SOIL SURVEY OF BANNER COUNTY, NEBRASKA. 



By F. A. HAYES, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, In Charge, and H. L. 

 BEDELL, of the Nebraska Soil Survey.— Area Inspected by THOMAS D. RICE. 



Fig. 1. — Sketch map showing 

 location of the Banner 

 County area, Nebraska. 



DESCRUTION OF THE AREA. 



Banner County, Nebraska, lies in the extreme western part of the 

 State. It is bounded on the north bj^ Scotts Bhiff County, on the west 

 by the State of Wyoming, on the south by Kimball County, and on 

 the east by Morrill and Cheyenne Counties. The county is rectangu- 

 lar in outline, its dimensions being 35^ 

 miles east and west and 21 miles north and 

 south. It has an area of 742 square miles, 

 or 474,880 acres. 



Bamier County lies in physiographic 

 province known as the Great Plains, lying 

 in the western part of this province and in 

 the division known as the High Plains, and 

 comprising a remnant of the ancient table- 

 land sloping away from the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. Originally this table extended over the entire area included 

 in the county, but through erosion, effected principally by Pumpkin 

 Creek, most of the surface now lies several hundred feet below its 

 original level and on formations below the surface formations of the 

 High Plains. 



The topography of the county may be separated into four broad 

 divisions: (1) a smooth and level to deeply dissected table, repre- 

 senting a remnant of the original high plains and occupying the 

 southern one-third of the area; (2) a broad lowland strip, extending 

 in a southeast-northwest direction, Imown as the Pumpkin Creek 

 Valley, occupying all the remainder of the county except a small 

 area in the northeastern part; (3) a high ridge known in the Ne- 

 braska surveys as Wild Cat Ridge, extending across the northeastern 

 corner of the county; and (4) a small lowland area lying on the 

 north side of Wild Cat Ridge and representing a part of the North 

 Platte River Valley, which is so extensively developed in Scotts 

 Bluff and Morrill Counties. 



The topography of the table-land in the southern part of the 

 county varies gi'eatly. In the southwestern part it is almost flat 

 to slightly rolling, with a gentle slope toward the southeast. Stream 

 channels are not well developed and occur mainly as shallow swales, 

 which tend to give the surface its gently rolling character. In the 



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