5G2 THANSACl'IOXS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



sas Pacific Eailroad, I selected two average specimens of soil ; one 

 from the surface and one two feet deep. It will be feeen that the sur- 

 face soil is remarkably rich ; indeed, as rich as any soil in the country, 

 and that the subsoil is equal to the virgin soil of such timber coun- 

 tries as western New York, Ohio, or Michigan. When the buffalo 

 grass ends the grama grass begins, and extends to the foot, and even 

 into the Rocky mountains. This grows in bunches or tufts ten or 

 twelve inches high ; the seeds are held firm, the roots are firm, and 

 flowers in July and August. It is the most nutritious grass known ; 

 cattle fed on it are good beef the year round, and working cattle in 

 that country are never fed on grain, and do not know what it is. 



From Cheyenne Wells, 450 miles from the Missouri river, I took 

 this specimen of subsoil two feet below the surface, and it will be 

 seen to be rich in the elements of fertility. It was nearly as dry 

 then as now, and the people at the stage station said there had been 

 no rain since June, nor even dew, and yet they had an excellent well 

 of w^ater about ten feet deep. In other places they dig from fifteen 

 to forty feet. In one place they had gone 100 feet and got no water. 

 I think that a plenty of water can be had in from twenty to thirty 

 feet, and that if it were pumped wath a wind-mill into a large reser- 

 voir made in the soil, a few acres could be irrigated, and abundance 

 of bread-stutis and vegetables could be grown, while stock could be 

 tept to any extent ; and it is in this way that that country can be set- 

 tled and trees made to grow. Besides this, the railroad company is 

 about to sink artesian wells. Geologists say the formation is favor- 

 able for the holding of large bodies of water underneath, and it is 

 alleged that such bodies must exist, since the water from the Rocky 

 mountains finds its way only in part into the rivers flowing from them. 

 A portion of country, perhaps fifty miles wide, was passed over in 

 the night, during which period we crossed eight miles of sandy land, 

 ■wImcIi was the only sand on the whole journey of 700 miles. 



On the Arkansas river, above Bent's Fort, I noticed swelling 

 ridges of shale similar to that where fine grapes are grown in west- 

 ern New York and in northern Ohio. This is a specimen of that 

 shale. Being in a state of constant decomposition, the soil of the 

 valley is made very rich. The river is clear and sparkling, the water 

 cold, as it should be, since it is derived from melting snows in tlie 

 mountains here, only about eighty miles distant. A few cottonwood 

 trees were along the banks, and, although the country is decidedly 

 liealthful, and is beautilUl and I'ich, there lu'e few or no inhabitants. All 



