The trail of the Loup; being a history of the Loup River region

Dedication

TO ALL THOSE EARLY "TRAILERS OF THE LOUP," LIVING AND DEAD, WHO BY THEIR INDOMITABLE COURAGE AND ENERGY OVERCAME ALL OBSTACLES OF NATURE AND REDEEMED FOR CIVILIZATION AND ENLIGHTEN- MENT THE BEAUTIFUL VALLEY OF THE LOUP, IN ORDER THAT WE, THEIR CHILDREN, MIGHT REAP IN FULLEST MEASURE THE FRUITS OF THEIR SOW- ING,

THIS BOOK,

IS AFFECTIONATELY

Chapter I. Some Physical Features Of Nebraska

Arch) an Time, Nebraska a Part of the Ocean Bed — Paleozoic Time — Nebraska in the Carboniferous Age — Coal in Nebraska — Nebraska in the Permian Age — The Mesozoic Time — No Triassic and Jurassic Rocks in Nebraska — The Cretaceous Period in Nebraska — All Nebraska Dry Land- Groups of Cretaceous Deposits — Cenozoic Time — The Tertiary Age in Nebraska — Bad Lands in Nebraska — Picture from Miocene Nebraska — The Loup River Pliocene Deposits — The Quaternary Age, the Age of Man — The Glacial Period — The Champlain, or Melting Period— Beginning of the End — River Bluffs and Terraces — The First Nebraskan — A Resume.

Situation and Size — General Topography — Nebraska Climate — Health and Strength — A Land of Beauty — A Bird's Eye View of Nebraska — Prof. Samuel Auglrey's Verdict.

Chapter II. The Aborigines

Father Marquette and the Nebraska Indians — Marquette's Indian Chart — The Pawnees — The Four Great Clans — Lieut. Pike and the Republican Pawnees — The Major Stephen H. Long Expedition — Long and the Loup Indians — June 12, 1819, on the Loup — The Red Man's Plague — The Sioux Sweep down the Loup — The Last of the Pawnees — The Siouan Migration— The Sioux, or Dakotahs— Sioux War of 1862-'69— The Cheyennes Become Involved — Magnitude of the Westward Traffic — The Plum Creek Massacre — Battle of Summit Springs — Gen. Custer's Massacre, June 25, 1876— Sioux War of 1890- '91— Present Status of the Sioux.

Chapter III. Glimpses Of State History

Earliest Glimpses — The "Seven Cities of Cibola" — Coronado Sets out, February, 1540 — "The Great Kingdom of Quivera" — Across Kansas into Nebraska — Quotations from Francis Lopez' History of the West Indies —

A Graphic Description of the Buffalo — Quivera in Nebraska? — Coronado's Letter Locating Quivera — Judge Jas. W. Savage on the Question — Was Quivera ou the Loup? — Mounds and other Signs on the North Loup — Lewis and Clarke in Nebraska; July 13 to Sept. 5, 1804; Aug. 31 to Sept. 11, 1806 — Other Pathfinders in Nebraska, — The Old Mormon Trail— Mormon Settlers on the Lower Loup — Importance of the Gold Fever to Nebraska — The Louisiana Purchase, Apr. 30, 1803 — Slavery Agitation — Slavery forever Prohibited in Nebraska — Lawlessness in the Territory — The Compromise of 1850 — The Kansas Nebraska Bill, 1854 — Shaping the State — Territorial Government organized — Census of 1854 — The Territorial Capital Fight — Nebraska Gains Her Statehood — The Making of the State — Educational Factors — Agriculture — Stock Raising — Political Nebraska.

Chapter IV. Glimpses Of The North Loup Valley

The North Loup from a Car Window in 1904 — The Dream of Empire Has Come true — Why These Pages Were Written — Limits of the North Loup Valley — The North Loup River; Its Falls — -The Sand Hills once again — Valley County in Outline— Alkali Spots not Frequent— Preparing for the Pioneer— The Cedar Canyons— Some Important Native Grasses — Why the Buffalo Grass is Disappearing — The Buffalo in the Valley— Herds of Elk — Numbers of Antelope and Deer — The Only Bear — Other Denizens of the Wild.

