THE NEBRASKA PERMIAN 36 1 



Lancaster count)', is drained by the Big Blue River and its 

 tributaries. This river enters the central western border of the 

 4 Permian field and flows eastward and southward through the 

 western half into Kansas. All of its tributaries in the Permian 

 rocks are small streams and of little importance. 



The topography of this region is wholly unlike that of any 

 other part of the state. There are highlands of almost level 

 prairie, which change gradually into rolling prairie, and in some 

 localities the rolling prairie shades into rough and broken coun- 

 try that is only fitted for pasture land. As the tributaries 

 approach the river they usually flow through narrow, deep ravines 

 or gulches, and in numerous places there are miniature canyons 

 'with precipitous walls of cherty limestone. The Big Blue River 

 flows through a gradually narrowing valley. At Beatrice the 

 bluffs are low and well rounded and the valley quite wide. In 

 the vicinity of Holmesville, the bluffs are very much higher and 

 steeper, and near the Kansas line they are from fifty to one hun- 

 dred and fifty feet high and in many places very precipitous. 

 Where the exposures approach the perpendicular the walls are 

 usually cherty limestone. The chert, which is almost black, 

 occurs in regular bands of varying thicknesses. These exposures, 

 when viewed from a distance, with their alternating layers of 

 light and dark stone, partly vine-clad, remind one of the work of 

 man rather than nature ; and it does not require a vivid imagi- 

 nation for one to see ruin after ruin as the eye wanders down the 

 river; here an old fortress, there an old church, and in the dis- 

 tance the rude outline of an old crumbling castle. This rugged 

 scenery, mingled with the many groves and the winding river, 

 makes this one of the most picturesque localities of the state. 

 The elevation of this region above the sea varies from 11 50 feet, 

 at the state line, to about 1300 feet, on the divide between Roca 

 and Beatrice. Judging from the deposits of drift along the river, 

 the Permian has undergone glaciation. There are a few V-shaped 

 troughs, varying in depth from two to five feet, and these are 

 usually filled with granite and quartzite pebbles and sand. The 

 Big Blue River was very near the southwestern limit of the great 



