Ranching in the Bad Lands 15 



flows when the snow melts; their bottoms contain 

 patches of brush, and they lead back into the heart 

 of the Bad Lands. Some of the buttes spread out 

 into level plateaus, many miles in extent; others 

 form chains, or rise as steep isolated masses. Some 

 are of volcanic origin, being composed of masses 

 of scoria ; the others, of sandstone or clay, are worn 

 by water into the most fantastic shapes. In color- 

 ing they are as bizarre as in form. Among the level, 

 parallel strata which make up the land are some 

 of coal. When a coal vein gets on fire it makes 

 what is called a burning mine, and the clay above it 

 is turned into brick; so that where water wears 

 away the side of a hill sharp streaks of black and 

 red are seen across it, mingled with the grays, pur- 

 ples, and browns. Some of the buttes are overgrown 

 with gnarled, stunted cedars or small pines, and they 

 are all cleft through and riven in every direction by 

 deep, narrow ravines, or by canyons with perpen- 

 dicular sides. 



In spite of their look of savage desolation, the 

 Bad Lands make a good cattle country, for there is 

 plenty of nourishing grass and excellent shelter 

 from the winter storms. The cattle keep close to 

 them in the cold months, while in the summer time 

 they wander out on the broad prairies stretching 

 back of them, or come down to the river bottoms. 



My home ranch house stands on the river brink. 

 From the low, long veranda, shaded by leafy cotton- 

 woods, one looks across sand-bars and shallows to 

 a strip of meadowland, behind which rises a line 