Chapter V. Cowboy Regime And Forerunners Of Civilization

Bloody Pages of History — How the Valley Escaped the Cowboy Regime — The Cowboy and the Settler — Two Causes of the Cattlemen's Complaint — Murder and Burning of Mitchell and Ketchum— Trouble between the Olives and Ketchum — Death of Bob Olive — The Cold Blooded Murder at Devil's Canyon — How the Assassins were Captured — Trial and Conviction of I. P. Olive and Fred Fisher — Vengeance at Last.

Surveying the Valley, 1868-'70 — "Happy Jack," Hunter, Scout and Friend— "Happy Jack" in 1904— Geo. McAnulty's Sketch of "Little Buckshot" — "Buckshot" Comes to the Loup.

Chapter VI. Coming Of The Pioneers

The Trail of the Loup— Founding of "Athens," ur St. Paul— "The Danish Land and Homestead Colony" Founds Dannebrog— The Seventh Day Baptists, Their First Committee— The Voluntary Second Committee— Extracts from W. H. Rood's Diary— Crossing Nebraska— Advancing up the North Loup— Game Seems Plentiful— First Actual Settlement in Valley County— Mortensen, Miller, Anderson and Smith "Trecking" to Valley County— Camping on "Raccoon Creek"— Settlement of Section Eight, Ord Township— Peter Mortensen's Dugout; Hostelry, School House, Court House— Occupations of the First Summer— "Mell" Goodenow's First Square Meal in Valley County— Christian Prey's Adventure with the "Indians"— "Det Var da som Pokker"— The Seventh Day Baptists Reach the Site of North Loup— Elder Babcock Conducts the First Religious Services Held in the Valley— Some of the Early Homesteaders— A Faithful Band —Preparing for the First Winter—The Dane Creek Colony Strengthened — Falle Moller and Family Arrive— Coming of the Post Clan and other Frontiersmen— Everyday Life in the Settlement— "Mell" Goodenow Gets His Start— Mortensen's First Pig; Its Sad End— The Settlement Across the River— Charles H. Jones Tells His Story— Arrival at Jones Canyon, Nov 10, 1872— Nucleus of Garfield County Settlement.

Chapter VII. Organization Of Valley County ; Early Politics

Valley County and the Organic Act of March 1, 1871 — The First Election in Valley County, March 1, 1873 — Resolutions — Certificate of Election — Early Commissioners' Meetings — First Tax Levy — First Ten County Warants — Squabble over Militia Accoutrements — Odds and Ends — The Ord Bridge Struggle on — How the Injunction Failed— The Sheriff Arrives too Late— Cost of First River Bridge— The County Pays $1200.00 for a Small Safe.

Chapter VIII

The Restless, Thieving Sioux — Battle of Sioux Creek, March 1, 1873— The Men Who Went and how They Were Armed— Hot on the Indian Trail — Face to Face with the Foe — A Hasty Retreat — Counting Losses — Captain Mix on a Scouting Expedition — Mortensen on the Indian Raids — Emma Haskell Describes an Indian Scare.

Easter Sunday, April 13, 1873 — The Storm Breaks— Losses in the Upper Valley — Losses in Howard County — Tragic Death of Mrs. Cooper and Daughter Lizzie — Dillon Haworth and Family Freeze to Death.

Chapter IX. Indians And Grashoppers

Crops in 1873— The Battle of Pebble Creek, Jan. 19, 1874— Richard

McClimans' House Attacked — Looting the Trappers' Cabin — Council of War — The Battle Is on — Death of Marion Littletield.

Breeding Grounds of the Migrating Locust — Our First Locust Year — How They Migrate — Some Exceptional Locust Years — The Locusts Reach the Loup , July, 1874 — Times to Try Men's Souls.

Chapter X. Fort Hartsuff

The Several Appropriations for Port Hartsuff — Erection of Fort Hartsuff a Fortunate Circumstance — Ruin Wrought in the Cedar Canyons — Hartsuff a Fort in Name only — Who the Commanders Were — The Fort Abandoned May 1, 1881 — Some Good Citizens early Identified with Army Life.

