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1891. | The Hat Creek Bad Lands. 963 
THE HAT CREEK BAD LANDS. 
BY J. S. KINGSLEY. 
A WEEK to spare in the last part of May, railroad transporta- 
tion available, and the Bad Lands of Nebraska accessible, 
—who could refuse the trip? The four who made up our party 
certainly could not. So we started, taking the train for Harrison, 
Sioux county, aiming to visit the little Bad Lands of the Hat 
- Creek valley, for these were more easily reached than the larger 
Bad Lands of the White River, and besides they were not as well 
known or so much explored. 
A week’s trip is not much to write about, but in a week one 
can see a good deal, and then in a week the novelty of the strange 
scenes has not worn off, and the features of the wonderful land- 
scape can be better described. No inhabitant of the West Indies 
could describe these striking features in such a striking manner 
as has the late Canon Kingsley. The Bad Lands are often 
mentioned, but as yet the descriptions of the regions are not 
numerous. 
The journey from Lincoln was without event. First came the 
_climbing out of the valley of Salt Creek, then the long, straight 
line of track for thirty-five miles, and next the descent into the 
valley of the Platte at- Grand Island. The Platte is a strange 
stream. Geologically speaking, it is a new river, which has not 
yet been able to master its sediment. It is broad and shallow, 
and a deep hole is excavated only to be immediately filled by the 
shifting sands of the bottom. In dry seasons there are long 
_ stretches where no water is visible, but down in the sand the 
water is still running to the Missouri. 
Across the Platte the railroad strikes for the Loup valley, 
crosses the South Loup, and follows up the fertile fields of Mud 
Creek. A little beyond Broken Bow the “sand hills” are 
reached, and through them for two hundred miles we ride. There 
is nothing picturesque in the landscape now. One can easily 
imagine himself among the sand dunes of Cape Cod or the New 

