Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1915-06-29
WRITES OF
bad LANDS
j. w. Foley Of Msdora Tells o.
Interesting Phenomena in
bad Lands

How few residents Of our state
know what an Interesting land they
have in the western part Of their own
state. Many there are who cross the
state in Pullmans, or nowadays in
automobiles, who are little aware
what a strange phan,asmagoria they
are passing through. The Indian land
of bad medicine, in which an Indian
never came to live for any length of
time; he came at times to hunt, but
his stay was short; he, the primitive
man Of nature, could not account for
the burning fires; the strange forms
Of the bluffs: the many colors ON the
hillside left by the former burning of
the coal, which turned the clay to a
red color. Even some of the cedars
crept on the ground, like vines, in.
stead OF growing upright.
TO visit the interesting sights one
should travel along the Little Mis-
souri,, either on horseback Or in a
wagon, and travel slow; leaving the
horse or wagon at times and travel
to the difficult places on foot. The
writer guided de Morcs in 1889, when
returning from a hunting trip, to the
top OF a small butte pear the lead
of the Cedar canyon, where the most
wonderful view. III the whole OF these
weird Bad Lands, can be gotten. Al
ter looking at the sight which met
his eyes, he said to us that he had
then returned from Z trip which took
him nearly i've the world, but no
where on his trip was there a sight
like the one he was looking at to be
seen. The view a only be compar
ed to an immense coliseum extending
rs miles away in Il semi-circle, with
the river in the foreground, like q
silver ribbon, showing through the
green foliage of the trees along its
banks. 51 %.-
We first heard OF the Bad Lands in
1878 or "a, at the Ga Saint Louis ar
senal, from a soldier who had been
on what was known in the army as
THE Yellowstone Expedition OF
1873" This military expedition, un
der command of General Stanley, left
Fort Rice for the purpose of explor
ing the Yellowstone river and guard
ing the surveyors who we're locating
a route for the \. p. railway. The
Bad Lands crossed about 81
miles south OF where the railroad
now crosses.
A member OF the expedition was ar
tistic and made drawings OF many o.
the buttes passed. These drawings
we saw at the arsenal, and many'i
the time during the 50 years we have
lived among the buttes, have "
thought Of thet drawing and what F.;
faithful representation they were o
many Of the 'buttes today.
The soldier, in telling about the e1
petition, told of seeing fires burning
in the ground, but appeared to hav'
no idea that it was the coal burning
Of which the country has since beer
found to be full, was the cause o
the fires. He also said that he though
it useless to try and get a railroad
through the country on account, OF tn
fires; that the land would surely sink
So far as we have been able t.
learn the Yellowstone expedition o
70 as the first military expedition
to cross the Fad Lands after the Civil
war. We know the volunteers cross
ed near where Med0ra is now located
in 1864, but we have been unable K
find any account of their crossing
and a description Of the country
There may be such an account some
where.
The next after the Stanley expcdi
ton to cross was the Custer cxpedi
ton of 1876, which crossed about fou'
miles south OF Medora; the route be
ing down Davis creek, and in man!
places the trail a be seen today.
Clusters command encamped TO-
several days near the VIM. Mozart,