TOPOGRAPHY OF NEBRASKA. 11 



map would enclose the drainage systems in forms resembling huge 

 oags. The open end representing the mouths or lower ends of 

 the rivers will face the east or southeast. 



How TO GAIN A CONCEPTION OF NEBRASKA TOPOGRAPHY. 



Conspicuous as are the valleys of Nebraska no good idea of its 

 topography can be formed by following them exclusively. Thou- 

 sands pass through the Platte Valley from east to west without 

 comprehending the physical features of the State. In fact, I have 

 met many old freighters across the plains who entirely mistook its 

 character, because they had followed mainly the valleys. This, too, 

 is one cause for the misstatements of tourists, who have described 

 Nebraska as a monotonous, level plain. 



To gain a clear conception then of Nebraska topography, one 

 must cross the valleys and divides nearly at right angles. In do- 

 ing this it will be observed that the most rolling lands generally 

 border the valleys or bottoms. Advancing, the rolling and some- 

 times broken character gradually disappears when the divide is 

 reached which separates the last from the next drainage system. 

 Here the land swells out into a gently undulating plain that varies 

 extremely in extent. The extent of such a divide may be limited 

 to a half mile or may extend for thirty or more miles. These 

 swells or long tongues of undulating lands are found on the divides 

 between nearly all the rivers of the State. Occasionally between 

 the lesser streams a single low bluff, a few hundred feet wide, and 

 only slightly raised above the general level, marks the divide. 

 Among the most conspicuous of these divides are the beautiful up- 

 lands between the Republican and the Platte, between the Platte 

 and the Blue Rivers, and between the forks of the Blue Rivers. 

 Between the Blues and Nemahas, and between the forks of the lat- 

 ter similar divides exist. North of the Platte, conspicuous for their 

 beauty, are the divides between the forks of the Elkhorn, and at 

 the headwaters and between the forks of the Logan, and between 

 the Elkhorn and the Loups. In fact they are met with between 

 most of the streams of the State. Some of these high uplands have 

 great numbers of shallow basin-shaped depressions whose soil and 

 grasses closely resemble those of the bottom lands. They are evi- 

 dently the remains of lakes that until recently occupied their sites. 

 Indeed some of them still retain this character, being filled with water 

 the whole year round, varying from one to ten feet in depth. 