Chapter XI. Village Organization

How North Loup Was Organized— First Two Schools in the County — North Loup Platted — Growth and Later History— The Ord Townsite Company, 1875 — The Court House Proposition — The Beginnings of Ord — Further Accessions to the Town's Growth — Ambitious Calamus — Records and Affidavits — Rise and Fall of Vinton — Ord, a Strong Business Center — Quotations from Andreas's History of Nebraska — Ord has "Git." etc.

Chapter XII

First Comers to the Middle Loup — Some Early Hardships — The Post Office Named — The First School and Its Teacher — The School Bond Fiasco —The Criminal Trial in Mortensen's Dugout — George McKellar Convicted of Murder — John Wall's Advent to Arcaaia — Early Arcadia — Hard Times A'knocking at the Door — Arcadia in 1905 — Lee's Park Settled in 1874 — J. L. H. Knight on Lee's Park— Early Settlers— The First Post Office— The Town of Lee Park.

Chapter XIII. The Further History Of Garfield County

A Resume — The Battle of the Blow-out, May, 1876 — Death of Sergeant Dougherty — C. H. Jones'Version of the Battle — Some Timid Settlers Leave — Better Times a-coming — Wheeler County Organized, Apr. 11, 1881 — First Election, Dec 30, 1884— Second Election, Jan. 30, 1885— Willow Springs

Declared the County Seat — Last Act in the County Seat Drama — Affidavits and Minutes— Burwell Made the County Seat, Feb. 18, 1890— The Combatants Bury the Hatchet— C. H. Jones Tells the Story of the County Seat Contest — Origin of the Name Burwell — Building the Town — Prosperity Comes to Burwell' — The Future and Garfield County.

Chapter XIV. Loup County And Its Possibilities

The Pathfinders — D. A. Gard and Others Arrive — Making Three Hundred Mile Trips for Flour and Groceries — School District No. 9— Other Settlers Spread from Kent tu Moulton — Loup County Organized in 1883 — The Building of Taylor — Taylor Made the Permanent County Seat, July 23, 1883 — Hard Years in Loup County — What Alfalfa, Bromegrass and English Blue Grass Will Do for Loup County — Statistics — Descripton by Townships.

Chapter XV. Scotia And Her Builders

The Oldest Settlers Arrive — The County Organized ; Scotia Made the County Seat— Irish Catholics at O'Connor — The Railroads and the County Seat — The B. and M. and Greeley Center — The County Seat Goes to Greeley — Immediate Effect on Scotia — Scotia's Future.

Chapter XVI. Harrowing Tales Of A Third Of A Century

Approach of a Prairie Fire — The Beautiful October Day in 1878 — Terrible Death of Albert Cottrell by Fire — Widespread Ruin in the Valley — A Scarred and Suffering Community- Cause of Hailstorms in our Valley — The Destructive Hailstorm of Aug. 5, 1885— The Ord Quiz Tells the Story — The Storm at Calamus — Notes from over the Affected District — The Cyclone — Widespread Destruction in the Blizzard of January 12. 1888 — The Storm — Instances of Suffering — Mrs. Powell at Hard Scrabble — Minnie Freeman at Midvale— Views on Hero-worship — The Whole Truth in a Nutshell — "Give Honor to Whom Honoris Due" — Tbe Burwell Tornado of Friday Evening, Sept. 15, 1905 — The Storm Breaks — Frank Hennich's Experience — Miraculous Escape of the Hanna Family — Sad Death of Mrs. E- B. McKinney — Last of tne Star Store — The Storm Retraces Its Course — In the Country Districts — The Relief Committee at Work — -Odds and Ends — Some Miraculous Escapes — Freaks of the Storm — An Estimate of Losses.

Chapter XVII. Changes Down Through The Years

Elections in Valley County by Years — Drawing Party Lines — The County Adopts the Supervisor System — The Fight on Clerk in 1895 — The New Office of Clerk of District Court — Valley County again in the Republican Column — Influence of Railroads upon Settlement — Our Mail and Stage Lines — Mail Movements — Ord and North Loup Vote to Secure the Railroad —The Railroad Celebration Meeting— The B. & M. Builds into the Valley in 1887 — "Railroad Racket'-" — Some Results of the Coming — Arcadia Gets the B. & M.

