The Saint Paul globe., 1902-05-08
DEVILS CORKSCREW WEEDS.
Gigantic Spiral Columns in bad
lands Once Wafer GroMths


Lands Once Water Grovvths.
The mystery of the Devils Corkserew
IS solved at last. And the explanation
Is almost as wonderful as was the 1uzzle
For some time past scientific attention
has been bent upon certain extraordinary
freaks of nature in the Bad Lands Of Ne
braska. They are cOrkscrew-s -shaped col
umns of quartz, often fifteen or twenty
feet in height These are found IN great
numbers embedded in the sandstone hills
Of that region. Always standing perfectly
vertical, and so absolutely symmetrical
as to challenge comparison for accuracy
OF design with any work of the sculptor s
art, they are numbered literally by mil
lions. being ''weathered OUT singIv ana
in rows from the sides Of the cliffs.
Obviously, they cannot be works Of art
but, on the other hand, they bear no like
ness to anything in nature. If they are
FOSSILS, what could they have been before
they became fossilized? Somebody sug-
gested that they were fossil gopher
holes, which had been filed with quartz
material In a bygone age; but the notion
was obviously absurd especially IN view
of the fact that gophers do not dig their
burrows in mathematically symmetrical
spirals
For lack Of a better name, the spiral
columns came to be known as devils
corkscrews-a term which science mas ac-
cepted, designating the phenomenon as
the "daemonelix," which means exactly
the same thing. The more dignified title
was bestowed by Prof. E. II. Barbour, Of
the University of Nebraska. who recently
headed an exploring expedition sent out
to the Bad Lands by that educational m
stitution for no other purpose than to
find solution for the strange problem
A good many of the corkscrews were
quarried out of the sandstone rock BY
the Barbour party and notable part Of
their structure in each case was found
70 be a huge root Gf such it might be
terme0 attached to the lower end. The
root was some times as big around as a
hogsheac, and in large specimen with
d SPtraI oil, say, htteen fee0 the root
WOULD be as much as twenty feet long
IhIs was claimed by advocates of the
Sonlle! theory to represent the nest cf
ene gigantic rodent. the screw being OF
course the buTrow Communicating yyitt
the surface Of the ground
heh, on one occasion. the bones Of a
Sopher were actually found embedded in
1ne qudrCz OF corkscrew, the gopher ad-
yoGates were convinced that their theory
mad been proven; but later some homes
oI q deer were discovered in tha eI1L
stance of another spiral and If Was 1bo
notat rotn 4I LHe anu-gopherites to laugh. A
notdoie point about the screws. bv the
way; is that some of them turn II r.
ISL anu otherS to the left-unIflse the
~. VLuihdIy ,corkscrew used for opening bot.
Lles-While now and then a enaoivs9. :
dug out that winds gracef1iIL, ,illeI! arn,I. =
W tIcdi axis, ike q vine around ! etjcl-
a,luGL AIeGL thorough exploration of the Goe-
TVine o,,4 Osds, and after carefully quar-
IyIhS out several hundred sTaSi,t,-. -
Ffof Barbour decided that ~ IN ~
oCfe"s o-is were unquestionablv of ore9rI4o
r1ITeL amman or vegeta bIa-jnae j.
~ ~ odo az thelr symmetrical form e1IIIa
rs accounted for in no other VA, STe,lu III,
we're assIredly not animals AMI Laey
- i 1een plants. If So what li,I - - =
W. o., ne answer to this onastfoy,
ereoICis OIs 70 De obtained by revievvfneS -
. sSNJlosleaI history of the regio, rs Inc
NOW, 1t appears that All 49,.
49,, IIounlry was covered a million ,-e.U1
~ ~ an immense lake, which cccI,ni[.53 MI
rno,,nteiI iiGIe OF the vast basin of the ParkSt
1910 -'1ilIS. II was an inland saa n , froi
water, on the bottom of yhje% - 80 ~ - eS'h
HlCSt wonderful water-weeds ~ I Clle
s.. Toel y, some of them were twe1tv teet
80 - large spirals- mathematicaIIv ~
act IN curvature. Quite nosejkI1r 80 80
splI1I was composed Of ero7,r OaSis ~
tbis - tornllng sort of community biIf
lii!s is uncertain. Due
anyway, in the course of aqas No..
Iuahutles Of mud were poured h, ~
rivers into the lake. and thus tba T,,+l. ne
tta,t1 5e.as became burled-B hole fields A.
aeons OF time, in fact-and fine IaIrs lff1-7
W, us bottom becoming dry land In
cIdlt5 ciaen5aliy. the plants decay ayfng. were re-
placed, particle by particle. bv efIico
from water which contained n SiIica
OF of course. is the material Of quartz-and
thus ii is that the so-caIIad DatfI,e
corkscrews were formed, Reproducing liz
rocky substance the vegeta bles from
WI ich they originated.
10 the Devils corksCrew-is no longe- a
mystery, though the discovery of i+e
true nature has involved the solving of
one Of the most interesting puzzles ever
tackled by the scientific investigator =
Philadelphia North American