QQ GEOLOGY OF THE BLACK HILLS. 



surface features of the rugged and craggy region of the granites, probably 

 the most difficult of passage of any district in the Hills. A few words, 

 however, will be devoted to some of the most conspicuous characters of its 

 topography. Viewed at a distance from the Plains at the west or east, the 

 Hills appear as a long, low ridge, above which the peaks and ridges of the 

 interior area raise their sharp and broken summits, and the highest eleva- 

 tion is readily recognized in Harney Peak. Beginning near the extreme 

 southern end of the Hills, in the high points south of French Creek, there 

 is seen to be a succession of elevated peaks and ridges, increasing in height 

 and ruggedness until they culminate in Harney and its retinue of smaller 

 peaks. These latter are defined, sharp and craggy, against the background 

 of sky, and even at a great distance Harney Peak with its peculiar cathe- 

 dral-like summit is easily recognized. By a freak of weathering the highest 

 point is carved into a seemingly square tower, and joined to this on the south 

 is a lower ridge forming the body of the edifice. The granite range is cut 

 off sharply just north of Harney, which stands with its bold front looking 

 northward over a broad array of lower rolling hills. It rises two thousand 

 feet above the valleys near its base and several hundred feet above the 

 other peaks in the Hills, but it is rivaled in height by a point of the limestone 

 plateau called Crook's Tower. The latter, however, is an inconspicuous 

 butte, . rising but little above the general level of the plateau, while Harney, 

 springing abruptly from lower surroundings, is far the most conspicuous of 

 the high points. 



Approaching Harney from the west, from near the base of the limestone 

 plateau, we pass over the upturned edge of the schists, and though the 

 country is occasionally rough no granite is seen until within about ten miles 

 of the peak. At first we cross a few ridges of granite running parallel with 

 the stratification of the schists, and ranging in height from a few feet to 

 several hundred feet. They are extremely rugged, their surfaces being 

 shattered by weathering and thickly grown with trees, and as we approach 

 the main range they increase in frequency, size, and roughness. The schists 

 become at the same time less and less visible, and the little parks and grassy 

 valleys are less prominent, until at a distance of about five miles from the 

 peak the schists are no longer seen, and we have reached the unending 



