The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1922-10-20


There once was . time when Mon
tana was Z tropical country. Palms,
dates and banana trees flourished
whore now there are c0ttonwo0ds,
willows and boxelders. Crocodiles,
the rhinoceros and elephants disport-
ID IN the rivers and forests: camels
and miniature horses lived on the
pratries; ferocious sabre-toothed IT,
gers crouched in the jungles.
And although this time IL esti-
mated to have been some 100000
years ago, there Is no guess work
about these things, for the bones Of
the animals have been dug out in
many places and pieced together by
trained specialists.
Montana is the biologists mecca.
Students and geological classes make
regular pilgrimages from many col
leges to Montana to study the won
drous and varied structure of her
mountains and plains and the vast
mineral wealth concealed beneath
them. From these studies biologists
have been led to reconstruct in ina
gination the history Of past ages,
and have become skilled in recog-
mixing by various methods the par
ticular age during which different
kinds and groups of rocks have been
formed, as we'll as being able to tell
accurately the types of animals that
lived In each age and the forms of
vegetation that existed.
The name Montana would not al
ways have been suitable to the area
which is comprised within our state.
Soon after the dawn Of geologic his
tory, and for millions of subsequent
years, Montana was not a mountain
Gus, elevated country, but lay below
the level of the sea and was covered
to great depths with sands, mud and
Shiny oozes.
Mountains Are Formed
Life in these ancient seas was
scant at first, being confined to the
simplest forms of sea animals and
plants. AS the ages went by higher
forms Of life developed until finally,
during the period referred to by geo.
logists as the cretaceous period, the
seas and plains were populated by
many kinds Of fishes, crocodiles and
by birds which could not fly. But
man and many varieties Of our land
animals and plants were yet to ap-
pear.
About 100000 years ago, accord
ing to geological reckoning. these sea
bottoms with their accumulated bur-
den of sediments began to be pushed
up in places in low-lying lands and
in other places into mountainous re-
gions. The forces which produced
this upheaval were attended by great
volcanic outbursts, which spread
pumice, volcanic ash and lava over
both land and sea. Such were the
beginnings Of the Rocky mountains.
Not all of Montana was elevated
at this time. The eastern plains Sec
ton, lying east Of line drawn from
Cut Bank to Livingston, roughly, was
still below sea level. and in shallow,
swampy areas bordering the shores,
rank vegetation grew and accumu-
lated into peat beds which now form
the vast coal deposits underlying
thousands of square miles Of the
eastern and central portions of the
state. Nor was all Of western Mon
tana converted into dry land. Fresh
water lakes of large extent filled the
depreesions between the newly form
ed mountains, and in shallow parts
Of these rank vegetation likewise
grew and coal was formed. The clay
beds and coal at Drummond, Ana
conda, Wisdom, Missoula and Glacier |
park were formed at that time.
It was at this period that the cli- !
mate was tropical, and it was also
during these times that many Of Mon
tana's great ore deposits were form
ed. Granite and other molten rocks
forced their way up into the crust |
Of the earth and with them metallic |
minerals, which were afterward de-
posted by heated waters in assures, |
which the miner calls veins.
Ice Age Comes
In still later times. possibly some |
100000 years ago, climatic condi-
lions changed amazingly. It began |