Donate

Fallon County - Introduction to Layers

Background Info/ Historical Story:

“Far, far, far away, where it melted into naught but a misty veil, stretched the shimmering expanse of water. It lay, on this particular day, not mirror like in its utter quietness, but as a great burnished shield, covered with the tiniest ripples. In all directions save one, it stretched unbroken. Over it leaned the illimitable blue of the sky, patterned lightly with filmy swatches of white clouds while the rays of the sun beat steadily down upon· the polished surface of the water. But there is life in the scene. The warm shallow sea is simply teeming with it. Millions upon millions of microscopic organisms, plant or animal. Who knows? Probably both. They fall to the sea bottom in never ending succession, like tiny snow flakes gently settling through the quiet water. Only the eye of Nature perceives the activity. Suddenly a gale arises. There have been many gales and there will be more. Now the organisms sink thick and fast. Any disturbance sends them quickly to the bottom where they lie and wait and wait and wait for a long time.


"Hush, hush little organisms, don't you sigh.

You shall all be oil and gas, bye and bye.

In the far distant future, you'll come to light again

For you'll supply the needs and whims

Of countless hordes of men."


Then came the Age of Reptiles. This age lasted 140 billion years. The earth, the sea and skies were swarming with reptiles. The earth back in the far dim past was not as it is today. The climate was different. In most places it was tropical or sub-tropical, and was the same almost everywhere. There were no cold winters. If there had been, the reptiles could not have flourished. In the Age of Reptiles the great mountain systems had not yet been born. The Himalayas, now the highest mountain range in the world, did not exist. There were no Rocky Mountains. Instead, the low lying country of western America and of central Europe held great inland seas. What is now the states of Kansas, Wyoming and Montana were covered with water. The land lifted at times and sank and rose again. One hundred and forty million years is a long, long time, and many changes took place. The word dinosaur (die'·no-sawr) means "terrible lizard". This is a good description. Dinosaurs were reptiles. Cold-blooded animals related to crocodiles, snakes and lizards. At one time they ruled the entire world. Some were of gigantic size and others were smaller. Some flew through the air. What I tell you about these unbelievable creatures is true . They really did live. We know they did because we find their bones buried in the earth. These bones have been fossilized or turned to stone. When we talk about millions of years, it is difficult to get a real mind-picture of the vast length of time. Ape-like human beings did not exist until one million years ago. Man 's own recorded history is hardly 7,000 years old. The time back to the Age Reptiles are like the distance in miles separating us from the moon. Cartoons and movies often show dinosaurs chasing terrified explorers through strange jungles of prehistoric plants. Of course this is all imagination. The dinosaurs lived 100 million years ago and no men were alive then. Imagine the shore of a lagoon near the great inland sea of Montana. Then pretend it is 70 million years ago. It is a low-lying country broken by thick clumps of ginkgo and sycamore trees. There are many figs, palms and bananas, too. The day is hot . Banks of mist hang over the water. Suddenly the dim outline of Tyrannosarus (Tie-ran'-O-sawr'-us) looms among the trees of the forest 's edge. The ugly head towers among the highest branches. The tail stretches backward and is lost in the smothering vegetation. Tyrannosaurus Rex was the greatest of all the flesh-eating dinosaurs. The name comes from Tyranno (tyrant) sauros (lizard) rex (king). This means" King of the tyrant lizards ". The short forelimbs seem tiny but the clawed hands have a grip of iron. Nothing about Tyrannosaurus is weak . He is the most terrible creature of destruction that ever walked the earth. Thanks to Dr. Barnum Brown of the American Museum of Natural History, we know much about this terrible creature and his habits. In 1900 Dr. Brown found part of a skeleton in South Dakota. More bones of a different creature were unearthed two years later on Hell Creek in Montana . That was when Montana was still the " Wild West ". Ten miles from the little sod postoffice of Jordan, Montana, Dr. Brown entered the bad lands. He made camp on Hell Creek. There, half way up a hill, in the layer of buff-colored sand, he found a complete skeleton of Tyrannosaurus. In 1908 Dr. Brown found another skeleton in these same Montana Bad Lands. All the skeletons stand among the most prized exhibits in the American Museum. Every year millions of people gaze at the petrified bones of the King of Tyrants .


- Lorene E. Kirschten, History of Fallon County-1940-Fallon County Library

Item From Collections:

Photos, Maps, etc:

Links to other helpful sources: