THE NORTHERN PACIFIC ROUTE. 65 
The rocks, which to the eye appear to be horizontal, in reality rise 
steadily toward the southwest as part of a broad and gently curved 
arch in the strata, more fully described on page 68. The rise of 
the rocks in this direction brings to the surface those crossed in the 
badlands east of Medora and others that lie below the level of Little 
Missouri River at that place, but the country is so generally grass 
covered that the traveler can not see them all. 
At Hodges there is a bed of lignite which is supposed to mark the 
base of the Fort Union formation, and may be the same as the bed 
reported to be 23 feet thick under Medora. The rocks below this 
bed, which are scarcely distinguishable from the rocks above, belong 
to the Lance formation, in which the valley of Glendive Creek is cut 
from Hodges to Yellowstone River. In riost places the valley is 
bounded by bare walls of somber-colored rocks and subdued bad- 
lands, but they are neither so imposing nor so picturesque as those 
of Pyramid Park. The Lance formation carries some beds of lignite, 
but generally they are too thin to mine. 
Below Allard the Lance formation constitutes the valley walls as 
far as Yellowstone River. Along this part of the valley no two of the 
topographic forms are the same, but there is a simi- 
Allard. larity of type and color that soon becomes extremely 
i —— monotonous. There are, however, some well-defined 
terraces which in a measure tend to relieve the dull- 
ness of the landscape. The upper terrace probably records an epoch 
when the stream was flowing at a higher level than it is to-day, these 
terraces being remnants of the old valley floor. The lower terraces, 
which are well developed near the river, may record flood stages of 
the Yellowstone, when slack water from the river backed up into all 
the tributary valleys and caused sand and mud to be deposited. 
At milepost 213 the train swings out from the mouth of Glendive 
Creek into the broad valley of the Yellowstone and in a few minutes 
reaches Glendive, the end of the division, the county 
Glendive, seat of Dawson County, and one of the largest towns 
Elevation 2,091 feet. in eastern Montana. In building the main line of the 
St Paul soy niks, Northern Pacific Railway in 1879-80 this was the 
most important town between Missouri River and 
Helena, for it was the point from which construction was carried on 
in both directions. This was made possible by the transportation of 
supplies from Bismarck by way of Missouri and Yellowstone rivers. 
When through travel was established, however, Glendive lost most 
of its importance, and for a long time its growth was slow, as the 
‘country roundabout was but sparsely settled and its principal busi- 
ness was that of a division terminal of the railroad. Recently, with 
the impetus given to agriculture by the introduction of dry-farming 
95558°—Bull. 611—15——_5 
