Wonderful Bad Lands of Wyoming, The

Publication

Wonderful Bad Lands of Wyoming, The

Description

THE WONDERFUL BAD LANDS OF WYOMING. East of the Rocky Mountains is an open, unforested land known as the Great Plains. Most of this region is especially well suited for raising grain, and in some sections are extensive beds of lignite. In portions of the Great Plains, especially in South Dakota, Wyoming and Nebraska are areas known as the Bad Lands. This picture gives us a view of the Bad Lands of Wyoming. The soil and subsoil of these lands are unusually soft, consisting largely of clay and shale. The rainfall in the region is very light. When it does rain, however, it comes as from a cloud-burst, in great abundance and lasting for a short period. The water cuts deep into the soft material and carries the soil away, carving all kinds of strange shapes and fantastic forms. There is one particular area called Toadstool Park, because of its resemblance to a collection of mammoth toadstools. As one can well imagine from this view, these rough lands are very difficult for traveling; hence their name "Bad Lands." They are extremely interesting places to visit. In the clay have been found bones of some of the largest animals ever known to have existed in the history of the world. In a moist climate with an abundance of vegetation these "bad lands" cannot occur. Roots help to bind the soil together. in our own neighborhood we may see cuts in clay banks, where there is little or no plant growth, that are furrowed and washed out by hard rain. it is similar conditions, going on for ages, which have made the great troughs and terraces in this barren waste.