Chapter XVIII. The Newspaper And The Valley

The Printing Press in the Loup Valley — First Newspapers in Valley County — The Valley County Journal Established, March , 1879 — The First Opposition Paper — The Ord Quiz almost Twenty-five Years Old — The Standard and the Democratic Press — The Star and The Blizzard; Prohibition Papers — The Ord Journal and The Independent; Populist Papers — Other Changes in the Journal Management — The Real Estate Register and The Valley County Times — North Loup Newspapers — The Loyalist — The Arcadia Papers — The Arcadia Champion — Early Newspapers in Garfield County — A Mixed Newspaper History — Genesis of the Tribune — Loup County Newspaoers — Scotia's Newspaper History.

Chapter XIX. The Critical Period In Loup Valley History

The Nebraska Grangers — Fight to Collect the B. & M. Taxes — Stringent Money and Low Prices — The Dull Years 1875 and 1876 — Immigration to the Loup in 1878 and 1879— The Prosperous Decade 1880- '90— Land Grabbing in the Early 80's — Real Estate Speculation in Our Valley — The First Diy Year, '90 — The Critical Period in Loup Valley History Begins— The Hard Years a Blessing in Disguise — The Great Drought Year, 1894 — A New Cycle of Good C'ops and Prosperity Ushered in — What the Hard Years Have Taught Us — Prosperity.

Chapter III. One of the "Seven Cities of Cibola."

Quivera Monument, Junction City, Kas.

Nebraska Territory in 1854.

Nebraska Territory from 1861 to 1863.

First Dwelling in Lincoln, 1867.

Chaptfr IV.

Section of Jones' Canyon.

A View Taken in Olsen's Canyon.

Road in Olsen's Canyon.

Falls of the North Loup River.

A "Blow-out" in the Sand Hills.

In Its Native Wilds.

Chapter V. Old Mitchell Ranch House in Custer County

Conrad Went worth or "Little Buckshot."

The Last Buffalo in the North Loup Valley.

Elk at Play near "The Forks."

Garfield County Hunters.

Chapter VI. Historic Map of the Loup Region

H. C. Rood, Member Locating Committee.

Founders of the Danish Colony in Valley County.

Peter Mortensen's Dugout (Reproduced).

Elder Oscar Babcock of North Loup.

Marilla Flynn, the First White Girl in the Upper Valley. Chapter VII.

Precinct Map of Early Valley County.

Township Map of Valley County.

Daniel Cooley Bailey, First County Commissioner, at 85 years of Age.

Dr. Charles Badger, First County Superintendent.

The First Frame House in Valley County, 1872.

Mr. and Mrs. William Hobson, First Couple Licensed to Marry in Valley County.

Chapter XI. The Beginnings of North Loup, 1878

Plat of North Loup.

Joseph Green on His Way to North Loup in 1872.

The Founders of Ord.

Original Town Plat.

Plans of First Court House.

S. S. Haskell, the Father of Ord.

Plat of Calamus.

Plat of Vinton.

Chapter XVII. Newspaper Cartoon

Report of the Election.

Court House Spuare, Ord, in 1890.

Andrew J. Gillespie, Sr., the Centenarian of the Valley.

"Railroad Racket."

The Largest Ear of Corn ever Grown In the Loup. Chapter XVIII.

Ord in 1887.

John R. Williams's Home at Ord.

Street Scene in Burwell.

Public School Building, Burwell.

White Towers, Home of A. M. Daniels, Ord.

Cedar Lawn Farm.

Chapter XIX. Ord in 1905

"The Evergreens," Home of Dr. F. D. Haldeman, Ord.

Block of Houses under Constructiun, Ord.

Hon. Tom Doran's New Home, Burwell.

Other Burwell Homes.

16 THE TRATL OF THE LOUP

Home of Vincent Kokes, Ord.

Wisconsin Colonists at North Loup.

Some Physical Features of Nebraska.

Chapter 1

"To me it seems, that to look on the first land that was ever lifted above the wasted waters, to follow the shore where the earliest animals and plants were created when the thought of God first expressed itself in organic forms, to hold in one's hand a bit of stone from an old sea-beach, hardened into rock thousands of centuries ago, and studded with the beings that once crept upon its surface or were stranded there by some retreating wave, is even of deeper interest to man, than the relics of their own race, for these things tell more directly of the thought and creative acts of God. — Jean Louis Agassiz.

