The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-02-13


Curious Heaps Ia shs ContraI Enn
Prnirie Whcse Origin r. q Mystery.
The broad expanse Of lere, praiTit
which makes up the greater portion 81
central Kansas = broken IL enc place by
a range Of hills whose origin IS a ouea-
ton tina has puzzled scientists. The
prairies are easily e~xpiaineds they are
simply the bed OF q vast ocean. Tho
surface contains usually q limited
amount Of sand evenly distributed.
This also Is 70 be expected, for the e
ton Of waves would spread uniformity
over the seabed the sand washed down.
from the bordering mountains. But
here, in the middle Of this vast ocean. Is
q miniature mountain chain, as distinct
from the surrounding land as II it had
dropped from the skies.
The hills stretch from near Lyons.
Kan. to Hutchinson, a distance Of
about rs miles. They form tie arc Of a
circle and are on the average four miles
In width. The curious feature OF them
is that they are made up wholly OF
sand without the slightest intermlx-
ture Of any foreign element. The sand
Is composed Of fine, Acknowledgment
PARTICLES, 50 light that they seek q new
position at every breeze, and breezes I'M
Kansas T too common to be notice,
able.
These beds Of sand are much given to.
shifting. A heavy wind win move whole
ocres of them. Hills so feet in height
win be transferred little BY little dis
tance Of 100 yards. and a road hetWesn
two mounds win be found next day1
entering the very bowels Ola singleh hill
There is no limit to the curious tricks
the eddying storms will play with the
sand. The effect can be compared only
to that produced by high wind on very
fine snow.
In many places, however, a long
period Of quiet weather has permitted
a turf to form that can Withstand thel
action of the eler nts. In these spots.
much fruit is raised, the best Of which
IS a wild plum renowned throughout
the whole state. But If one digs through
this turf, the sand is found beneath and
extends downward to the old prairie
level. At this point begin the soil.
limestone strata and conglomerate, ex-
actly the same as in all the rest Of the
region.
This fact proves that the hills were
placed here after the surface formation
had been completed, and further cor-
~roboration is found in the substances
buried beneath the hills. Behring'S have
uncovered great cottonwood trees with
the branches all intact, and bones OF
antelope and sandhill crane-two ami
mails which still finger in this unfrr-
quented region, though otherwise all
most driven from the state. Even bu-
mar bones have been dug up, the re-
mains probably Of early travellers
caught in the dangerous sands during
some unrecorded storm. Under these
conditions, especially il the storm is
rotatory, like the famous tornado, this
region forms a natural deathtrap.
No satisfactory explanation of the
hills has ever been advanced. Early and
less w~ell-informed Investigators
thought they might be the remnant OF
some heavenly body which by chance
had encountered the earth after tho
surface formation was practically fin
ished. Some even went so far as to
declare them to be the remnant Of the
nucleus of a comet. Later on, when the
cataclysInic school Of biologists was in
the ascendant, they suggested that some
mighty prehistoric cyclone, as it swept
through the country, had collected the
sand and had deposited it here, where
the force of the storm was expended.
Scientists of the present day are dis
posed to find a more simple explana-
ton. They say that as the inland sea
subsidized this stretch of land may have
been uplifted somewhat so that IL
formed an island, and the action of the
waves collected and deposited the sand
about its borders. Then, after the water
had disappeared, the land sank to d
level with the surrounding territory,
thus leaving behind it the heaps Of
sand in the form of hills. This theory,
although it does not account for all the
phenomena, is perhaps the most ration
al yet proposed, and it will probably be-
found to have considerable truth when
the complete history Of these hills shall
be discovered.-N. Y. Tribune.