Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1891-08-07
AMID DRIFTING SANDS.
STRANGE SCENES AMONG THE SHIFT
ING DUNES CT NEBhAsKA.

II NhSfant Nout-tfN.
The sand hills in Nebraska are peculiar.
Drfted east west north, south. everywhere,
by each wind that blows: whirled up into a
conical peak by the wind Of today, only to be
blown ont into long, low drift by that Of
tomorrow; tossed about hither and thither.
like snow 10y every passing breeze-these sand
dunes have a strange, uncertain existence.
almost as tickle and caprcious as the wind
Itself They are a shifting, moving desert,
an ever hlllowy ocean on which one may
walk, mounting the waves, and, looking off
across the restless surface see sand and sky,
nothing more, They are unique; an ocean,
while tossed by storm, turned TO sand, and
still like the ocean, the waves rising and fall
ing, only slower. Fitful, unquict, restless, a
vagrant country.
The sand hills are desolate, dreaI.v, silent
On calm day the silence is oppressive.
remember ridingup on the top of one of these
drifts Of sand one afternoon when the sun
was sinking well down toward the west, and
1t seemed as if there was nothing around me
but shadows-eyerv cone throwing dark
shadow half way up the grayish yellow side
Of the next. had lett the wagon an hour
before, as we were going along the trail four
or five miles to the south, and ridden off
among the hills on the pony after some an
telopes Of which we had caught sight. 1t was
a still, calm October day--not a breath of
wind, not a cloud in sight. | had wandered
over and among the hills for some time when
l stopped to rest on the top OF one rather
higher than the others. 1t seemed as if 1
could see thousands of the little round conIcal
/ hilIS-each forty or fifty feet high perhaps
each like all the others-each casting a dark,
semi-circular shadow. As the eve reached
further away the hills seemed to become lost
and gradually melt into one another, but the
shadows remained, making landscape Of
| shadows-half shadows, half sunlight The
shadows lay thick and regular over the sandy
waste, as if some giant had gone over the
whole country with a huge paint brush, and
touched the landscape regularly with dark
/ biotches. Their edges almost met, with only
tracery of sunlight dividing them. In time
the view would have grown monotonous, but
then it was strange, unique, bewidering. 1t
/ was silence and desolation lying at ones feet
with the soft afternoon sun-a little redder
than usual, a little like Indian summer
/ flooding it with hay light, and gradually
sinking lower and lower, while the shadows
rose higher and higher
/ Some little distance away | could see a
couple Of the antelopes I had started after
on top of one Of the hills, gazing toward me
with mild surprise at the fact that | thought
/ l was going to get them. Sitting half way
up the side of almost the next hill was a lean
and hungry coyote. At the foot of the one
where | stood lay scattered the bones of two
or three butfaloes, half buried in the sand,
with their white, spectral looking skulls and
black horns. The rest was sand-sand and
shadows and silence
My pony stood with her feet buried in the
sand watching the wolf. Nothing stirred.
1t seemed as if | could feel the silence. 1t
pressed down all around. 1t was everywhere
! | wondered how far into the edges of this
desert the noises of the world without pene-
trated. l spoke, and it sounded like a voice
from behind the next sand dune-from some
/ one unseen. 1t was strange, this deep silence
and as the shadows crept gradually up the
hills the whole scene became weird 1t
seemed as if | was in a labyrinth of shadows
shut in among the shadows by silence-and
/ gradually | began to doubt whether knew
the directions, or whether there was such a
thing as direction or distance Only shadows,
and more shadows, and a dead, heavy, al
( most painful silence | wondered if there
was ever any sound here, or if-but there
was-the silence was broken by a flock of
Sandhil cranes, Sying over so far above that
/ they looked but little more than specks, but
the tapping of their wings came clear and
distinct. Then a little burrowing owl flew
out Of the next shadow toward the sun, and
tapped its way slowly around another hill.
and the coyote went in what appeared to me
I would be a rather fruitless pursuit, and the
antelopes bounded away, looking no bigger
| than rabbits as they disappeared among the
/ hills and shadows.
/ There was no limit to the view-hills and
/ shadows, shadows and hills as far as the eve
| could reach-and far beyond. 1t was fifty
| miles to the east before tie fertile country
/ was encountered; almost as TAR to the west
/ The sand hills stretched away 100 miles to
/ the south; | don't know how iar to the north
/ it was not above two miles to the line be-
/ tween Nebraska and Dakota, and beyond
/ that was the great Sioux Inuian reservation
reaching away to the north almost 300 miles
! 1t made little difference how far the sand ex-
tended this was equally wild and uninhabited
whether it was a desert or a fertile plain
| Ten miles to the south vas the NiObrara
rivera small stream roll ng along through
| the sand between low blufs, and constantly
| growing smaller instead of larger on its way
| to the Missouri. Well W. toward its head
more than 100 miles to The west, it seems as
large as at its mouth. between being swaI-
lowed up by the sands and evaporated by the
hot sun and scorchnc winds, unfortunate
Niobrara struggles hall its course.
The only variation to the scene of hill and
shadow was far to the northwest-so far that
| it was scarcely notice at first. Here in one
place the hills grew lower till gradually the
shadows melted together, and a narrow but
well defined valley could be traced, at the
bottom of which, cleaning IN the sun, lay
little silver lake "a glimmering mirror
among the SAM dunes. 1t was where the
wind, during some dry season, had whirled
the sand away and scooped down lower than
usual-bel0w the water line-and afterward
the water had run in and formed the little
pond. It was a well dug by the gind
With field glass | could see te2t around
this miniature lake there was quite an oasis
the grass grew rank AID tall and held back
the sand from drifting over it and again
claiming its own. There are several other
similar lakes near this one, not visible from
where | was They are the reputed head
xatels Of the Keya-Paha river, though they
only connect with this stream in the spring
when tae snow melts and enough of the water
escaTls the sand to flow along a narrow
Vi .ey. There are few such valleys scattered
u long intervals all through the sand hills
slender oasis-affording just enough grass
for occasional bands Of antelopes.
These sands blow about all winter-they
are too dry to freeze, if the snow covers them
it soon blows off, and with it the hill on
which it lay. Along the railroad heavy
wind will frequently drift the sand into the
cuts till it stops the trains l have myself
seen six inches Of sand on the track in some
places. A heavy rain will partially suhdut
the sand for a very short time-whle it i.
raining, perhaps, not much longer.-Chicag(
Tribune.
A system Of electric railway signaling
has appeared in England, in which, if