our history on the
sand while in the rock around us is the
testimony of a mighty past. For many
days we had puzzled our minds over the
evidences of an extensive fauna existing
where now the whole region was devoid Of
trees. From the river northeastward veg
etable petrlications abounded. Trunks
and roots of trees and coils of animal or
vegetable matter abounded. The region
| evidently belonged to the Tertiary period
with slight and thin outcroppings of the
Cretaceous. Beyond the glen alluded to
above following the valley east towards
the river one is surrounded by a wealth Of
fossilized remains. Stumps OF trees two
feet in diameter, gnsrled roots, long
trunks, out reaching branches, were in the
face of the bluffs on either side. The
bark was quite distinctly marked and the
tact that the interior sandstone had abb
sorbed more or less of lime by infiltrat;on,
showed the wood had been soft.
Along with these forest trees were
many spiral formations like great stone
cork-screws perpendicularly placed in the
rock. These soils were not only numer-
Gus and distinct, they invariably main
tanned a perpendicular axis. not deviating
six inches in any case. Careful investiga-
ton showed them to be vegetable. Their
size was from one-hali to six inches in d.
ameter. Sometimes where the clay had
been washed away they stood as pillars to
the cathedral rocks above. The problem
was to classify these petrifactions. Know
ing that the fauna of the Tertiary and
Cretaceous periods (and tn some extent
that of the Piocene) was measurably
identical with living species. | set out on
my return to discover what plant had
such a coiled root. After days of reading
| wish to express my Indebtedness to
"Hayden's Survey for enough light on
the subject to cause me to drop investiga-
ton and rest content with the thought
that l have been to the "Old World"
more truly than if | had visited Asia.
Prof. Hayden says: THE basin of the
Mauvaises Terres, or Bad Lands of White
River, cover a large region, at least l00,-
600 square miles, and from isolated
patches on both sides of the Missouri
river | would infer that this great fresh
water lake must have spread over 100000
square miles. 1t is this latter formation
which covers the greater portion of west
ern Nebraska. The colors on the geolog-
zeal map will show the area. The Creta-
ceous beds occur along the Niobrara for
eighty to a hundred miles above its
mouth; then the loose sandy and mari
beds of the Tertiary basin overlap them.
From thence to the source of the Mo-
brara, about 300 miles, the river runs
through the Tertiary deposits only. This
stream forms the northern boundary of
the state. All of Nebraska west Of
longitude lOlo is occupied by the sands
and clays of the fourth basin.
Two remarkable extinct fauna are
found here, namely, the fauna OF White
river and that of the Niobrara, in
Guiding the Loup fork. The first is
found in what is called the Bad Lands"
proper, along White river and its tribu-
taries." After describing the wonderful
animal remains to be found in this region
(see pages SO and co, reports of 1871
he says the White river fauna is com
posed Of about thirty-fve species, all of
extinct forms and all restricted to this To-
cality. The fauna of the Niobrara is all
extinct and more recent In age belonging
to the Plioccne period.
But this fauna comprises more than
thirty species, all of them new to science.
and not one of them identical with any
living species. Over thirty species have
been found along the Niobrara and Loup
Fork, and Others may be looked for on
more careful examinations. The fauna of
White river, although entirely extinct, as