Report of a Reconnaissance of the Black Hills of Dakota: Made in the Summer of 1874U.S. Government Printing Office, 1875 - 121 pages |
Common terms and phrases
15 feet 20 feet abundant alkaline altitudes appears arenaceous ascending August bad-lands Baird Bear Butte Belle Fourche birds Black Hills bluffs Bonap camp cañon Carboniferous limestone Castle Valley chron clay Colonel Ludlow color conglomerate creek Cretaceous crossing Custer Dakota distance east expedition farther formation Fort Abraham Lincoln Fort Benton Fort Lincoln fossils fragments geological Grand River granite grass gray ground gypsum Harney's Peak Heart River horizontal inches inclosed Indians July Jurassic layers lignite Lincoln Little Missouri lower Ludlow's Cave marl massive miles Missouri River nearly nest northwest observed outcrop passed perpendicular pine plains portion prairie Prospect Valley quartz quartzite Railroad ravines reached Red Beds resembling ridge rising rock sand sandstone Scaphites schist seems seen shale side siliceous limestone slope southeast species specimens stream summit surface talus thickness timber to-day traveled trees turfed undulating weathered wood
Popular passages
Page 84 - This is one of the most common, as well as one of the most important machine tools, and one which can be made to serve for a wide variety of operations.
Page 59 - The nucleus or central portion is composed of red, feldspathic granite, with a series ot metamorphic slates and schists superimposed, and thence upon each side of the axis of elevation the various fossiliferous formations of this region follow in their order to the summits of the Cretaceous, the whole inclining against the granitoid rocks at a greater or less angle. There seems to be no unconf or m ability in these fossiliferous rocks, from the Potsdam inclusive, to the top of the Cretaceous.
Page 75 - None made any attempt at defense unless so badly wounded as to be unable to escape by flight; even the old female just referred to continued to run after both her cubs had been disabled. The swiftness of the grizzly is considerable, and in a rough country it can easily run away from a slow horse. Even on the prairie it requires a pretty good animal to catch them, and it took several hours' hard riding to overtake the three last mentioned.
Page 78 - Barbour (:05, p. 110), in the sandspit near the inner end of the inlet opposite Hotel Frascati, but they were by no means so abundant there as in the coarse shelly stretches which were near the outer mouth of the inlet and at low tide were still covered by several feet of water. From this source, with the assistance of some of the negro boys from the neighborhood, a daily supply of large, vigorous lancelets was obtained, and, as the animals were...
Page 77 - Elk; Wapiti. Although but few elk were seen during the trip, we found in the Black Hills every indication of their recent presence in large numbers. During a single day's march eleven pairs of horns, attached to the skull, were picked up by members of the expedition. Horns that had been shed were very abundant, and it was by no means an unusual thing to see fifteen or twenty single antlers in a morning's ride. On Elkhorn Prairie we came upon a collection of horns gathered together by the Indians....
Page 36 - Black lulls, and all its ingredients are coarsely crystalline. Camp, July 30. — We traveled ten miles, nearly southeast from our last camp, and are in a wide, grassed valley, through which runs a stream. This valley here subsequently receives the name of Custer Park. The gold-seekers who accompany the expedition report the finding of gold in the gravel and sand along this valley.
Page 8 - ... the ride of five miles. The moon was rising just over the southern shoulder of Harney, and masked by heavy clouds. A patch of bright blood-red flame was first seen, looking like a brilliant fire, and soon after another so far from the first that it was difficult to connect the two. A portion of the moon's disk became presently visible, and the origin of the flame was apparent. While it lasted the sight was superb. The moon's mass looked enormous and blood-red, with only portions of its surface...
Page 77 - The horns had all been shed, and had apparently been collected from the surrounding prairie and heaped up here by the Indians. There is much variation in the horns of this species, most of which I imagine to be due to injuries to the horns while young and soft. Many of the specimens examined this summer were much flattened near the extremities, so much so in one or two cases as to be from 6 to 7 inches wide. In two instances the basal prong of the horn, instead of projecting forward and downward...
Page 12 - Hostile incursions would not be unfrequent nor an occasional massacre unlikely, and these are conditions unfavorable to a rapid and permanent increase of population. The Indians have no country farther west to which they can migrate, and only the Saskatchewan country north of the United States boundary, and which is still the range of the buffalo, offers them a possible home. It is probable that the best use to be made of the Black Hills for the next fifty years would be as the permanent reservation...
Page 3 - ... odometer-cart, a two-wheeled vehicle specially constructed for the purpose, the other in an ambulance. Two odometers were read on each vehicle, and the compass notes made as full as possible. Two chronometers (mean solar, 1362, Arnold & Dent, and sidereal, 202, Bond & Sons) were carried by the fifth man in a basket, while a record of thermometer and aneroid barometer readings was made by the sixth man during the day. The additional instruments were a small Wiirdemann transit, No. 94, and a Spencer,...