The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-03-30
TREASURE STATE FARM AND LIVESTOCK
of Glaciers of Years Ago
REFLECTS ON Present Soil Texture

ANS1ASSNO
Editors Note-This is the second of
a series of articles dealing with Mon
tana soils and the part that soils u
play in the agricultural adjustment
program in Montana. The facts used
in these articles have been obtained
from the various departments at
Montana State college.
By d. T. ATLIN
Since Montana is face to face with
a period of adjustment in its agri-
culture and since soils have u an
important place in determining the
direction that adjustment will take,
a very logical question presents itself
why is there so much variation n
soils.
The writer asked that question of the
soils scientists and others at Montana
State college and a week later, as this
is being written. he is gradually emery
ing from the avalanche of information
that came his way
Apparently mans guess about hap
penings on this earth goes back to a
period v%ariously estimated at from ~
million to 800 million years ago. Judg-
ing from what man can read from
rocks, apparently life appeared in h
form of jelly fish and green scum, and
developed by gradual stages through
the ages of sea scorpions n triloblteS,
fishes and swamp forests, reptiles and
giant mammals, to the first animal
that resembled a mar about 10000
B. C..
Through this vast period of millions
of years the surface of the earth went
through many changes: great shallow
seas and steaming Swamps, terrific
earth movements that twisted and dis
torted the surface creating mountains
and depressions, vast and ponderous ice
sheets slowly pushing doWn from the
north, leveling, grinding and moving
surface material.
Through these geological ages layer
upon layer of the earth's surface were
formed: limestone and lime shales
came from the skeletons and shells OF
myraids of marine animals; coal from
the rank jungle vegetable growth;
sandstone from the shores and bottoms
of lakes; layers of sand and gravel
where moving water carried away the
lighter, finer particles. Here and there
on the earth's surface are found gram
lite where native or original rock wa
showed up from below, hardened lava
from old volcanoes, minerals, and cry
stalls, deposits of salts and various kinds
of chemical compounds, and on through
the wide range of earth materials which
we know today.
Through the action of wind, water,
heat, cold, earthquakes, volcanoes,
glaciers, chemicals, bacteria, plants and
animals the soil has become what it is.
In very recent years man with his
plows and harrows has had a decided
influence upon soils.
And these forces of change are at
work today as they have been for ages.
Winds carry loose soil materials from
exposed places and deposit them in pro-
tected areas. Silt-and soil-laden waters
are ever moving toward the sea. The
effects of alternate freezing n thaw-
ing, or drouth and rain, of the activ-
tiles of animals and the growth OF
plants, of the accumulation of dead
and decaying plants and animal mat
tiers, of the action of bacteria and
chemicals and finally Of mans efforts
to hasten the slow but orderly processes
of nature in the production of plants
and animals, are everywhere apparent.
Volcanoes and earthquakes are evil
denceS that the great internal forces,
showing up the thin earth crust in some
places and lowering it in others form
ing mountains on the n hand and
deep sea bottoms on the other are still
at work. The effects of erosion of
course is to wear down the peaks and
to fill the depressions, to bring the
surface back again to a state of COM
parative levelness.
Glaciers are little in evidence today
except as they appear in the higher
mountain regions and in the polar
areas. Some biologists contend that
we are o in an inter-glacial period
and that sooner Or later another great
glacier will push down from the north.
All that is required, they contend, is a
comparatively slight drop i n the av-
erage temperature so that ice will &C
cumulate faster than it melts.
The movement of glaciers is often
mystifying to the layman. 1t appears
that ice is not rigid, and under pres
sure acts much like a liquid. Since
there is much more ice and, therefore,
much more pressure in the colder
northern part of a glacier, the ice ma
turally moves toward the warmer
southern edge where the ice is thin
ner and the pressure less. Thus it hap
pens that boulders of Hudson Bay rock
are found in northeastern Montana. It
is even reported that a gold mining
claim has been staked out in a north
ern Montana county in sand and gravel
carried down by glaciers from the gold
fields of the north.
A consideration of glaciers and their
movement is particularly interesting
to Montanans because glaciers had a
tremendous influence on the soils and
the general character of the land in
northern Montana. They leveled off