https://caspercollege.cvlcollections.org/files/original/c91403fe7aa715be76590a357fc535a9.pdf 301bd4db5cecc78987ff19639c6e2f2c PDF Text Text The geology of Northwestern looming is exceedingly interesting, as it tells the story of the formation of the mountains and scenic wonders of the country. There are beautiful mountain ranges and peaks now, becayse forces in the earth formed great upliftspf the rocks end great fractures, and there are deep, ineteresting canyons because the streams and rivers cut and entrlnched their channels into the uplifted z Many years ago, in what geologists call Pajeozoic time, Northwestern looming and much of the adjoining states was an ocean, in which fine grained sediments, mostly limestones, were deposited gradually but to a great thickness. Later condi­ tions changed somewhat, and muds and sends filled the area, part of which became flats and flooded plains. Some of these sediments were red, and formed the bright red shales and sandstones that are so prominent in places. The deposition of sedi­ ments, partially marine and partially non-marine, continued for many geologic ages end one set of bods was laid down after another with almost no evidence of break or disturbance. Then at the close of the so-called Cretaceous time much later, there was. a radical change. The surface of the earth had been loaded with a thickness of perhaps ie,CXX) to 20,000 feet of beds, that gradually settled as the weight increased. This finally upset the equilibrium, and a period of folding and wrinkling started, A greet pressure or thrust was exerted frcan the west toward the east and formed a series of tremendous folds, anticlines, and synclines, jst as a sheet of paper wrinkles with lateral pressure. Some of the anticlines were compressed so tightly that the rocks broke and sheared, and great masses pushed over on the breaks or fault^planes to form thrust faults. The Teton mountains were formed by such a fault and pushed the granite and other rocks up to tremendous heights. This folding and faulting surely was not sudden in any one greet catastrophe, but was slow, intermittene movement that lasted many, many years. As they were going up, the strata were continually attacked by the forces of erosion, water, WiHd, and changes in temperature and wore cut down. This great period of miuntain folding formed all the present ranges end the major basins. The Tetons arose along a major fault, the Gros Ventre end Wind River moun- �on tains are large anticlines, with low dips XS the northest flank and deeper dips on the Bouthwest, and the Salt River and VStyoming ranges were made by a complex series of big faults and close, sharp folds. The Green River basin is a great s^cline, or depression where the foimations are very slightly folded, and are nearly horizontal Jackson Hole is a somewhat more complex basin, with some smaller folds, with much of the softer sedimentary rocks eroded away. ■ “After the major folding and faulting ture. The most interesting one now is were oyer, the streams and glaciers start- H the La Barge oil field, partly in Sublette ed carving the earth into its present shape. fy and partly in Lincoln county. Seeps of It is difficult to realize that the Snake and t’ oil were found as early as 1905 on this Hoback rivers have themselves cut the faulted and complex structure, leases were gorges through which they flow but it is takenai^ some wells drilled. Oil in comtrue. The harder, more resistant rocks have lasted to form the mountains and i mercial quantities was not developed, alridges and the softer formations eroded though several small wells of a very high away to form valleys and basins. gravity oil were drilled in at Dry Piney. “During the glacial period, in fairly In 1923, Mr. Newlon completed a small, recent time, there were many mountain , shallow, oil well in the LaBarge field, and ' glaciers, particularly in the Teton and ’ ■ in 1924 the Wyotah (Scoville) Oil eomWind River mountains. These helped to [ pany finished another. The success of carve the mountains into steep cliffs and ; these operators attracted the large oil narrow U-shaped valleys and carried boul­ g companies, that had been afraid to prosders and coarse sediments into the valleys. p pect at LaBarge because of the unusual Some of this material dammed the moun- I j and uncertain structure of the field. Optain streams and formed beautiful lakes, I erations have steadily gathered momensuch as Jackson, Jenny and Green River I j turn, until now there are about 30 com­ lakes. pleted oil wells with a daily potential pro“ While there was great volcanic activ- R duction of perhaps 1500 barrels. As so j ity in Yellowstone Park, adjoining to the often happens in the oil business or any north, there was not much in Sublette and ' ' form of pioneering, the early prospectors Teton counties. In the eastern part of , ____ „____ . -.1 who had the courage of their convictions Teton county and in the northern end of U] have been rewarded by success, and have the Wind River mountains there are old i j had the ,, satisfaction of saying, “I told lava flows, sills and beds of volcanic ma- ■ J you so ’ to the more conservative oil comterials. panics and their geologists. LaBarge is i one of the important fields in AVyoming j, “Few visitors to this beautiful country now and has added much to the potential i have studied geology and can understand r the fascinating story that is so plainly I wealth of the western part of the state. “Other wells are being drilled in af written in the rock formations, of their F search for new oil fields and many geolohistory and how they reached their pres­ gists are studying the structure of the ent positions. If all who love the moun­ country for new locations to drill. No tains and the scenery would study some one knows whether more oil will be found, -1 of this science, they could see much more K but with one field, the chances are excel- 1. and love it more. lent for others. “Sublette and Teton counties have been “There are valuable deposits of co ■ agricultural and scenic counties with an < and perhaps other minerals locked in the 2 R almost negligible mineral production, but H mountains of Sublette and Teton counties there are mineral resources that should that some day will be opened and brought become valuable and important in the fuout for man’s use.” ' This information was gleaned from an article written by John G. BertrBm<S ist for the Midwest Refining company, and published in the July-August number of the , Midwest Review, pabliaih^ in Casper, by the Midwest Refining company. �In the Jackson Hole country, about four miles east from the village of Kelley, and eastward from the highway is an unusual scar on the mountainside, which has been given the name of "The Gros Ventre Slide.” A tour may be made from the highway to ob­ tain a closer view of the unusual slide which occurred on June 23, 1925. Although it has been only * years since this great landslip happened, details concerning it, and of subsequent tragical effects, have become more or less dim in the minds of people living in Tfl^oming. To perpetuate this most interesting event, we are pleased to here­ with republish the interesting account; When nature dams a rushing mountain river in a few minutes time, forms a beauti­ ful lake several miles long in a few days, end then two years later tears away much of the same dam and releases the- impounded water in a mad flood that kills and de­ stroys, men can realize the power of thejj^ forces that work around us all of the time. That is the story of the Gros Ventre landslide, where the erosion of the mountain side suddenly filled a beautiful valley with rock and debris, and later the erosion of the stream carried away a part � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Alfred J. Mokler Letterboxes Subject The topic of the resource Local authors -- Wyoming -- Natrona County -- Casper Casper (Wyo.) -- History Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.) Natrona County (Wyo.) -- History Description An account of the resource The Alfred J. Mokler Letterboxes are a series of the larger archival collection that are his papers. Both his Letterboxes and his Notebooks available in this digital repository include holograph manuscripts, which is to say, manuscripts written in the author's hand. Much of the material in Mokler's Letterboxes dates to the 1920s and 1930s. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. 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