8 GEOLOGY OP THE BLACK HILLS 



iiiutilated condition of the specimens prohibits a positive opinion."* In 

 these collections we have also the first specimens of that great fossil flora of 

 the Upper Missouri, which has since yielded such rich and valuable stores 

 of deciduous plants to our paleo-botanists, Newberry, Lesquereux, etc. 



It will be noticed that the expeditions mentioned confined their explo- 

 rations in Dakota and Wyoming almost entirely to the immediate valley of 

 the Missouri and its branches, and did not penetrate into the great unknown 

 land beyond the banks of the river. The territory was sterile and disheart- 

 ening to look upon, and was inhabited then by warlike aborigines. Those 

 hardy and adventurous pioneers of our earlier civilization, the fur-traders 

 and voyageurs, had, however, scoured the country far and near, seeking their 

 peltry and trading with the native tribes in their distant dwelling places. 

 The employds of the old United States and American Fur Companies and 

 their powerful rivals in trade the Hudson Bay Company, were familiar with 

 all points of the great Northwest, but their observations were of little value 

 from a scientific point of view. Good descriptions of the general features 

 of the country, of the Indians, and of life in the West, are given in many 

 of the old books of travels, prominent among which are Irving's "Astoria" 

 and "Bonneville." Specimens, however, brought in from time to time by 

 these traders gave evidence of interesting deposits, and from this source was 

 obtained the first information regarding the great bone beds of the "bad 

 land" Tertiary deposits — the "Mauvaises Terres" of the White River. An 

 account of these specimens was first made public in the American Journal 

 of Science, by Dr. H. A. Prout, in 1847. 



In 1 849, Dr. D. Dale Owen, who had been intrusted to make a geo- 

 logical survey of the Chippewa land district, directed his assistant. Dr. John 

 Evans, to make a trip into the Mauvaises Terres of White River. Dr. Evans 

 obtained a very excellent collection of Cretaceous shells and vertebrate 

 remains, and the former were described and published in Dr. Owen's final 

 report in 1852, while the latter were described by Dr. Leidy,of Philadelphia.f 



In this report of Dr. Owen the first description is given by Dr. EvansJ 

 of these now celebrated "bad lands." 



*Proc. Phil. Acad. Sci., May 1845, vol. ii, p. 240. 



tProc. Phil. Acad. Sci., vol. vi, IS.^i^-'SS, p. :W2. 



tD. D. Owcu's Fiual Kcport, 4to, 633 pp., 27 plates, IG maps, p. 194, ct acq. 



