Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-12-06
THEY DO NOT BUILD FORTS.
What Senator Moody Says Of the Indiana 1.
the Bad Lands. -

l
"All this talk about hostile Indians fortifyin
their location in the Bad Lands is all nonsense.
said Senator Moody to STAR reporter. Senate
Moody lives in South Dakota and is generail
credited with knowing something about tn
state he represents and the inhabitants thereof
Did anybody ever see any Notifications
erected by plains Indians?" he went on. 9TH
nearest they ever came to earthworks was in tn
final Crow versus Sioux trouble when the,
piled up little mounds of rocks and dirt, behint
| which they were tolerably secure from the bull
lets OF any adversary who was on the other sid
OF the heap and some distance away. To b,
sure, the Bad Lands country is broken I'D ans
Is difficult to travel in, but the Indian has M
advantage in its occupancy. When the soldier
get after them the Indians will have som.
pretty rapid travelling to do, and then thew will
realize that the disadvantages are not all on onf
SIDE Winter in the Bad Lands is much mildeI
than on the plains. The great buttes shut of
an wind and the snow lies quiet when the big.
for their ponies they have gone to good place
ior the grazing there is excellent unless fires
went through this fall The tract in which
tnese alleged hOstiles are now said to be camped
Is about twenty by forty miles in size. There
are but few agriculturists near it because the
native grasses.
PERSONALLY do not anticipate any trouble
with the Indians, although some of the aspiring
young bucks may allow their desire for fame
ana scalps to run away with them. All the
older and more level-headed Indians are OPP
imously opposed to war"
THE BAD LANDS.
The Bad Lands, where it is reported that the
hostile Indians intend to make a stand against
the troops, are unpleasantly familiar to those
who have travelled very much in the west
There are bits of this land scattered all throuoh
the plains of the west, but perhaps the por-
lions best known are along the upper Missouri.
The lands in question are located in North Da-
kota along the Little Missouri river. They
form averitable desert, which is devoid Of trees,
naps, fringe along the banks Of The river.
Inc formation is peculiar, consisting of soft
rock, which has been worn into deer puIches
and ravines by the action OF the
water On the level places, where this soft,
rocky substance has been washed, it is almost
impossible to travel either in dry OF wet
weather. Animals or men in trying to pass
over sink into the dust or mud, as the case NAV
De, and practically there seems to be no bottom
to to the soft, yielding mass. The name is a
yaise terre and is as appropriate as any that
could be selected. They are bad lands and
nothing else. Something similar is seen in the
cases OF farm lands which have been exhausted
by successive crops and their abandonment.
The water in making its way along the natural
drainage washes out great gulches, which are
constantly becoming deeper. In the course Of
years the face OF such land presents a success
sion Of ravines and high cliffs The western
Bad Lands are made much more impassabIe by
reason OF the character of the soil, a. &
composed of soft rocks, which are rotted and
which crumbie at the touch, and 10 readily
washed by water.