EXPLORATIONS IN THE JUDITH RIVER GROUP. 329 
We were early in the saddle, and taking a lunch of hard- tack and bacon, we 
started for our fossil fields, returning at sundown. We suffered a great deal from 
clouds of minute black gnats, that got under our hat-rims, inflicting severe wounds 
causing the forehead to swell and giving much pain. We also suffered from 
thirst in the hot arid beds. One day, I remember while very thirsty, I saw a 
stream of water in a deep canon : after much labor I reached it only to find that 
it was so strongly impregnated with glauber salts as to unfit it for drinking. I 
never after that tried to find a drink in the Bad Lands. Prof. Marsh in writing 
about the fossil fields of the northwest, has likened them to veritable battle-fields, 
where the remains of the slain lay scattered about, and it requires much work 
and exposure to wrest them from dame Nature, She never gives up her choicest 
treasure without a severe struggle. 
I was so unfortunate as to have for a saddle pony a half wild mustang. He 
was a black, vicious little fellow, and more than once attempted to kill me. One 
day, near Cow Island, I had picketed him on a high table-land of about two 
acres in extent and surrounded by deep canons, with a difficult trail leading over 
it. I noticed that he stood very still while I climbed into the saddle; he was usually 
restive and ready to start the moment I put my foot in the stirrup. The moment 
I gained my seat he started on a full run across the level space that separated us 
from a deep canon, the curb was broken and the reins were as worthless in my 
hand as a bit of straw. I feared that he meant to hurl himself over the precipice, 
but when he reached the edge he stopped suddenly, expecting me to go over his 
head into the deep gorge below. Fortunately I kept my seat; turning as quick as 
a flash he rushed at full speed to the other side stopping suddenly with his feet 
planted within a few inches of the brink. Once more he made an attempt to 
dismount me, and again failed ; he then gave up and allowed me to dismount. 
After fixing the curb I made him pay for his murderous attempt by riding him at 
full speed over hills and valleys for several miles. 
I had another experience that nearly cost me my life and that I can never 
forget. I was following along a steep slope between two ledges of sandstone, 
the surface was covered with loose dirt into which I slipped until stopped by the 
accumulated dirt. I came to a place where the upper sandstone ledge had 
broken loose, and carried with it all the dirt, laying bare and polishing the under- 
lying rock. Below, the second sandstone ledge had broken off and there was a 
sheer descent of several hundred feet. On my hands and knees I started to cross, 
and midway began to slip. I struck my hand-pick on the rock expecting to thus 
stop, but the sharp pick rebounded as if I had struck granite with it. My case 
now appeared hopeless, as I was fast approaching the brink of the fearful preci- 
pice; by some means I never knew how, I succeeded in reaching the loose earth 
at a point within a few inches of the descent. I suppose that when I first started 
over, my clothes, being very dusty, were the means of preventing my slipping, and 
in my frantic efforts for life I got other parts of my clothes next to the smooth 
surface ; that helped stop my downward motion, and thus enabled me to reach a 
place of safety. We found a number of nearly perfect skeletons of Dinosaurs 
