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POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



THE RECLAMATION OF THE NORTH PLATTE VALLEY 



BY W. S. COULTER, 

 ASSISTANT ENGINEER, U. S. K. S. 



n "^HE North Platte River rises in the semi-arid region of the North 

 -*- Park Mountains in Colorado and flows into Wyoming, its course 

 through the latter state describing a rough quadrant of about one hun- 

 dred and fifty miles radius, having for its center the southeast corner 

 of the state. Eighty miles from the state line it turns to the south- 

 east and so continues to its junction with the South Platte in central 

 Nebraska. The route through the last two states lies almost wholly 



Pathfinder Canyon on the Nokth Pi.atte River. Location ok Dam Site. 



within the arid region and drains, in Wyoming, a mountainous country 

 where the snow lingers long into the early summer. During the winter 

 and spring the snowfall upon the peaks is considerable, and when the 

 white mantle begins to dissolve under the increasing heat of the sum- 

 mer sun, the rivers are gorged with the flood waters. The North 

 Platte, which trickles along the center of a broad gravel bed throughout 

 the summer, a pigmy sporting the habiliments of a giant, assumes 

 monstrous proportions at this season, swelling from a few hundred 



