Douglass : A Geological Reconnaissance. 221 



Mr. Raymond and I were intending to make a trip about thirty- 

 five miles or more south of Medora to the Little Missouri Horse 

 Ranch. Mr. Arthur Huidekoper, the owner, had sometime previously 

 requested Mr. Douglas Stewart of the Carnegie Museum to send a man 

 to examine a specimen, which had been found on the ranch. The 

 writer had long wished to search this country for remains of extinct 

 vertebrates, and this, it was thought, would afford a good opportunity. 

 The mail goes from Medora to Sand Creek postoffice at White Butte 

 nearly fifty miles south by road ; but we found, that, because the heavier 

 vehicle usually employed was broken, only one of us could ride, since 

 the only conveyance available was a light one-seated buggy. No 

 horses or wagons could be hired at Medora. It was therefore agreed 

 that Mr, Raymond should go on to Glendive, while 1 went southward. 



My trip was one long to be remembered. Some have tried to cor- 

 rect the prevailing idea that the so-called bad lands of the west are 

 designated as "bad" because of their unproductiveness. Some of 

 them are bad in this sense, while others are, in part at least, good 

 lands, especially for grazing. The bad-lands of the little Missouri are 

 emphatically what the French voyageurs termed them, " tnauvaises 

 terf-es traverser " (bad lands to travel through); and in this day's ride 

 the fact was being ever more and more thoroughly impressed on my 

 mind ; but " bad," in being desert-like, they certainly were not. 



The area drained by the stream is long and narrow, and the grades 

 of the short side-branches are steep. When the rains descend the sur- 

 plus of water from a large area rushes down the short ravines, quickly 

 enters the river, and renders it unfordable. So far as I could learn 

 only one bridge, that of the Northern Pacific Railroad, spans this long 

 river. The stage-road to Sand Creek crosses it ten times, so in times 

 of high water it is necessary to " take to the hills," as we had to do 

 on this trip. It was one of the roughest rides I ever experienced, yet 

 I enjoyed it, and it gave me an opportunity to see the effects of erosion 

 in the region between the river bottom on the one hand and the up- 

 land prairie, or plateau, on the other. 



The "Bad-lands" appeared at their best. It was the fourth day 

 of August. It had been a wet season, and the tops of the hills, the 

 valleys, and ravines were green wherever anything could grow. The 

 commonest plant was the rich nutritious buffalo-grass {Bouteloiia oli- 

 gostachyd), now in bloom, which gave a lawn-like finish to every 

 available spot. Though a dwarf grass, it was tall enough in some 



