forming a sort of low terrace at the foot of the cliffs is very barren being composed of hard clay & only supporting a few drought loving thick leaved plants. The upper prairie is also dry but covered with a good sod of Stipa [Needle-grass] & the short cuply grass common everywhere.

Many antelope in the valley & all the soft bottoms poached up with innumerable buffalo tracks. Rode back to camp at a good pace after having followed the river S.E. for some miles & just on arriving at coulée near the tents found a horse horribly mired in a mud hole. The mud had been softened by springs & dried & caked on the surface, giving way like pie crust under any weight. The horse right side up, but literally nothing but its head & a portion of its back above ground. Got several men together & managed to haul it out with a rope & by the aid of its own tail.

Geol. Found some fossil lamellibranchs [clams, etc.] resembling Unios in a layer not many feet above the bottom of the valley & a mile or so S. of the line. Well below the sandstone zone which will describe tomorrow. With the shells some vertebrate bones of large size but poorly preserved.

The edge of the plateau which runs N.W. & S.E. (See map) spoken of yesterday is quite distinct & is the eastern margin of an area of elevated & hilly country extending several miles to Milk River.

It is caused by the appearance of clays, sandy clays & sandstones instead of the Sombre Clays, but not having seen the junction between the series cannot tell for certain whether above or below them in order.

Camp at 2 Takes 588 m. W.

5.30 AM

B.27.03

T.54

Calm Cloudless

Camp on bank near Great Dry Coulée

Noon

6.82

89

Light Cloudless

Camp on bank near Great Dry Coulée

8 PM

26.76

77

E. Clear

July 21. Left camp at 8 A.M. with Ashe & party. While he coursed the bank of the Milk R. I rode down along the valley into the coulées &C. examining sections & looking for fossils. The day very warm & the riding of the roughest possible character. Lead horses up & down some clay banks which appeared almost impossible. Furthest point reached about 8 m. from where the R. & line meet. Saw many antelope, also a large herd of buffalo which came slowly down a ravine on the W. bank not half a mile from where we were stopped for lunch. Rode round hoping to find them drinking & get a shot but by the time we had arrived at the