Preliminary Report of Explorations in Nebraska and Dakota: In the Years 1855-'56-'57 |
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abundant arenaceous limestone Atlantic to Pacific Bad Lands Baird banks beds Big Horn Big Sioux River Black Hills boat bottoms of Missouri calcareous Canadensis Carboniferous Carex Common Council Bluffs Creek Cretaceous Dakotas east Eastern United expedition explorations feet formation Fort Laramie Fort Leavenworth Fort Pierre Fort Union fossils G. K. WARREN Gray Hall and Meek Helix high central plains Indians Kansas Laramie latitude Leavenworth Leidy lignite limestone Linn Little Missouri longitude Loup Fork marl Meek and Hayden Melania Mexico Michx miles Missouri River Mouth Big Sioux mouth of Big Nebrascensis Nebraska Territory Niobrara River Nutt occidentalis Oreodon party Pierre Platte Valley portion Powder River prairies Pursh rain region rocks Rocky Mountains route Sandy bottoms shale shells Shyenne River Sioux City souri species specimens stream Tertiary Topographical Engineers Torr Unio Union Upper Missouri wagons White River Valley Willd Yellow Yellowstone River
Popular passages
Page 83 - Light gray fine sand, with more or less calcareous matter, passing down into an ash-colored plastic clay, with large quantities of quartz grains disseminated through it, sometimes forming aggregated masses like quartzose sandstone cemented with plastic clay ; then an ash-colored clay with a greenish tinge, underlaid at base by a light gray and ferruginous silicious sand and gravel, with pinkish bands. Immense quantities of silex in the form of seams all through the beds. Titanotherium Bed.
Page 41 - Big bhyenne is a most important river, and has its extreme sources west of the Black Hills, which its two main branches enclose. These forks are supplied by numerous streams from the mountains, and they unite in about longitude 102° 20', the river flowing into the Missouri in latitude 44° 48'.
Page 20 - Laramie, considered the danger to us so imminent that he forsook our camp and joined his friends, the Minikanyes. Under these embarrassing circumstances my associates evinced the most resolute bravery and determination to abide the result like true men. I consented to wait three days without advancing, in order to meet their great warrior, Bear's Rib, appointed first chief by General Harney's treaty, merely changing our position to one offering greater facilities for defense.
Page 46 - Niobrara is a very shallow and " swift-flowing stream," as the Canadians say " 1'Eau qui Court," abounding in rapids in two-thirds of its upper course, and in its middle portion filled with small islands. In the lower portion its width exceeds that of the Missouri River, and is spread out over sand-bars.
Page 81 - Yellow silicious marl, similar in its character to the loess of the Rhine, passing down into variegated indurated clays and brown and yellow fine grits ; contains remains of extinct quadrupeds, mingled with those identical with recent ones ; also a few mollusca, mostly identical with recent species so far as determined. Most fully developed along the Missouri river, from the mouth of the Niobrara to St. Joseph ; also in the Platte valley and on the Loup Fork.
Page 12 - ... dollars is set apart from the appropriation to defray the expenses of the expedition, which amount your expenditures must not exceed. The commanding general of the Department of the West will be directed to detail an escort of thirty enlisted men of the infantry, under the command of a second lieutenant, who will report to you for duty. Transportation for the provision and equipage of the escort, their subsistence, and their necessary ammunition, will be furnished, respectively, by the Quartermaster's,...
Page 23 - ... parallel, which are the most eastern portion in that latitude, this line will be parallel to the line of the main front of the mountains which I have already traced. What is still more significant is, that if a straight line be drawn from the mouth of the Yellowstone to the mouth of the Kansas River, it will also be parallel to the lines before mentioned, and will have about an equal portion of the Missouri on each side of it. The line of the east base of the main mountain mass is the highest,...
Page 66 - Notes explanatory of a map and section, illustrating the geological structure of the country bordering on the Missouri river, from the mouth of the Platte to Fort Benton in latitude 47° 30' N., longitude 110° 30
Page 52 - ... the Big Shyenne up to the Yellowstone, and west to the Black Hills ; to this band Mato Chiqukesa, or the Bear's Rib, belongs, who was made by General Harney the first chief of the Dakotas. They number about 365 lodges. 2. Sihasapas, Blackfeet. Haunts and homes same as the Unkpapas. They number 165 lodges. These two bands have very little respect for the power of the whites. 3. Itazipchos, (Sans Arc,) No bows. Roam over nearly the same territory as the Umkpapas.
Page 81 - Equus, the collection contains those of two species of Hipparion, and several peculiar genera of the equine family. There are also remains of several species of canine and feline animals, of a small species of beaver, and of a species of porcupine more nearly allied to that of the old world than to our own recent one. The collection further contains remains of a rhinoceros, resembling those of India, those of a new species of mastodon, and those of a large elephant. " One of the most remarkable circumstances...