Erwin H. Barbour 



THE DEVIL S GULCH BEDS 



On a recent collecting trip to Devil's Gulch and vicinity, in 

 northern Brown County, a large and varied collection representing 

 the mammalian fauna of the Loup Fork beds of that region was 

 secured for the University Museum. These fossils are a part of 

 the extensive palaeontological collections of Honorable Charles H. 

 Morrill, and may be counted the largest and most important, which 

 have ever been secured for the University in so short a time. All 

 of the material is highly interesting from the view point of the 

 palaeontologist, and some of it is new and of first importance. 



Early in May, 1913, Mr. A. C. Whitford, an assistant on the 

 Nebraska State Geological Survey, and a Fellow in the Depart- 

 ment of Geology, was sent to Devil's Gulch to prospect for the 

 bones of " Tetrabelodon." His success led the writer, accompa- 

 nied by Mr. Harold Eaton, to join him at once. The party camped 

 for ten days in Devil's Gulch and obtained two wagon loads of 

 excellent material. Exploratory work was then continued by Mr. 

 Whitford until October. 



The Niobrara River, which is the boundary between Brown and 

 Keya Paha counties, has a broad valley, perhaps a mile across at 

 this point. The land immediately adjacent is considerably cut by 

 side streams, some of which show bold bluffs and canyon walls. 

 Dutch Creek flows for several miles between deep, precipitous 

 walls, and empties to the north into the Niobrara. Extending in a 

 northwesterly direction, as a tributary to Dutch Creek, is Devil's 

 Gulch, a narrow, precipitous, picturesque canyon, about 225 feet 

 deep, and scarcely more than a mile in length. Certain portions 

 of the canyon are heavily forested with bull pine, yet the walls are 

 mostly bare and precipitous for they are subjected to the heavy 

 erosive action of wind and rain, and many well-preserved bones 

 are exposed. This Gulch is about 15 miles north of Ainsworth, 

 upon the three-thousand-acre ranch of Mr. William A. Jamison, 

 through whose courtesy the University was allowed to collect at 

 will. 



A geologic section of the place is readily obtained by follow- 

 ing the course of the canyon. At the junction of the Gulch with 



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