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454 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE, 
Back from the level valley of the Yellowstone River, which is generally 4or5 
miles wide, the land rises in what would be a great wall, but it is all cut up into _ 
bare peaks and humps, which farther back have flat tops, showing the plain level, 
and which increase in size until far back from the valley they run together and form | 
the plain. the sides of these peaks and spurs show the different strata through 
which the water hus cut, and as these strata are of different degrees of hardness 
they resist eresion unequally, producing the curious shapes which always excite the , 
wonder cf the visitor, The effect is heightened by different color combinations. ‘ 
the sandstone j.eing light gray, the ‘‘ gumbo” brown, the strips of coal black, and 
a kind of shelly stone pink, Viewed from adistance the bad-lands remind one of — 
some old closely-built city, with towers, castles, and forts. If there was as much 
rain here as in the Mississippi Valley these hills would be smoothly rounded and 
covered with lixuriant vegetation. 
In the vaileys and on the plain there is a rather scattering growth of short, fine 
grass and sage brush, but on the hills below the plain level there is very little veg- 
etation, at a distance apparently none. Sage brush and a few other small plants 
grow on some of the most sloping sides, but more of them are perfectly bare. In 
some places red cedars, very short and serubby, grow in the nooks and along the 
edges of the hills. 
Deadwood, Lawrence County, Dak. 
The town of Deadwood, in the northern part of the Black Hills, is situated ina 
deep, narrow valley or gorge, through which runs a rapid creek of red water that 
looks exactly like blood. It takes its color from a red clay through which it runs. 
The hills rise high and steep from the valley, probably to a height of 2,600 feet from 
- their base, and are covered with pine, spruce,and brush. The timber is scattering, 
and much of it has been cut. The hills are stony, and at the tops of most of them 
are ledges or peaks of rock, with many cracks, crevices, and holes. Wherever 
there is soil over the rock vegetation is abundant. Grasses, wild rye, golden-rod, 
asters, snow-berries, a small rose bush, and numerous other plants and shrubs 
cover the hills, There are also birch, hazel, and a kind of scrubby oak. My field 
work at Deadwood was done on the mountains within a few miles from the town. 
Rapid City, Pennington County, Dak. 
Rapid City, on the eastern edge of the Black Hills, is in the Rapid Creek valley, 
just where it leaves the pine-covered mountains and enters the more level and 
treeless prairie region. The hills to the west are high, steep, and rocky, covered 
with jack and yellow pine, and in some of the ravines there are a few scrubby iron- 
wood and oak trees and brush, The prairie may be divided into low, level, and 
fertile creek valleys (where the farms are), and high, dry. and unproductive table- 
lands and hills covered with short grass. The descent is steep and the creeks very 
rapid. The soil is good, but there is not enough rain during the season to make 
farming a success, except on the lowest land, unless by irrigation. 
The weather from November 1 to 16 was steadily clear, with warm days and ~ 
freezing nights. 
NOTES ON THE DEPREDATIONS OF BLACKBIRDS AND GOPHERS IN 
NORTHERN IOWA AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA IN THE FALL 
OF 1887. 
By Dr. A. K. FISHER, Assistant Ornithologist. 
BLACKBIRDS. 
At Round Lake, Minn., most of the Blackbirds had gone by the 
end of September, but their work was plainly visible in every corn- 
field. Mr. D. W. Lounsbury pointed out the results of their depre- 
dations in his own fields, and devoted considerable time to driving 
around to neighboring farms that a number of fields over a compara- 
tively large area might be examined. All had been moreor lessdam- 
aged. The loss was estimated at from 5 to 50 per cent. of the crop. 
