A Wonderful Column

A correspondent with Prof. Jeuney's ! Black Hills expedition gives the followj ing description of " Bear Lodge," one j of the most remarkable natural formations in that lnud of wonders : The most remarkable object een by the members of the expedition during I tlie entire summer, is Bear Lodge itself. ■ Seen at a diatanoe, it resembles in out line an Tndian lodge ; bnt, upon a nearer ! I approach, it provea to be a column of j gray porphyry, that resembles grauite in every particular, excepting the absence ei mica. The column is composed of seventy-six smaller columns, that stand j i close together, as if qnarried and ' j fully set upon ite milk-white clay ! ! tal by a hand as strong and miglity as ' Jove's. The elay pedestal is about 1,500 feet in the diameter of ite baae, and rises 500 feetabove the waters of the Belle Fourche, on the west lank of whicli j r it stands. Tts sidos slope with a handsomely rounded curve tliat corresponda well with the broad baSB oi' flie column that rests upon it. Tuin column of rock, I or rath'-r this many-columned column of I rock, ia 900 i'eet aero the base j and 300 feet across its top, and reata ita head LflM (eet above the Wel of the Belle Foureho river. The topographerw determined the measuremeut by triangnj lation, as, owing to its smooth mid steep i sides, not even a mountain-sh!ep oould j i have climbed it. Imagine thifl solitary ! ! column standing on tho h vel plain, live ! miles from any elevation desorving the i name, and it will be readily understood i why tho Indiaas cali itv tha "Bare i Lodge." Soma of the Indiana, ever, say it means Bear Lodge, on account of tho holes seen in the clay-pedestal, and the tracks around its margin. Lot this be as it may, I give such authority as I can find, and do not feel disposed to quostion its appropriateness ; bnt upon one point all must agree, and that is the strangeness and the beauty of this natural pillar, that has stood a Bolitary watch over this distant plain for huudredfl of centuria), braving a million wintry blasls, and defying the gnawing of seas, to be soen at iast and admired by civilized mankind.