IT DOES not come within the scope of this work to dwell at any length upon the evolution of our state from the primal rock. Such a discussion, while interesting in the extreme, belongs rather to the field of science than to that of history; the space herein allotted it is therefore necessarily somewhat limited. Particularly is this true since the bulk of the text is intended to narrate the story not so much of Nebraska as a whole, as the living, throbbing history of a limited section of the state— the Loup Valley. However, a passing glance at the geological structure of Nebraska may not be altogther out of place.

In the aeons of time since Creation, our planet, the Earth, has passed through many marvelous changes. At first a companion star to the Sun, blazing a path through the universe, cooling gradually, its enshrouding mantle of vapors condensing to water, the Earth became involved in a universal, shoreless ocean. Then countless ages slowly slioped away ; the first folds of contracting firerock-crust of the earth appeared, and we had the first dry land. In the Western World the wedge-shaped Laurentian Highlands, approaching the shores of Hudson Bay, had appeared, and strips of land were slowly emerging to the east of the present Appalachians, and in the western part of the United States stretching from Colorado to California. This was during the so-called Archian Time — the dawn of earthbuilding. And all through this immense age, as far as we know, Nebraska formed a part of the bed of a turbulent ocean.

Now followed the Paleozoic (Ancient Life) Time during which the land areas were gradually enlarged, and myriad forms of strange organisms appeared. Geologists usually divide this aeon into three distinct ages: The Age of Invertebrates — subdivided into the Upper and Lower Silurian Eras— when numberless Sponges, Corals, Starfishes, Molluska and other strange animal types dominated the ocean depths, and a few terrestrial plants appeared; the Age of Fishes, or Devonian Era, when the ocean swarmed with sharks, gar-pikes and turtlelike placoderms of huge size; and the Carboniferous Age — subdivided into Subcarboniferous, Carboniferous and Permian Eras — when coal plants grew and the coal measures were formed.

During neither the Age of Invertebrates nor the succeeding age of Fishes did dry land appear in Nebraska. Vast land stretches had however been added to the Archian backbone and numerous islands dotted the present states of Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa.

The Subcarboniferous Era, too, must be passed over as unproductive so far as Nebraska is concerned. But we now approach the Carboniferous Age proper, of absorbing interest because then did the first dry land appear in Nebraska, and because during its progress were the greatest and most valuable coal measures formed.

That the Era was of great duration there cannot be the slightest doubt. "A murky, cloudy atmosphere, surcharged with carbon-dioxide gas, enveloped the earth and gave it a uniform hothouse temperature. A vegetation remarkable in its luxuriance sprang up. Conifers much akin to the Araucanian pines of present day equatorial regions flourished and ferns of surpassing grace and beauty grew to the size of mighty trees." The American Continent over its broad surface was now just balancing itself near the water's edge, part of the time bathing in it and then out in the free air. From Pennsylvania to eastern Nebraska and central Kansas, it presented a changing view "of vast jungles, lakes with floating grove islands, and some dry-land forests." Vast amounts of vegetable debris accumulated, forming peat beds of varying; depths.

The era of verdure then gradually drew to a close. A general settling of vast land areas took place and salt water by degrees submerged the low lands, destroying every vestige of the late prolific vegetation. Thus, we may picture the old peat-marsh, with its bottom full of stumps and roots in position as they grew, with its surface covered over with heaps of leaves, branches and prostrate tree trunks, to have been overwhelmed and buried. Subjected to enormous pressure from accumulating top sediment and slow chemical change, it, in time, became one of the several coal measures. Alternate submergance and emergance of the surface crust readily explains the alternation, in these rockbeds, of coal seams with layers of sandstones, conglomerate, shales, clays and limestones. The second and largest coal measures of this age extends from Texas and Arkansas northward through Kansas and Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa. The westward boundary is near the central part of Kansas, and crosses the state line into Nebraska near the banks of the Blue River, whence it takes a northeasterly trend, leaving the state in southern Washington county. It will thus be seen that part or the whole of some twelve counties in our state overlie these interesting beds. In Richardson county a workable stratum has been encountered, though borings at Lincoln and other places seem to indicate that profitable mines should not be looked for in Nebraska. The closing period of the Paleozoic aeon was the Permian Age, in which the ocean once more prevailed, though with gradually contracting limits. The greater part of Nebraska was yet a part of the ocean bed, covered by turbulent waters. On stormy days the breakers must have roared along the shore and hurled their spray against the limestone cliffs now marked by a line drawn from Beatrice in Gage county to Blair in Washington county. Some fifteen of our present day counties in southeast Nebraska had by this time lifted their surface above the waters; all else were engulfed in the briny deep.

