16 



The Badland Formations of the Black Hills Region 



Han races, are now being* revealed as gently by nature again in 

 these the days of man. 



HISTORY OF EXPLORATION 



Our first knowledge of the badland formations of the 

 Black Hills region worthy of record dates from 1847. Early 

 in this year Dr. Hiram A. Prout of St. Eouis described in the 

 American Journal of Science a fragment of the lower jaw of a 

 Titanothere, he calling it a Paleotherium (see Figure 2).* A 



Figure 2— Fragment of the lower jaw of a Titanotheie, the first fossil dis- 

 covered in the Big Badlands. Described by Dr. H. A. Prout, of St. 

 Louis, 1846-7. 



few months later Dr. Joseph Leidy described in the Proceedings 

 of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia a fairly 

 well preserved head of what he termed a Poebrotherium (see 

 Figure 3). The name implies belief in the ruminating nature of 

 the animal and later investigation, strange as it may seem, 

 showed it to be an ancestral camel. The two specimens re- 

 ferred to were obtained from representatives of the American 

 Fur Company and were secured near the heart of the Big Bad- 

 lands. 



The descriptions of these specimens aroused much interest 



*A slightly earlier reference to this specimen may be found in 

 the same journal for 18 46, under "Miscellaneous Intelligence," but 

 this is merely a brief preliminary note and is unsigned. 



