26 



GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERi^ UNITED STATES, 



rise gradually but regularly from the prairies of Mississippi Valley 

 to the Rocky Mountains. 



West of Wood River are Shelton and Gibbon, agricultural and 

 stock-feeding centers. Two small towns, Optic and Buda, are next 



passed by the train before it enters Kearney. 



Kearney (see sheet 4^ p. 28) takes its name from old Fort Kearney, 

 which stood south of the river, a few miles east of the city, at the 



junction of the emigrant trail from Kansas City and 

 the Platte Vallev trail. It was a center of turbulence 



Kearney. 



Elevation 2,146 feet. 

 Population 6,202. 

 Omaha 196 miles. 



during 



the time of Indian warfare. Here 



during 



the construction of the Union Pacific Railroail, 

 accorduig to Gen. Dodge, there were more des- 

 perate fights and literally hair-raising adventures than James Feni- 

 more Cooper ever dreamed of, and here Maj. Frank J. North, 

 with his four companies of Pawnee Indians, made history defend- 

 ing the Overland Route against hostile Indians. The Plum Creek, 

 Ogalalla, and Summit Springs campaigns under ^laj. North's direc- 

 tion did much to prove conclusively to the Sioux and Cheyenne 

 that he was their absolute master. The same writer says that every 

 mile of the railroad had to be surveyed and built within range of 

 the rifle and under military protection, and much of the success 

 of the enterprise he attributes to the active support of Gen. Grant 

 and Gen. Sherman. 



The bottom land, which farther east is about 22 miles wide, here 

 narrows to a width of 6 miles. The river bed is very wide and shallow 

 and the wagon bridge over it south of Kearney is nearly a mile long. 

 Except at times of high water broad stretches of sand in this bed are 

 exposed to the strong northwest winds, which pile it up south of the 



dei)oaits, are of marine origin; they were 

 formoJ below sea level. Later they were 

 tilted, but without notable warping, 

 through this great distance and beveled 

 by erosion, so that the surface of the plains 

 region extended across the eroded edges 

 of the Cretaceous formations from oldest 

 to youngest. On this surface were later 

 spread out the stream deposits of Tertiarj^ 

 and Quatemarj^ age, and at the extreme 

 east the glacial deposits. 



A good illustration of this grading proc- 

 ess is furnished by Platte River, which 

 flows in a sliallow valley cut slightly 

 below the surface of the plains and has 

 the same gradient or slope as the plains 

 themselv^. This gradient is in nice 

 adjustment to the load of sediment that 

 the river carries, so that although during 

 past ages the Platte sometimes cut its 



I 



channel deeper than it is at present and 

 sometimes built it up, as it seems to be 

 doing now, it has on the whole spent its 

 energy in widening its valley and form- 

 ing remarkably even bottom lands. If 

 this process goes on long enough the 

 Platte and its neighboring: streams will 

 form new Great Plains, slightly lower than 

 the present plains but having essentially 

 the same eastward inclination. On the 

 other hand, should some condition ame 

 whereby the sediment supplied to these 

 rivers would be increased in \olmne not 

 only might the present valleys be filled 

 with sand, gravel, and clay, but the whole 

 surface of the plains might be built up, 

 the conditions thus supposed to exist sim- 

 ulating the conditions that prevailed in 

 this region during middle and late Ter- 

 tiarv time. 



