THE SNEEZELESS LAND OF THE DACOTAH 



509 



otes, beaver, fox, tourists, wild-cats, grouse, jack-rabbits, 



ducks, geese, burros and numerous other varieties, besides 



which bass and trout are plentiful in all of the streams. 



For those who like flowers, the Black Hills modestly 



THIS IS A TYPICAL RANGER STATION IN THE 

 BLACK HILLS FOREST RESERVE 



offer more than nine hundred different kinds. One spot, 

 near Custer, was given the name Floral Valley by Gen- 

 eral Custer and a prominent botanist later declared that 

 this valley contained a larger variety of wild flora than 

 any other single spot in the world. 



As to roadways, most of the best-known routes to the 

 West go through or near the Hills, besides which there 

 is the Chicago, Northwestern, the Chicago, Burlington & 

 Quincy and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul rail 

 lines. 



The automobile roads include the Black and Yellow 

 Trail from Chicago, via Rapid City, Lead and Deadwood 

 to the Yellowstone Park through the Cody entrance; the 

 Scenic, on the George Washington National Highway 

 from Savannah, Georgia, via Sioux Falls through the Bad 



Lands, after which it joins the Black and Yellow Trail; 

 The American, from Lead and Deadwood to Miles City, 

 Montana, the Loup River Shore Line from Omaha via 

 Fremont, Nebrsaka, Long Pine and Rapid City to Lead 

 and Deadwood ; the Denver Highway, through Hot 

 Springs, Sylvan Lake and other points in the Central 

 Hills. This is perhaps the most picturesque route of all, 

 as it strikes the best part of the Hills and continues up to 

 Deadwood and Lead, Sturgis, Fort Meade, Government 

 Irrigation Dam and Spearfish Canyon. 



There are good hotel and garage accommodations 

 throughout the Hills, besides which the Forest Service 

 has established public camp grounds all along the high- 

 ways. These grounds are fitted with stoves, water and 

 wood, while almost every town has a Commercial Club 

 where tents and equipment may be rented. 



The climate in the Hills is wonderfully mild and even, 



NIGHT IN THE BLACK HILLS 



BY EARL H. EMMONS 

 The moon rides high in an azure sky 



O'er the mountains high and still; 

 Its slender beams with their silver gleams 



Touch the valley, stream and hill. 



At timber line stands the stately pine. 



Like sentinels of the night; 

 The shadows creep over gulch and steepe 



In the ghostly, paling light. 



Each lofty peak in the moonlight streak 

 Is bathed with the rainbow's tones 



From the sparkling dots of mica spots 

 Like a million precious stones. 



From a far-off vale comes a coyote wail, 

 With its weird, falsetto trills ; 



A fragrant breeze fans the rustling trees 

 It's night in the Great Black Hills. 



with little wind. There are few insects and no poison- 

 ous snakes. The open season for tourists runs from May 

 to November. 



How's that? mountains, lakes, hot and cold springs, 

 caves, canyons, mines, birds, fish, game, flowers, towns 

 and items of historic interest all gathered into a com- 

 pact bundle easy to handle. Can you beat it? You can 

 not. If you haven't seen the Hills you certainly should 

 and if you have, then you will again and there's that. 



'X'HE famous cedars of Lebanon were almost wholly 

 ' destroyed duiing the World War, according to a 

 writer in a San Francisco periodical. The trees date 

 back to the earliest times. They were historic during 

 the wars of Sennacherib, 6o8 years before Christ, as 

 described in the psalms of David. Pliny, the Roman his- 

 torian, claimed their wood to be everlastingly durable, 

 and the Arabs believed the trees to exist for all time. 

 Timbers unearthed in the ruins of ancient Assyria 



have been found practically unchanged after 2000 years 

 and more. In olden times the oil from the trees was 

 used as a cure for leprosy, and it was used by the 

 Romans to preserve their manuscripts. Individual trees 

 were often 42 feet in circumference and 90 feet in height, 

 with a wonderfully beautiful spread of branches. 



During the late war the Turks cut them down for fuel 

 for locomotives and then the opposing forces continued 

 their destruction for fuel and other military purposes. 



