82 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
i 
out clear and distinct. If the traveler is fortunate enough to obtain 
such a view, he will understand why, in the early descriptions, they 
were always referred to as the “Shining Mountains.’”’ The mountains 
that can be seen from this point are the ranges that lie just south of 
Livingston and bound Yellowstone Park on the east. 
At this point also the setting of the valley can be well seen. Bil- 
lings has for a background a high bluff capped by massive sandstone 
or “‘rim rock” (Eagle). This can be followed to the east by the ey 
until it dips below water level and then reappears on the south side 
of the river in equal boldness and ruggedness, but instead of follow- 
ing parallel with the valley it strikes due south across country to 
Pryor Creek, the next stream in that direction. Its outcrop is every- 
where marked by an escarpment, and at the last point at which it 
can be seen it makes an abrupt break in the sky line. On the right 
(north) the cliff trends nearly due west, as shown on the map (sheet 
13), but the railway runs toward the southwest and consequently 
departs more and more from the cliff. The rim rock is visible as far 
as milepost 8, but beyond that point it is obscured by the edge of 
the terrace on the right. 
The traveler may notice that the river bluffs on the left (south) 
look very different from the rim rock. There are no ledges on these 
bluffs and they are composed of dark shale (Colorado shale), which 
underlies the rim rock. This shale is the lowest and oldest formation 
that has yet been seen on this trip west of Minnesota. 
Near milepost 12 a branch of the Great Northern Railway which 
uses the tracks of the Northern Pacific from Billings to this place 
turns northward, going to Great Falls and Shelby, where it unites 
with the Great Northern main line. 
From Laurel a branch of the Northern Pacific Railway leads to the 
south across the Yellowstone and up the valley of Clark Fork to the 
towns of Bridger and Red Lodge. Red Lodge is the 
largest town in a coal field that supplies most of the 
fuel used by this railway in its mountain divisions 
from Butte and Helena on the west to Mandan on 
the east.? 
Laurel. 
Elevation 3,311 feet 
806. 
‘The Red Lodge coal field, at the foot 
of the Beartooth Mountains in Carbo 
County, supplies fuel for the railway, for 
the big smelter at Anaconda, and for a 
large domestic trade. 
In quality the Red Lodge coal is dis- 
tinctly below most of the eastern coals 
but compares favorably with many of the 
Rocky Mountain coals. It shows a tend- 
ency to slack on exposure to the weather 
and consequently is classed by the United 
=] 
States Geological Survey as subbitumi- 
nous, but this tendency is so slight that 
the coal evidently belongs at the top of 
its class, which is near the dividing line 
between the bituminous and subbitumi- 
nous coals. Its heating value ranges from 
10,570 to 11,440 British thermal units. 
The field comprises only about 40 
Square miles, but the number and thick- 
ness of the coal beds compensate in some 
degree for the small area. According 
