After leaving camp, we continued to ascend the gentle slope upon which it had been pitched, for nearly a mile, and on reaching the crest, the most superbly grand and beautiful sight burst upon our view, that my eye ever rested upon. Down for a thousand feet and more, the road abruptly wound into the valley below; while far away, on all sides, spread this magnificent panorama of mountain precipice and vale—solitary, grand, chaotic, as it came from the hands of Him “who doeth all things well.” What a scene for the painter, what a wonderous field for the Naturalist![39] Todd also described “the remains of turtle, petrified, of all sizes, shattered and perfect, some not larger than the crown of a hat, others of huge proportions....”[40] Beginning in 1870 other organizations began making important collections. Among these were the United States Geological Survey, Yale University, Princeton University, American Museum of Natural History, University of Nebraska, Carnegie Museum, University of South Dakota, and the South Dakota State School of Mines and Technology.[41] In 1874 the Badlands were visited by the distinguished paleontologist Dr. O.C. Marsh of Yale University and his party. At that time the Indians in the region were in a very ugly temper as a result of the discovery of gold in the Black Hills by the Custer Expedition. Guaranteed much of present northwestern Nebraska and all of South Dakota west of the Missouri by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, they regarded white visitors to the western Dakota region as intruders. Accompanied by an army escort, Dr. Marsh and his party slipped into the reservation through the Red Cloud Agency (located along the banks of the White River near the present town of Crawford, Nebraska) at night without arousing the Indian sentinels and reached the fossil region. Hurriedly gathering and packing its specimens, the party returned to the agency less than 24 hours before a war party scoured the region for “the Big Bone Chief.” At the agency, Chief Red Cloud informed Dr. Marsh of the manner in which the Indian Bureau was fleecing the Indians in their rations. Dr. Marsh carried this information to Washington, which resulted in a Congressional investigation of the agency.[42] [Illustration: Figure 5 MUSEUM OF GEOLOGY, SOUTH DAKOTA SCHOOL OF MINES AND TECHNOLOGY The finest exhibits of Badlands fossils are on display in this museum. It is open to the public without charge throughout the year.] Mr. John Bell Hatcher did much of the collecting for Dr. Marsh, under the auspices of the United States Geological Survey, and is considered to be one of the most successful and original of all collectors who have worked in the Badlands.[43] He is responsible for beginning the practice of collecting and preserving complete skeletons of fossilized animals.[44]