212 Life of a Fossil Hunter 



There are, moreover, no wells or springs in the red 

 beds. The surface rock is porous, and the water 

 sinks through it to the compact gray beds below, 

 from which it drains off into the river. These gray 

 beds are some distance below the surface, and so far 

 as I know, have never been reached in digging for 

 water. One is, therefore, forced to depend upon 

 rain water. This is collected either in artificial 

 tanks built by the cattlemen, or in natural tanks, 

 sometimes along the creek beds, but usually in the 

 flood-plain in old creek beds, where the fine red mud 

 has been puddled by cattle, perhaps, or in the olden 

 days, by buffalo. These ponds hold water for years, 

 although often they become very foul from the cat- 

 tle that frequent and wade into them in summer to 

 get away from the flies. 



It is an odd sight to a stranger in the valley of the 

 Big Wichita to see the rain come rushing down the 

 hills. It soon becomes as thick as cream with the 

 fine red clay, and to think of depending upon such 

 water for drinking and cooking purposes is revolt- 

 ing to one who remembers the sparkling springs and 

 clear wells of the East or any mountainous country. 

 During quiet days, when the wind was not blowing, 

 the red mud would settle in the bottom of the tanks, 

 but one had to be careful not to pull out one's pail 

 suddenly or the water would instantly thicken with 

 mud from the bottom. 



