The Republican journal., 1890-01-09
From Dakota to Oregon.

To THE EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL: ! left
kota, on the morning of Nov s. The west
bound train was crowded and they put an
other car expressly for the benefit of the Da
kota emigrants. The bottom lands of the Da-
kota river are only about one mile wide al
jamestown and the valley is fringed on eacl
side with bluffs as usual. The bluffs are 20 tc
80 feet high and beyond these stretches the
broader Dakota valley which extends to the
Coteau Hills. The valley here is rather more
rolling than usual. After passing EldriIge we
pass through narrow range of the Coteau
Hills, but they are not as stony usual The
| land improves until we reach Dawson, where
we find fine farming country. Then the land
becomes more rolling, yet 1t is comparatively
well settled. Some good farm land, then more
| rolling, and some gravel, before we reach Ge-
neva, where we find one building. Land roll
ing and gravely, then more rolling about Drs-
coll. The land Is somewhat stony, then more
stony and more rolling before we reach Ster-
| ling.
| We crossed the Missouri at 1870 A. NJ. The
river was very low and looked as though it
| could be easily forded. Across the Missouri
valleys, bluffs and gravelly knobs are most
gracefully interspersed. New Salem is the
| first town. Clay Is found near Sims and there
are deserted brckyards. The rolling low hills,
| the winding valleys, the abrupt and lofty grav-
ell knobs crownng many a hill, and each con-
tinuay presenting itself in some new or vary
Ing form, constitute the only scenery. There
Is occasionally small creek which has long
since ceased to flow, or a stray farmhouse sur
rounded by few domestic animals. We pass
Curlew. The few small houses, II feet square.
and the small piles of straw or hay tell Of the
scanty subsistence which the settlers procure.
| The buffalo grass is about two inches high and
there Is little else except wild sage. A settler
seldom has over an acre of plowed land. In
the midst of these conclusions a brakeman en-
ters the car and tells that the settlers are
worth from so to 100 thousand dollars. and
$3.50 to s. each.
About Hebron the land is more gently rolling
and there are fewer lofty knobs. The water in
| streams looks strongly alkali. From Richard
son to Taylor the land is gently rolling. Just
before dark we noticed piles of something.
Some suggested that they were petriied stacks
Of hay, as they were about the shape that hay
| IS usually stacked. There We're some round
stacks, some long and some narrow. | thought
| they might be Indian houses pIastered over
| with clay. In the midst of these scenes we
passed Medora. Presently the earthwork~ be-
came so numerous that we knew we were in
THE BAD LANDS.
| The piles of earth became higher and con
tinuous. 1t looked like a boys play ground
on gigantic scale. The earth mounds tow
cred up with almost perpendicular sides to
varying height Of from 20 to several hun
dred feet. The peculiar formation i prob
ably owing to the nature of the elements Of
| which it is composed. Some of the mounds
| looked like mixture of coal and iron melted
together, but the greater part looked in the dis
tance like clay or sandstone drenched in alkai.
The amount of alkali in solution at time
when the earth was molten mass was proia-
bly, the cause of these earthly structures. The
heavier material. as first to become Soltdied,
may have been thrown in lofty waves or
thrown high in air by volcanic action and he
come fixed, while the more soluble alkali still
washed the base of these lofty pinnaceS. TO
see naked earth, without grass or shrub, tower
Ing to perpendicular height of several hum
drei feet above the surrounding prairie is a
sight which eXcites the curiosity. but 1t cannot
be commented on intelligently without closer
inspection. A large part Of the had Lands We
were permitted to see only in the dim twilight
of evening and large part of the Yellowstone
valley was passed during the night.
THE YELLOWSTONE VALLEY.
We reached the pretty town Of Billings just
before day saturday morning. We ran for
some distance over what seemed in the dim
light of morn to be rolling prairie. Suddenly
we came to what appeared to be huge earth
wcrhs, "a long embankment, a mile long, and
rising to perpendicular height of 80 to 40
feet This proved to be part of the bluffs Of
the Yellowstone. We soon found ourselves In
the Yellowstone Valley, which is about mile
wide and bordered by bluffs 30 to 80 feet high
on each side Some Of these bluffs are solid
ledge, some are not. Some rise in pinnacles,
scattered irreguarly as far as the eye can
reach; others consist of irregular ranges of
hills. The crowning points of the cliffs are dot
ted with some species of evergreen. A few cot
tonwoods are scattered along the banks of the
river. The soil Of the valley is q clay and all
the feed produced has been appropriated by the
settlers and grazed close to the ground. The
river Is low and could be forded almost any
where. The bed Of the river is gravel. Dis
tant hills to the right and left are covered with
snow. The snow capped hills draw nearer.
The snow filling the crevices and depreSsons
In the side Of the mountain summit gives it the
appearance Of some fancy freScoed work. We
pass another range OF snow-capped mountains
and then the bluffs come close to the river 30
the train runs on road cut in the side of the
stone bluff.
ONE DAKOTA SNOW STORM
| or blizzard would bury the train 100 feet ull-
| der snow. The next station is Elton. A range
| of mountains about mile long rise 50 far
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