The Permian Age is in reality a transition period which ushers in the next great aeon of time, the Mesozoic or Middle Life. This is also called the Era of Reptiles "for never in the history of the earth were reptiles so abundant, of such size and variety, or so highly organized as then." The era includes three periods: 1. The Triassic, so named for the triple rockbeds in Germany; 2. The Jurassic, named after the Jura Mountains in Prance; 3. The Cretaceous, from the Latin creta, chalk, referring to the formation of large chalk beds in England and continental Europe.

Careful examination of the rock strata of our state fails to disclose the least trace of a Juro-Triassic deposit. Tne probable explanation of this fact seems to be that this region had now, all of it, by some upward movement of the earth, become dry land. The continental sea had retired to Kansas on the south and Colorado on the west. The indications are that Nebraska then drained westward, emptving- her surface water into Colorado, where flood-time deposits of Triassic and Jurassic land fossils are>ow to be sought. If the above supposition is correct, it stands to reason that the deposits of the age, which were all of them submarine, could not have been formed in Nebraska, hence we find our Permian rocks directly overlaid by rocks of the Cretaceous period.

During these numberless centuries of dry land existence in Nebraska,

'On either side Was level fen, a prospect wild and wide, With dykes on either hand, by ocean self-supplied. For on the right the distant ocean was seen.

And salt the springs that fed the marsh between.'

A seventy-five foot Mosasaurus from the Cretaceous beds of Kansas.

And yet the marsh was slowly becoming upland, though the climate was still moist and warm. A tropical vegetation of myriad species of giant ferns and noble cycads again clad the land with brilliant hues. These immense thickets and forests teemed with animal life. Most striking were the giant Brontosaurus of the Wyoming fossil beds, often measuring 60 feet in length ; the Atlantosaurus, which reached the phenomenal length of 80 feet; and the lately dicovered gigantic Stegosaurus, remarkable for a series of huge bony plates mounted along the back. As if these curious creatures were not enough to give character to the time we find uncanny, birdlike reptiles, pterosaurs, swarming the upper air and adding much to this the strangest and most interesting of faunas.

Nebraska forest of late Cretaceous times.

The Cretaceous period marks the beginning of the end of the Mesozoic Era. A general subsidence now set in which seems to have embraced even the Rocky Mountain region. The latter, together with the eastward-lying plain, was once more brought to the water level. A marine bay broke northward from the Gulf of Mexico and, before the middle of the period, covered Texas. Indian Territory, part of Kansas the western half of Nebraska, and much territory lying northwestward.

Thus the Rocky Mountain nucleus was again reduced to groups of islands, as in Paleozoic times, and all western Nebraska was once more, tho now for the last time, a part of the ocean bed. 'Toward the later part of the period the continent slowly rose again and the great western internal sea was narrowed and made shallow, the connection between the Gulf ana the Arctic Seas was interrupted, lakes of fresh water, bays and swamps with brakish water, took the place of the ocean, and vast quantities of vegetable matter were formed in the marshes of this closing epoch.' But this was more than a period of emergance; indeed a great geologic revolution was preparing. From the plains on the east to the Wasatch, the entire Rocky Mountain region was thrown into a series of earth folds; the crust was bent and the mountain system, as we have it today, was lifted up, getting a drainage seaward. Nebraska now faced eastward, a part of the continental plain.

Tusks of Mammoth excavated in Gosper County, and now in the Museum of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

The Cretaceous deposits in Nebraska are of vast extent and importance. For convenience the strata have been classified into the following groups: The Dakota, extending from near Dakota City, where many outcroppings are to be found, in a south-westerly direction, underlying practically every part of the state; the Fort Benton Group, lying conformably on the Dakota Group in the eastern part of the state; the Niobrara Group, extending from the mouth of the Niobrara River, dipping under the central portion of the state and reappearing again in the southwest in Harlan county; the Fort Pierre Group lying above the Niobrara deposits, cropping out in Knox county and other places; the Laramie Group, exposed in southwestern counties.

