508 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



obelisk of crystalized stone rising almost perpendicular 

 to a height of 800 feet, one mile in circumference and 

 composed of the largest crystals ever discovered. 



The famous Homestake Mine is four miles from Dead- 

 wood and located in the city of Lead. The mine goes 

 down a half mile or more, with shafts every hundred 

 feet, comprising hundreds of miles of holeage. It is the 

 largest gold mine in the world, which is another item to 

 remember. The visitor is welcome to prowl all through 

 the surface workings and see the process from begin- 

 ning to end and the only restriction is that he is requested 

 not to talk or make undue noise while visiting the stamp 

 mill. The Homestake is owned largely by the Hearst 

 estate, but outside of that it is a wonderful institution. 



Then there is Rapid City, called by the inhabitants the 

 Gateway to the Black Hills, though called some other 

 things by different people. Rapid City was started by 

 a group of men 

 who came to 

 the Hills after 

 gold but had 

 no luck. They 

 did have fore- 

 sight, however, 

 and recogniz- 

 ing the spot as 

 the logical trail 

 to the Hills 

 from the East, 

 they decided 

 to start a trad- 

 ing post at this 

 point and thus 

 gather in some 

 of the wealth 

 of the Hills 

 without having 

 to dig for it. 



Many of the 

 merchants o f 

 Rapid City to- 

 day are evi- 

 dently equipped with that same foresight as displayed 

 by the towns's founders. Anyway, they saw me coming. 



Of course, there are other ways of entering the Hills, 

 but there are some interesting things in and near Rapid 

 City which are worth while seeing and do not cost more 

 than they should. Among these are the Indian School, 

 the State School of Mines, Rapid Canyon and Hangman's 

 Hill, where the pioneers were accustomed to drape cat- 

 tle rustlers and horse thieves during the early days. 



A few miles east of Rapid City are the world-famous 

 Bad Lands, which are as wonderful as the Black Hills 

 are beautiful. The Bad Lands, without a doubt, is the 

 most God-forsaken-looking spot in the world, and yet 

 they are so marvelous that it is impossible to describe 

 them satisfactorily. Just to show how impossible they 

 are of description, I will try it. 



FITTINGLY NAMED DEVIL'S CASTLE IN 



SOUTH DAKOTA 



From ground covered with brush, thistles and cactus, 

 there rise abruptly on every hand gigantic peaks, pin- 

 nacles and turrets of hard clay. The clay is streaked with 

 layers of every color of the rainbow, but the general 

 scheme is a dead grayish white and the formations are 

 the most elaborate and grotesque to be found anywhere 

 outside of Hell. 



In fact. General Harney claimed the Bad Lands were 

 "Hell with the fires out," but if he had been there on a 

 good hot day in August he would probably have shortened 

 his description by about four words, and if Dante could 

 have seen them before he wrote his book he would have 

 had a lot more local color to put into it. To me, the 

 Bad Lands suggested nothing so much as the grave yard 

 of the Universe. I never saw anything with such a long- 

 dead appearance in my rather long and much misspent 

 life. But there is no use trying to describe the Bad 



Lands. They 

 must be seen 

 to be appre- 

 ciated and 

 some people, 

 even after see- 

 ing them, can 

 hardly believe 

 it. There is one 

 thing to re- 

 member con- 

 c e r n i n g the 

 Bad Land s. 

 You may love 

 the great out- 

 doors and en- 

 joy sitting in 

 the lap of Na- 

 ture, but do 

 not try it in the 

 Bad Lands. I 

 got too close 

 to Nature out 

 there and I got 

 up in some- 

 what of a hurry with certain portions of my anatomy 

 sc. full of cactus I looked like a porcupine. There are 

 more varieties, shades and shapes of cactus in that region 

 than there are hound dogs in Interior, which is quite 

 some, and any time you sit down anywhere in the Bad 

 Lands you get right up again and your entire day is 

 spoiled. 



As far as minerals are concerned the Black Hills has 

 all of them. There is no known mineral not found in 

 the Hills. Of course, only a few are in quantities suf- 

 ficient to be payable as mining propositions, but they all 

 are there, together with representatives of every known 

 gem, except the pearl, and if oysters could climb moun- 

 tains there doubtless would be pearls also, thus making 

 it unanimous. 



Ampng game the Hills contain deer, elk, wolves, coy- 



THE BAD LANDS OF 



