WATERS OF NEBRASKA. 67 



ing and beautiful valley in all Nebraska than the North Loup. 

 The water is of crystal clearness and the fertility of the valley is 

 very great. The scenery is varied. This judgment formed 

 twelve years ago, is more than confirmed since its settlement. 

 Corn and the cereal grains are most successfully produced. 

 Timber and fruit trees are grown with an ease surpassed nowhere 

 in the State. 



On the south side the main tributaries are Mud Creek and the 

 South Loup. This latter river rises immediately beyond the west 

 boundary of Custer County, and flows in a southeasterly direction 

 into Buffalo County, and then northeast to its junction with the 

 Middle Loup in Howard County. There are a large number of 

 smaller tributaries. The rivers are in places excessively sandy and 

 quite rapid. The quality of the bottom lands vary more than in 

 other Nebraska valleys. There are many sandy elevations here. 

 At the ordinary level there is a somewhat sandy loam, rich in 

 humus and of a dark color. In depressions slightly below the level 

 of the former, and often of a cloggy texture, the alkaline soil 

 occurs. Slightly elevated above both these varieties is a coarser 

 sandy soil. These different soils often shade into each other, and 

 again they are sharply outlined. The good soil, however, greatly 

 predominates over the inferior varieties. Very little of the alkaline 

 soil however can be called poor. Cultivation permits the waters to 

 percolate through it and carry to lower levels the excess of alkaline 

 matter, and much is consumed by the crops that are cultivated, 

 especially in wet seasons. Here as elsewhere over the State, where 

 these soils occur, a few years of cultivation often renders them 

 equal to the best in the State. 



Towards the head of the Loups the sand hills in places crowd the 

 bottom lands. Where they occur travel is difficult. Often where 

 they are most abundant they suddenly cease and the country 

 changes to a gently rolling plain of first and second class land. 

 Some explorers have pronounced one-half of the region of the 

 Loups waste land. This is certainly by one-half too high. And if 

 one-fourth of the upper Loup region is taken up with sand hills 

 they still make choice pasture or grazing grounds. It is remarkable 

 that where twelve years ago the sand hills were comparatively 

 bare they have now, through the influence of increasing rainfall, 

 become covered to some extent with a growth of nutritious grasses. 

 This is proof, if any were needed, of the abundance of mineral 

 fertilizers which these sands contain. 



