8 FIELD OPERATIONS OF THE BUREAU OF SOILS, 1919. 



feet. Near its head the stream is swift and cutting its channel, but 

 it becomes more sluggish toward the eastern county boundary. In 

 its course through the county the creek receives no water from con- 

 stant natural tributaries; it is fed entirely by intermittent drain- 

 ageways, springs, and underground seepage. The principal drain- 

 age ways emptying into Pumpkin Creek are Bull Canyon, Willow 

 Creek, Indian Springs Canyon, Bighorn Gulch, Hackberry Creek, 

 and Chalk Creek. These drainageways are all on the south side of 

 the stream. Many of them have springs near their heads, in the 

 rough, broken escarpment bordering the table-land, but the water 

 becomes lost in the loose, porous sands of the valley slope before 

 reaching the main stream. 



Lawrence Fork is a dry drainageway in the southeastern part of 

 the county. Its principal tributary is Rocky Hollow. Except for a 

 short distance along Pumpkin Creek, in the eastern part of the 

 county, all the drainageways have a very steep gradient and are 

 swift flowing. By far the greater part of the county is well drained. 

 Streamways reach all sections except the sandier parts in the Pump- 

 kin Creek Valley, where the water finds its way to Pumpkin Creek 

 through subterranean channels, and a few areas in the upland 

 where shallow depressions occur. The first bottom of Pumpkin 

 Creek is poorly drained, owing to the flat topography and to the 

 nearness of the water table to the surface. 



Banner County was formed from a part of old Cheyenne County 

 in the fall of 1888 and was organized as a county in January, 1 889. 

 Settlement on the lowlands along Pumpkin Creek began as early as 

 1885. The first settlement was made by people from Illinois, but 

 these were followed by others from eastern Nebraska and from Iowa. 

 The settlers were of mixed parentage, a large percentage being 

 American born. The population of Banner County is reported in the 

 1910 census as 1,444, and is all classed as rural. The population aver- 

 ages 1.9 persons per square mile. Settlement is densest on the 

 table-land in the southeastern part of the countj^ and along Pumpkin 

 Creek in the northern part. The region surrounding Harrisburg is 

 also comparatively thickly populated. The rough broken areas in 

 the southeastern part of the county and Wild Cat Eidge in the 

 northeastern part are the most sparsely populated sections. 



Harrisburg, the county seat and principal town, has an estimated 

 population of 100. It lies in the central part of the county and 

 serves as a distributing point for the most necessary farm supplies. 

 Flowerfield is a small village in the southwestern part of the county.^ 



^ Since this report was written the preliminary announcement of the population of 

 Banner County and its civil divisions in 1920 has been is-'-^iued by the Bureau of the 

 Census, as follows : Banner County, 1,435 ; rural, 1,435 ; Epworth precinct, 199 ; Flower- 

 field precinct, 123; Gabe Rock precinct. 127; Lone Pine precinct, 148; Long Springs, pre- 

 cinct, 310 ; Loraine precinct, 181 ; Wrights precinct, 247. 



