Donate

Roosevelt County - Introduction to Layers

Background Info/ Historical Story:

“Notice Old Timers

Quite a number of years ago,

How many thousand I do not know,

Beast of monstrous size did roam

O'er the land we call our home.

The ground shook under the mastodon's feet

Where our Jim Helmer pastured his sheep.

The saber toothed tiger hunted his prey,

O'er the land now farmed by J. S. Day

The Dinosaur ate many a branch

On Frank Arnette's Diamond Ranch.

Up Shotgun Creek the crocodile swam

There our Dad Williams built his dam.

The huge land serpent reared his head;

There was no one to give it a dose of lead.

But those grim monsters had their day,

And in due time they passed away.

For it was not fitting that they should live,

When the Creator to man the earth did give.

Before stone hatchet and flint arrow head

Their numbers decreased and they finally fled.

And, like dream phantoms of the night,

They faded and westward took their flight.

To where the silvery streams do leap

Down the sides of the mountain steep,

Where their fossil remains may yet be found

At varying depths sown under the ground.

But history leaves us only to guess

At changes that followed after this.

Until at last the Searchlight came,

With it's brilliant rays directed amain,

By F. S. Reed our editor good,

Who got at the truth when he possibly could,

And tried to put wrong theories to rout,

And dissipate all error and doubt.

And his worthy successors with all their might

Are upholding the standard of truth and right.

That they may thus continue to the end,

Let us all our help and encouragement lend.

But of all the wonders of bygone days,

Which is now the geologist's craze,

Naught remains but the wond'rous cave,

Down by the muddy Missouri's wave.

Which Mr. Wood's Boy Scouts found one day,

As up the gully they chanced to stray.

In which, without doubt, that hunter bold,

The renowned Stonehatchet, dwelt of old.

The boys' camp here I would fain describe

But sufficient time and space is denied.

Your farmer historian does now insist

That you implicitly believe all this.

But he claims the credence we usually give

To history made before Adam lived.

You must take it down with a little salt,

As the law prohibits the use of malt.

But part two will be no dream,

And things are just what they seem.

But for part one this ends the scene.”

-by Jamie Duff, Roosevelt County’s Treasured Years

Item From Collections:

Photos, Maps, etc:

Links to other helpful sources: