102 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



deep channel, with steep muddy banks, a kind of forbidden object. Not 

 . a being can drink its waters, nor nntil near its entrance into the Platte 

 do they, by accession of little streams and springs, become sufficiently 

 freshened for the use of animals. 



The valley of the Platte is a natural avenue through the country, 

 from the foot of the mountains to the Missouri, and all the earthy mate- 

 rials which could possibly have existed over this vast area, from the 

 summits of the highest hills on either side, and I know not how much 

 more, have, in the lapse of ages, been swept down into the Missouri 

 Eiver and then conveyed to the ocean, to be distributed over its bottom 

 to form layers for the study of future geologists. We may arrive ap- 

 proximately at the number of square miles of sediment which have been 

 removed from this valley. It is at least five hundred miles in length, 

 and from bluff to bluff will average more than four miles in width for 

 the entire distance. Taking this low estimate as a basis, we have two 

 thousand square miles of area literally carved out and carried away. 

 We cannot compute the thickuess of the sediment at less than one thou- 

 sand feet, and it is altogether probable that it was much more. This vast 

 change gives evidence of the tremendous forces of nature that have been 

 continually at work all over this region. West of the mouth of the Elk 

 Horn Eiver 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 northwest in the 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 branches, as Maple, Pebble, and Logau 

 Creeks, has carved out for itself broad, finely-rounded valleys, so that 

 almost every acre may be brought under the highest state of cultiva- 

 tion. The great need here will be timber for fuel and other economical 

 purposes, and also rock material for building. St 1 ' 11 the resources of 

 this region are so vast that the enterprising settler will devise plans to 

 remedy all these deficiencies. He will plant trees, and thus raise his 

 own forests and improve his lands in accordance with his wants and 

 necessities. 



These valleys have always been the favorite places of abode for nu- 

 merous tribes of Indians from time immemorial, and the sites of their old 

 villages are still to be seen in many localities. The buffalo, deer, elk, 

 antelope, and other kinds of wild game, swarmed here in the greatest 

 numbers, and as they recede farther to the westward into the more arid 

 and barren plains beyond the reach of civilization, the wild nomadic 

 Indian is obliged to follow. Geese, ducks, and other kinds of wild fowl, 

 with now and then a stray antelope or red deer, may yet be seen, and 

 the enterprising hunter may treat himself to a large amount of toil and 

 a small amount of game. The underlying rocks, as far west as Colum- 

 bus and beyond, though very seldom visible, are well known to belong 

 to the chalk period, and consist of yielding sands, clays, and chalky lime- 

 stones. These soft rocks, so readily crumbling under the atmospheric 

 influences, have given a very gently -undulating and rounded appearance 

 to the entire surface. One may travel for days in this region and not 

 find a stone large enough to toss at a bird, and very seldom a bush suf- 

 ficient in size to furnish a cane. Yet this region is settling up with 

 emigrants with great rapidity ; railroads are now in progress of con- 

 struction, or are in contemplation, and villages are springing up in nu- 

 merous localities. The juincipal ones at th<^ present time are Ereinont 