These beds comprise various clays, chalks and sandstones, and are rich in finds of fossil leaves and remains of animal life. Thus several hundred species of ferns, cycads and conifers have been counted, and some hundred or more reptile forms, ranging in size from twelve to seventy-five feet are known to have existed.

The last great aeon in geological history is now at hand. This is the Cenozoic Time, or Era of Modern Life. A higher vegetation makes its appearance and the great reptiles are rapidly giving way to higher species of animal life— the mammals. For convenience this aeon is divided into two ages, the Tertiary and the Quaternary.

The Tertiary Age embraces three epochs, the Eocene, the Miocene and the Pliocene. Of these only the latter two are represented in Nebraska. Frum oui discussion above it will be borne in mind that over the western part of the continent the region of marine waters was past. The Rocky Mountain revolution had left the Great Plains a part of the continent. But

Jurassic Stagosaurus which flourished in Wyoming and Colorado while Nebraska was an inland sea. It measured from 25 to 30 feet in length

this plain was yet very near the sea level, the proof of which is found in the existence of vast lakes of fresh water botn east and west of the Rocky Mountain range. These were not, however, contemporaneous, but succeeded one another as the age proceeded. Thus, in Nebraska we find no trace of Eocene lake beds. Conditions were on the other hand quite changed during Miocene times; for then a freshwater lake covered much of the western part of the state, receiving the drainage of the rivers that now have their outlet in the Missouri. Into this lake bed were carried broken down materials from the Rocky Mountain axis and the Black Hills, and from the higher lying Juro-Triassic and Cretaceous deposits. Hither, too, were gathered, as in an immense cemetery, remnants of all the vegetable and animal life of the epoch. A gradual uplifting of strata has left these lake bottoms high and dry. Erosion too has changed their contour much, cutting valleys, leaving cliffs and buttes in endless variety.

These Mauvais Terres of the French trapper, or "Bad Lands" are today clearly defined in the White River Country of northwestern Nebraska, and covers hundreds of square miles in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming. The writer has personally inspected these regions, and nowhere is the story of the past told in more forcible language than in this vast graveyard. Banks full of fossil bones, baccolites, huge petrified tortoises, and fossil leaves tell the story of how Nebraska looked in those times. Magnolias, oaks, palms, figs, maples, lindens and pines grew in wild luxuriance, and the giant sequoias of California grew on every hill. Indeed, a semi-tropical vegetation stretched far away towards the Pole. Droves of Miocene horses frequented the lake shores, the ancestral hog wallowed in the bogs, flocks of monkeys chattered in the treetops, and plain and forest were the haunt and breeding ground of droves of huge masta-

Titanotherium Robustum from the Sioux County Bad Lands. When full grown it measured 14 feet in length and 8 feet in height at the shoulders.

dons and wicked-eyed rhinoceroces and tapirs. Such were then the Ma-koosi-tcha, or hard-lands-to travel over, as the Sioux nomad has seen fit to dpsignate these reigons.

The Pliocene Epoch of the Tertiary Age is marked by a general enlargement of the old Miocene lake bed, particularly eastward and south westward. The Pliocene strata in Nebraska far outreach the Miocene and are, on this account, found to overlie the Cretacious from the central counties east. These beds were of considerable thickness but thin out eastward since the bulk of the materials forming them came from the mountains. Much of the Pliocene material is exceedingly coarse. Beds of conglomerate rock, made up "of waterworn pebbles, feldspar and quartz in masses, and some small pieces or chips of all the Archian rocks" overlie beds of much worn sandstones and clays.

Along the Loup Forks, and in other localities, the upper beds have become decomposed and an immense amount of fine sand of a more or less stable nature has heaped up to form the famous "sand hills." Beneath lie strata of compacted gravel; then come limestone formations, yellow

Fine Loess Formation in Garfield County.

grits and layers of many colored sands and clays. In many places on the North Loup River calcarious outcroppings are seen. Such are the bottom rocks forming the "Falls of the Loup " the sandstones and limestones forming the channel bottom near old Willow Springs in Garfield county, and again near Scotia in Greeley county.