470 BUFFALO la:^d. 



FALL OF THE EIVERS. 



The fall of the principal rivers traversing the region above 

 named is about as follows : Arkansas, to the 99th meridian, 

 eleven to fifteen feet to the mile ; the Canadian, the same ; the 

 South Platte, from Denver to North Platte, ten feet to the 

 mile ; the North Platte, to Fort Fetterman, seven feet to the 

 mile. The descent of the country from Denver Junction to 

 Fort Hays is nine feet to the mile. Thus it will be seen that 

 abundant fall is obtainable to irrigate all the lands adjacent. 



THE PRINCIPAL EIVERS AND VALLEYS OF BUFFALO LAND. 



The Platte (or Nebraska), the Solomon, the Smoky Hill, 



and the Arkansas, are the four largest rivers of Buffalo Land 



proper, and form natural avenues to the eastward from the 



mountains which shut it in upon the west. 



t 



THE VALLEY OF THE PLATTE. 



Describing this, Hayden says : " West of the mouth of the 

 Elk Horn River, the valley of the Platte expands widely. 

 The hills on either side are quite low, rounded, and clothed 

 with a thick carpet of grass. But we shall look in vain for 

 any large natural groves of forest trees, there being only a 

 very narrow fringe of willows or cottonwoods along the little 

 streams. The Elk Horn rises far to the north-west in tlie 

 prairie near the Niobrara, and flows for a distance of nearly 

 two hundred miles through some of the most fertile and 

 beautiful lands in Nebraska. Each of its more important 



