THE ARKANSAS RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 473 



been made to cultivate the soil, which bids fair to prove a suc- 

 (e^s. Around the Twin Lakes, at the extreme point, oats, 

 wheat, barley, potatoes, and turnips have been raised, yielding 

 very fair crops. Below this basin the river, for twenty miles, 

 passes through a narrow canyon, along which, with considerable 

 difficulty, a road has been made. Emerging from this, it 

 enters the ( Upper Arkansas Valley ' proper, which is a widen- 

 ing of the bottom lands from two to six or eight miles. This 

 valley is some forty or fifty miles in length, and very fertile. 



"The principal tributaries of the Arkansas that flow in from 

 the south, east of the mountains, are Hardscrabble and Green- 

 horn Creeks (the St. Charles is a branch of the latter), Huer- 

 bano River, which has a large tributary named Cuchara; 

 Apishpa River, Timpas Creek, and Purgatory River. On the 

 north side, Fountain Gui Bouille River and Squirrel Creek 

 are the principal streams affording water. 



" This entire district affords broad and extensive grazing 

 fields for cattle and sheep, and quite a number of herders and 

 stock-raisers are beginning already to spread out their flocks 

 and herds over these broad areas of rich and nutritious grasses. 

 One of the finest meadows,. of moderate extent, that I saw in 

 the Territory, was on the divide near the head of Monument 

 Creek, and near by was a large pond of cool, clear water. The 

 temperature of this section is somewhat similar to that of 

 Northern Missouri, and all the products grown there can be 

 raised here, some with a heavier yield and of a finer quality, 

 as wheat, oats, etc., while others, as corn, yield less, and are in- 

 ferior in quality." 



As we descend the Arkansas, the valley becomes broader, 

 and it is often difficult to tell where the bottom ceases and the 

 prairie commences. 



