HISTORY OF NEBRASKA
CHAPTER I NATURAL CONDITIONS -- GEOLOGY -- ARCHAEOLOGY -- CLIMATIC CONDITIONS -- VEGETATION - FAUNA
1Astoria, pp. 258-259. |
![]() Photograph, Morrill Geological Expedition, 1895. BAD LANDS Bad Lands of Brule formation (Oligocene) two and a half miles west of the Burlington & Missouri railway station at Adelia, Sioux county, Nebraska, looking northwest. ![]() Photograph, Morrill Geological
Expedition, 1895. North face of Pine Ridge at Warbonnet canyon looking north across the Hat creek basin toward the Black Hills outlined in the distance. The pine covered cliffs are Arikaree formation. The white Patch in the distance is the Brule clay of the Little Bad Lands, Sioux county, Nebraska. Beyond the Brule clay the Pierre formation begins. |
been an eternal fact or is a manifestation of an eternal
law of nature, but which has been hidden from our imperfect
understanding, is, from the changing point of view or in the
natural course of events, suddenly revealed, we call it
Providence, And so this vast hidden reservoir of water and
the man-wrought miracle of the steam railroad, which opened
the way for the waiting millions, were the Providence of
these Plains. Because Irving and Cooper and their compeers
failed mentally or physically to penetrate to the one and to
divine the coming kingdom of the other, they consigned the
whole region to the doom of eternal desolation. God indeed
moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform. This
"wilderness which apparently defies cultivation and the
habitation of civilized life" is the granary as well as the
shambles of the world. Of two typical states -- Iowa and
Nebraska -- which cut through the heart of the Plains, the
first is the imperial agricultural commonwealth of the
richest farming country of the world, and in the production
of the great food staples the other lags but little
behind. 2For this description of the geology of Nebraska we are indebted to Erwin Hinckley Barbour, Ph.D., professor of geology in the University of Nebraska; state geologist and curator of the state museum.-ED. |
and Washington counties, and in scattered patches as far
west as Lancaster and Gage counties. From an economic
standpoint this is the most important geologic formation in
the state, since it yields the limestone for lime, rubble,
riprap, building, smelting, sugar refining, and flint for
ballast, as well as enormous amounts of excellent clay for
brick, tile, and terra cotta. ![]() Morrill Geological Expedition, 1900. SCHLEGEL RAPIDS AND FALLS Southwest of Valentine, Cherry county, Nebraska, in the Arikaree formation. Plunge, about twelve feet; width, about fifty feet. artesian water, building stone (which, though ocherous
and soft, is often put to use), and beds of superior clay,
which furnish brick of all desired colors and kinds. It also
furnishes a large amount of sand for building purposes, and,
from a layer near its base, the best gravel in the state.
Overlying the Dakota is the Benton Cretaceous, consisting
essentially of a white layer of chalk rock overlying a layer
of black shale. It may be traced along the Republican river
from Harlan county to Hebron, Endicott, Milford, Niobrara,
and westward along the Niobrara river to Boyd county.
Economically this layer may become important. The chalk rock
is quarried for lime and building purposes. Being very soft
when "green," it is commonly cut into proper shape with
ordinary hand-saws, and, after drying and hardening, is laid
up with mortar in the usual way. In this layer is found also
an undeveloped resource of great promise, in as much as the
chalk rock, when properly tempered with the shale, gives an
hydraulic cement of excellent quality. Next above the Benton
comes the Pierre formation, ordinarily spoken of as Pierre
shale because it consists essentially of shale throughout
its extent. In western Nebraska it attains a thickness of
several thousand feet. Though broad in extent, it is
sel- |
dom seen save where exposed by the cutting of some river;
and though four thousand to five thousand feet thick, it
presents nothing of commercial importance, being destitute
of water, gas, oil, coal, building stone, or anything else
of economic value. At least two thirds of the state consists
of Pierre shale, though covered from general view. ![]() Morrill Geological Expedition, 1895. TOADSTOOL PARK, SIOUX COUNTY BAD LANDS Two miles west of Adelia on the Burlington & Missouri River railroad. All of western Nebraska has a general
altitude approaching five thousand feet. and here the
magnificent buttes and tables add diversity and beauty to
the landscape. Here also thousands of pine trees flourish
and are the chief natural resource of this formation. Being
sandy, it is productive of pure water, and its grazing lands
are of the best. It lends itself to profitable and easy
cultivation, especially where irrigated. In many places in
southwestern Nebraska a still younger formation rests upon
what is known as the "magnesia" or mortar beds (Ogalalla).
All of the remaining beds are still more recent in time --
and con- |
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