27<S Tin: AMEHICAS MISI-JM JOIUXAL 



thus goes on, the liner material liein^- cai-ried away while the houlcU-rs 

 are h'ft as harriers f()rniin<i; sh)W niox inu' reaches of ealni water and stretches 

 of rapifis (hffieult to navigate during; h)w water. In one of these slifh's we 

 found several small nianinial jaws and teeth not known Ix-fore from C';>.n;i(l:i. 

 associated with fossil cUim sliells of Eocene age. 



The h)ng midsummer days in hititude 52° gave many working hours, 

 hut with frequent stops to prospect the hanks we rsirely floated more than 

 twenty miles ]ier day. An occasional tlock of ducks and geese were dis- 

 turl)ed as our hoat approached and hank heaver houses were frecpiently 

 passed, hut few of the aiiinuds were seen during the daytime. Tying the 

 boat to a tree at night we would go ashore to cam]) among the trees where 

 after dinner pipes were smoked in the glow of a great camp fire. Only a 

 fossil hunter or a desert traveler can fully appreciate the luxury of ahun- 

 dant wood and running water. In the stillness of the night the underworld 

 was alive and many little feet rustlei the leaves where daylight disclosed no 

 sound. Then the heaver and muskrat swam up to investigate this new 

 intruder, while fi'om the tree-tops came the constant query, "Who! Whol" 



For seventy miles the country is thickly wooded with pine and poplar, 

 the stately spruce trees silhouetted against the sky adding a charm to the 

 ever changing scene. Nature has also been kind to the treeless regions 

 heyond, for underneath the fertile prairie, veins of good lignite coal of vary- 

 ing thickness are successively cut by the river. In many places these are 

 worked in the river banks during winter. One vein of excellent quality 

 is eighteen feet thick, although usually they are mucii thinner. The govern- 

 ment right has been taken to mine most of this coal outcropping along the 

 river. 



Along the upper portion of the stream are banks of Eocene age, 

 from which shells and mammal jaws were secured, luit near the town of 

 Content where the river bends southward, a new series of rocks appeared 

 and in these our search was rewarded by finding dinosaur bones similar to 

 those seen at Wagner's ranch. Specimens were found in increasing num- 

 bers as we continued our journey, and progress down the ri\er was neces- 

 sarily nuich slower. Frequently the boat would be tied up a week or more 

 at one camp while we searched the banks, examining the clift's layer by layer 

 that no fossil might escape observation. With the little dingey the opposite 

 side of the river was reached so that both sides were covered at the same 

 time from one camp. As soon as a mile or more had i)een prospected or a 

 new specimen secured, the l)oat was dropped down to a new con\"enient 

 anchorage. Box after box was added to the collection till scarcely a cubit's 

 space renuiined unoccupied on l)oard our fossil ark. 



Where prairie bad lands are eroded in innumerable buttes and ravines 



