| Summary: | The History Of Our Prairies Perhaps even more interesting than the history of Hettinger County as a political unit, although infinitely further removed, is the history of its landscape. When homesteaders from eastern states came into this fresh, new region they were in reality coming into an old one - older even than North Dakota east of the Missouri River by many thousands of years. The great ice sheet which moved down from the north covering a large part of the continent including North Dakota - all of North Dakota, that is, except the southwest corner on this side of the Missouri River. Our surface is the same as it was before the Ice Age, except for whatever erosion has taken place. (1) But the history of Hettinger County, as well as the rest of state, goes back muchfarther than that. The Gulf of Mexico at that early time, extended up the Mississippi Valley forming an inland sea covering North Dakota along with several other states. Sediment washing into the shallow sea from the surrounding land spread over the bottom as mud and became layers of shale and sandstone, now the bedrock of our North Dakota landscape. This is known as the Dakota Sandstone formation, and is the lower part of the Cretaceous system formed in the Age of Reptiles. Changes since that time were stupendous and somewhat difficult to comprehend since it involved such a great length of time. Present day features show some of the results. For example, the tops of Black Butte north of Regent, the Tepee Buttes, Whet-stone Buttes, and Wolf Butte, all in unorganized Hettinger County, and many others, are all patches of a former base level plain produced by long, continued wearing of the surface. The Missouri Plateau was then uplifted and is in the process of becoming a second base level resulting from the wearing away of the land. Because the buttes were protected by harder material, they have been left standing. Their tops are very likely the base level of a former one. Our present landscape represents the second base level. The work of the rivers in reducing it to a level plain has not yet been fully accomplished. In our county this work is being done by the Cannon Ball and its tributaries. The Cannon Ball is said to be a mature river. "A mature river has a wide valley; the vigor of down-cutting is diminished; all the region intervening is carved into valley slopes; none of the upland surfaces are flat; the river swings from one side to the other side of its valley, thereby broadening rather than deepening it."(2) "The Cannon Ball (is) — approaching old age. Only in isolated places does any of the old plateau surfaces remain. The remnants are the hills with flat tops, the 'old buttes' of the region, the buttes that 'stand upon the shoulders of younger buttes'. They represent the fragments of the unfinished tasks of maturity. For the most part the plateau surface has been cut away and the hills lowered, or worn away altogether."(3) The thoughts of the amount of erosion that takes place are staggering. Were we to think of, say for instance, the region on this side of the Missouri as being filled with water until it covers the highest buttes, that water would represent the amount of the landscape that has been eroded away. Slowly but surely, the process of weathering and erosion goes on. The passage of time brings about great changes. The present landscape of our Hettinger County is but temporary in the long process of change. The availability of a fuel supply was of uppermost importance to the homesteader. This proved to be no problem to those coming to Hettinger County, since lignite coal was to be had for about $1.00 per ton within hauling distance. Many found it on their own land, whereas others had enough accessible to mine on a larger scale for profit. The history of the formation of coal is closely tied in with that of the landscape. To understand its origin we must go back to the Cretaceous Era when an arm of the sea reached up into the continent and the surface of North Dakota was beneath sea level. The sea was shallow and the crust of the earth slowly rose and sank alternately over long periods of -time. When the region rose the waters withdrew and mud at the bottom became soil in which great forests grew. At a time when the land and sea were at about the same level depressions in the surface were very swampy and favored the growth of thick vegatation and huge trees of many varieties, some of which were similar to the great sequoias. Although the trees continued to grow, the accumulation of dead trees and vegetation reached considerable depths over the long period of time when the surface sank very slowly. Eventually when the sea crept in and covered the region again, soil from surrounding land eroded and covered the accumulation of vegatable matter. Wood being entombed under the water and mud, shut away from air did not decay. Under these conditions along with the pressure of the water and mud, and the heat from within the earth, the vegetation was transformed into coal. There are many types of coal depending on the stage of transformation, and the condition under which it was formed. Peat is one of the early stages and lignite the next; bituminous and anthracite, follow in succession. North Dakota coal is thought to have been buried in rocks during the Laramie formation which may be the transition between the Cretatious Era (Age of Reptiles) and the Tertiary Era (Age of Mammals) when conditions for gathering thick layers of vegetation were favorable. The Laramie formation in North Dakota is estimated to be about 1000 feet, in which there are several beds at various depths. One may ask how long ago the coal was formed. It is estimated that "the age of shales and sandstone and coal beds of North Dakota (is) nearly 3,000,000 years, and the time during which sea sediment that occur between the Dakota Sandstone and the Coal Measures, the Fort Benton, Niobra, Fort Pier and Fox Hill formations were being formed may hava been 1,000,000 years." (4) These figures are estimates but will emphasize the fact that the time was long. Thus the history of the formation of coal is a long and complicated one that cannot be told in a few words, but a story of Hettinger County would not be complete without stopping to consider but briefly what wonders have taken place beneath the surface to produce for us this valuable resource. (DSource of material: D.E.Willard, Story of the Prairies, V, VII, IIXXX, XX, XXI, XXII. (DA glacier may have covered our region at an infinitely earlier time. (2)Daniel E. Willard, The Story of the Prairies, (1907-1923) XXII, 246 (3) Ibid. (4) Ibid. 15 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited in Multi-page TIFF Editor.
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