The bacon and coffee are more than welcome when we return. After breakfast we strike camp and drive into town. There Palmer’s Curio shop attracts us for some time. We leave with several calcium silicate crystals and specimens of the world’s only sand crystals.
The most interesting person met on our trip is found in Interior. He is Mr. Henry Thompson, who runs a little souvenir stand called “The Wonderland.” He wears long, flowing white hair and a great flowing moustache of the same color. His acquaintance with the country dates back many a year.
No one going through Interior should miss him. He tells some very interesting tales of early days in the West. Recently a motion picture company used him in the role of the Patriarch Moses in the mountains. He gives us a rehearsal of the role he played and recounts the garb of animal skins he wore, and other interesting features of the adventure. We listen with open mouths, and find it difficult to tear ourselves away for the continuance of our journey.
Twenty-four miles west of Interior, after traveling through the scenic splendor of the Badlands we come upon a vast expanse of land covered with a crust of once molten rock about an inch thick, now all broken into fragments. The formation consists of two hardened layers of once molten rock, probably of calcium silicate composition, smooth on the outer edges and joined together by countless papilae, making the whole look like two layers joined by a porous center. There is no doubt in one’s mind, upon viewing it, that Satan must surely have had his headquarters here at some time or other.
Castle Rock in the Bad Lands, near ScenicCanedy Photo
We follow State Highway Number 40 through other Badland wonders five miles farther. The road is very good. At Scenic we visit the widely known Museum Filling Station. Here we see a beautiful and interesting collection of stones from the Black Hills. In fact the entire building is covered with rocks, fossils and other interesting things embedded in concrete. Prehistoric animal bones and Indian relics from the Badlands are within. The bones, the curious animals, the pictures, the petrified eggs, the skeletons, Indian relics and numerous other curios are remarkable.
The Alter in the Castles of the AncientsCanedy Photo
They have attracted people from throughout the world, not for a hasty examination but for extensive study. This place is one of the important places to see in the Badlands. One cannot afford to miss it under any circumstances.