KANSAS Academy of science. 



that in occupying this position I feel the high dignity of being where was once my 

 honored friend, our old associate and helper, president, and founder. Benjamin F. 

 Mudge. 



I will now, in conforming to the custom already mentioned, ask the attention 

 of this audience to some account of the great region west of us. This is the Kan- 

 sas Academy of Science. It might be called the " Great Plains Academy of Science.'" 

 From North Dakota to Texas, there is no other society on the great plains that 

 stands for the advancement of natural science. The only excejition to this is that 

 just recently a similar society has been born in Nebraska. The father of it is one 

 of our own members, presidents, and founders, John D. Parker. 



Recently a scientific fnan who lives in Texas, but whose reputation is national, 

 expressed to me a strong feeling of envy because I lived in a State where an acad- 

 'emy of science was possible. 



Kansas, the central State of the American union, is one of the States of the 

 plains. The plains comprise all the country from the east front of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains to the 97th or 96th meridian, and from the Gulf of Mexico and the Rio Grande 

 to beyond the northern boundary of the Dakotas and Montana. We might adopt a 

 more eastern limit, but it is perhaps more convenient to call east of that line the 

 Mississippi valley, though much of it, as here around Ottawa, is 1,000 feet above 

 sea level, and several hundred feet above the waters of the great river. Be it so, 

 then: what mostly we shall talk of to-night will be within the limits mentioned, and 

 any remarks or conclusions that are applicable elsewhere may be so applied accord- 

 ing to your own knowledge of localities. 



Having for years been intensely interested in investigating the geology of the 

 plains, it has seemed to me strange that this work did not receive as much attention 

 as it might from famous geologists, who have passed over them to explore the geol- 

 ogy of the mountains. I do n't think it strange any more; but, while I concede the 

 fascination of the mountain studies, it still remains true that the region of the great 

 plains is interesting in a high degree to every student of the outdoor sciences. 

 Some of the points of interest I shall strive to bring before you, and, by the aid of 

 the lantern, show you something of the scenery — its variety as well as its sameness 

 — of the region of the great plains. 



Before using the pictures, I wish to call attention to one or two of the physical 

 features of the plains. 



First, though gently rolling or apparently absolutely level for miles, yet there is 

 a steady increment of elevation westward. The elevated land near Manhattan or 

 Fort Riley is 200 to 400 feet above the Kaw river, and is 1,200 to 1,400 feet above 

 sea level. At the State line, 300 miles further west, the elevation of the high prairie 

 is 4.000 feet. At Cheyenne, in Wyoming, it is over 6,000 feet, and 20 miles west the 

 plains abut on the mountains 1.000 feet higher. East and north of Colorado Springs 

 the plains also reach the height of 7,000 feet, and there they do not abut against the 

 mountains, but are cut off by well-defined valleys with a steep eastern escarpment. 



Again, there is decrease of altitude of the plains north and south; north from 

 the high lands of northern Nebraska, through the Dakotas, to the sea level of the 

 Arctic ocean; south from the Llano Estacado to the Gulf of Mexico. Eastern Col- 

 orado and Wyoming have the highest land of the plains. 



The plains are intersected by the greatest rivers of the continent. The Missouri, 

 Yellowstone, Cheyenne, North and South Platte, the Arkansas, the Canadian and the 

 Rio Grande are fed by the melting of the mountain snows, and carry great volumes 

 of water, in shallow or deep, but broad and tortuous channels, across the plains to 

 the sea. 



But there are streams which are also large, but not as large as tliese, whose chan- 



