Western news and the Libby times. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1920-1933, 1929-07-25

A few years ago this would have
been thought absurd, placing COM
mercial building so far back from the
line of travel on the street.
Minneapolis and Saint Paul, well
named the Twin Cities, are two cities
of beautiful homes, pleasing parks,
modern business enterprises, and all
that goes to make progressive and
growing American cities. However,
there was one thing we missed while
driving through their residence dis
tricts. That was the absence of flow
ers around the houses and in the
lawns. To the westerner, acquainted
with our western cities, Seattle, Port
land, Spokane-and Libby-wherc
every homeowner seems to vie with
his neighbor in filling his yard with
clusters, rows, beds and hedges of
striking and gorgeous blossoms and
where no home is too humble to be
without trellis of sweetpeas or some
other sweet smelling and lovely flow
er-to the westerner visiting the Twin
Cities this absence of flowers was
particularly striking. There are, of
course, few flowers here and there
but the great majority of the homes
have practically none. The yards are
handicapped and are made beautiful
with the use of shrubs, but few flow
ers are used. At least they were not
in blossom when we were there in
June and we did not observe any
number of plants in the yards. The
homeowners of the Twin Cities should
make their homes even more beauti-
full than they already are by the more
liberal use of flowers.
We have never given profound
study to geology but we have found
keen interest now and then in skim
ming over the froth--we might say
of that intensely interesting subject.
Therefore we found unusual interest
in the sight that stretched before us
one day when we came into the edge
of the bad lands in eastern Montana
and western North Dakota. The sight
is difficult to describe. 1t first met
our gaze as one side of a canyon ris-
ing two to three hundred feet above
the bed of river. The canyon wall
consisted Of a series of rolling, round
ed ridges, largely uniform in size with
creases or slight gullies running from
the top Of the canyon down to the
al RI
with uniform layers of different col
or. In most instances the coloring be-
gan with a dark brick or strawberry
color at the top. Below layer of
that-several feet wide-there would
be one of lemon color, then layer
of slate color or dark gray, then one
approaching orange, followed by a
layer of almost white material. The
effect was strikingly pretty. This
formation continued for several miles.
Driving some distance farther we ran
into section where the canyon wall
was at a distance and between it and
US and all around us were various
shaped mounds, fifty, seventy-five, a
hundred feet high and all marked with
these layers of color. Some of them
would run up to peak, almost as
perfect in shape as an ice cream cone.
Driving past one we laughingly re-
marked that it reminded us Of a
huge ice cream Sunday" On the top
was the usual strawberry red, down
the sloping sides were the lemon,
slate, orange and white layers. Scat
tered over it were green splotches
of vegetation, giving it all a close
resemblance to huge, delicious con-
lection
This entire formation is an excellent
example of erosion. The rounded
ridges in the canyon walls, the
mounds and peaks and turrets in their
vivid coloring have been shaped by
the SHOWS and frosts of winter, the
rains and running waters of spring
for how many thousands Of years
trained biologists can only guess
Most of this formation is not hard
crock but is, instead, mud-like sub
stance that disintegrates more or less
easily under water and weather. The
highway passed directly past one OF
these mounds, and we saw a trick
ling stream running from the layer
Of white material near its base. The
trickling stream carried this white
material short distance. and deposit
ed it on the soil. There, | thought, is
where the alkali of that district
comes from, and / think my deduction
was correct.
AS one travels eastward in the Da-
kotas one can see evidences Of this
same formation extending clear across
Dakota and perhaps into Minnesota
Here and there, there appears a
rounded knoll or smoothened ridge but
in which near the top there appears
a dash of that same coloring found
in such profusion farther west, this
coloring peeking through mass Of
green verdure. Our geological inter
est was aroused in what appeared to
us evidence that much of that couh
try was at one time similar to ttnat
which we had passed through on
| the Montana North Dakota line, but
that the eastern area had been eroGed
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