GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE, TEERITORIES. 59 



teams througli them. The water, though not abundant, is usually quite 

 good, mostly in small lakes. 



There are also many alkaline lakes, which may be readily distin- 

 guished from the fresh-water by the absence or presence of vegetation 

 around their borders. We may therefore conclude that an area of 

 20,000 square miles formiug the northwestern portion of ,the State is 

 totally unfit for cultivation, and is even doubtfully suitable for grazing. 

 There is scarcely any timber on the whole area. Along the Platte and 

 south of that river the surface is less sandy and the soil more fixed, so 

 that there is at least a moderate degree of fertility, but the absence of 

 timber and timely rains will render the whole quite undesirable for the 

 farmer. 



As I have before remarked, the cultivation of crops and the planting 

 €f forest- trees by the settlers farther to the eastward may so modify 

 the climate as to produce a more equable distribution of moisture 

 throughout the year. But at x)resent I do not see how it can be settled 

 except by a pastoral people. 



Although these Tertiary deposits cover so extensive an area and con- 

 tain no minerals of any economical value, and are of greatly diminished 

 value for agricultural purposes, yet for the geologist they offer the most 

 temi^ting treasures in the abundance of curious organic remains. 



Two most remarkable extinct faunae are found here, namely, the faunse 

 of White Eiver and that of the Niobrara, including the Loup Fork. The 

 first is found in what is called the "Bad Lauds" proper, along White 

 Eiver and its tributaries. 



The first animal remains noticed from this deposit were described by 

 Dr. Leidy in the Geological Eeport of the Northwest by Dr. D. D. Owen. 



The lowest bed of this portion of the Tertiary basin is composed mostly 

 of clay and is called the Titanotherium bed, from the circumstance 

 that it contains the bones and teeth of this gigantic pachyderm. There 

 was also a Hyopotamus and the Lophiodon. It would seem as if the 

 earlier condition of this lake was that of a great marsh in which these 

 animals of the hippopotamus tribe could wallow at pleasure. 



The next stratum above is called the Oreodon bed, from the remains 

 of vast numbers of this genus that occur there. 



There were three species, Oreodon majoi\ 0. minor, and 0. culbertsoni. 

 The latter was the most abundant, and seems to have existed in flocks like 

 the antelope of the prairies. Dr. Leidy has already examined portions 

 of more than 700 individuals of this species. It was a ruminant hog, 

 chewing its cud, and at the same time possessed of canine teeth for tear- 

 ing flesh. 



There were also three species of the hyena family, a saber-toothed 

 tiger, and a gigantic weasel. The saber-toothed tiger would have tre- 

 mendous conflicts with the hyenas, and the wounds still can be seen in 

 the skulls. 



In one of the skulls of a hyena, completely changed to stone, can be 

 seen two wounds on each side of the nose, which had partially healed 

 before the death of the animal, and the apertures just fitted the canines 

 of a skull of a hyena that was found in the same locality. 



There were also two species of rhinoceros, which must have been 

 somewhat similar in their habits to those of the present day, but were 

 supjjosed to have been hornless ; one of them was about as large as the 

 Asiatic species and the other about two-thirds as large. This White 

 Eiver fauna composed about thirty-five species, all of them extinct 

 forms, and all restricted to this locality. 

 .The fauna of the Niobrara is all extinct, and more recent in age, be- 



