Canadian Agriculture. 243 
in latitude 41°, due east of Salt Lake City, and in this locality 
were traversed by the original settlers in that city before their 
eyes were gladdened with a sight of the " promised land." I 
cannot do better than let the American geologists describe these 
" bad lands " in their own words : — 
" In the arid region of the western portion of the United States, there are 
certain tracts of country which have received the name of mauvaises terres, 
or bad lands. These are dreary wastes — naked hills, with rounded or conical 
forms, composed of sand, sandy clays, or tine fragments of ahaly rocks, with 
steep slopes, and, yielding to the pressure of the foot, tliey are climbed only 
by the greatest toil, and it is a labour of no inconsiderable magnitude to 
penetrate "or cross such a district of coimtry.* 
" The vast plains to the west of Cheyenne are covered with the drab-yellow 
and light-gray sands, marls, and clays of the great freshwater lake deposit, 
known as the ' bad lands.' " f 
And Dr. S. Aughey, in his report on the superficial deposits 
of Nebraska, describes the bad lands in a manner which I have 
only space to briefly summarise. He says they do not really 
belong to the surface deposits, as they constitute a peculiar 
formation, where most of the soil capable of being cultivated has 
been removed by denudation. They belong to what Hayden 
calls the White River group of Tertiary rocks, and are believed 
to be of Miocene age. The materials of the deposits are white 
and yellowish indurated clays, sands, and marls, with occasional 
thin beds of lime and sandstones. " The geologist never tires 
of investigating these deposits and their curious remains. The 
almost vertical sections of variously-coloured rock have been 
chiselled by water agencies into unique forms. Indeed, viewed 
from a short distance they remind the explorer of one of those 
old cities which only exhibit their ruins as reminders of their 
ancient greatness. Among these grand desolations, the weird, 
wild old stories of witchery appear plausible and possible. It is 
in the deep canons at the foot of stair-like projections that the 
earliest of those wonderful fossil treasures are found which have 
done so much to revolutionise our notions of the progress of life 
and of Tertiary times." " Agriculture in such a region as this," 
adds Dr. Aughey, " where often nothing is now growing, is, of 
course, out of the question. Whether there ever will be such an 
increased rainfall as to start vegetation in this region and make 
its surface capable of cultivation, is a problem of the future." $ 
* ' Exploration of the Colorado Eiver of the West.' Washington : Government 
Printing Office, 1875, p. 149. 
t ' United States G-eological and Geogi-aphical Survey of the Territories, for 
1873.' By F. V. Hayden; Washington, 18?4, p. 17. 
X ' United States Geological and Geographical Survey of Colorado and Adja- 
cent Territory, 1874.' By F. V. Hayden, U.S. Geologist ; Washington : Govern- 
ment Printing Office, 1870, p. 202. 
R 2 
