168 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



system, its greatest height being 7100 feet, which, however, 

 is not quite as high, so I have been informed, as some of the 

 outlying peaks. From both sides of the Limestone slopes, 

 there are hundreds of springs of cold pure water that 

 break out from among the rocks, and start on their journey 

 in the form of little rivulets to join the larger streams at the 

 foot of the mountain. Some of these springs, however, and 

 indeed a good many of them, flow only a short distance, a 

 half mile or so, and sink into the ground, probably to again 

 break out lower down the mountain slope. 



This whole mass of mountains, a hundred or more miles 

 long, and from forty to eighty miles in width, has for its 

 base from which it rises, an elevated plateau or table-land. 

 This table-land is of itself from 3200 to 4000 feet high. Be- 

 cause this is spoken of as a table-land or plateau, do not 

 conculde that it is one great broad level tract. It is far 

 from being level. In places it is level, or nearly so, for miles, 

 but even then it is cut here and there by streams or dry can- 

 yons, these often having rough, rocky and steep sides, and in 

 other places traversed by ridges of moderate hills, and in 

 some places there may be found a single butte or maybe a 

 group of buttes running up with steep rocky slopes to the 

 height of two or three hundred feet or more. Still the 

 whole country, outside of the mountains is spoken of as a 

 plateau or table-land, even though it has, in general, a very 

 uneven surface. 



The Black Hills holds two noted summer resorts — Hot 

 Springs in the southeastern part, and Spearfish canyon in 

 the northern part. Long before the white people ever heard 

 of the Hot Springs and the healing virtues of its waters, the 

 Indians made use of it as medicine waters. The Sioux or 

 Dakota Indians called the springs Minne-Katah, or water 

 warm. It is a peculiarity of the Dakota language that the 

 qualifying adjective always follows the noun which it modi- 

 fies ; as Weah-washtay, woman good ; Minne-sela, water red ; 



