a iN i lle iia a 
THE SANTA FE ROUTE. 39 
and wheat are grown. Pastures are much more extensive, for the 
raising of cattle increases in importance as the cultivation of ‘the land 
becomes more difficult. 
The village of Cimarron (sim-ar-rohn’) derived its name, which is 
Spanish for wild or unruly, from Cimarron Crossing, a fend some 
: distance to the west, where the short cut or Cimarron 
Cimarron. branch of the Santa Fe Trail crossed Arkansas River. 
racks vrag ied 618 feet. "This branch passed through the sand hills, crossed the 
Kansas City 386 miles, Plains to Cimarron River, and went southwest to 
Wagon Mound and Fort Union. Cimarron was an 
important place in the time of the Santa Fe Trail. In the early days 
it was headquarters for many hunters, for buffaloes and other plains 
game were especially abundant in this vicinity. Later it was an 
important cattle center, but in recent years agriculture by dry farm- 
ing and irrigation has heconie the principal industry, although there 
are still many cattle in the region. A large amount of wheat is 
raised, but the climate is too arid to assure good crops every year 
without the aid of irrigation. 
At points 2 and 3 miles west of Cimarron the railway is on the river 
bank and passes through cuts showing buff loams of the deposits of 
Tertiary age that form the Great Plains. 
A mile west of Ingalls are railway cuts exposing hard layers of con- 
glomerate, which also crop out in banks extending down to the river. 
This conglomerate consists of sand and gravel that 
Ingalls. have been cemented by calcium carbonate, which 
Elevation 2,665 feet. was in solution in waters percolating through the 
stooge reel miles, deposits. It marks the course of river channels that 
crossed the region in late Tertiary time and deposited 
the materials of the Great Plains. There are other exposures of this 
conglomerate at intervals farther west nearly- to Garden City. 
A prominent ledge of this rock that crops out close to the railway 
2 miles west of Pierceville is known as Point of Rocks. At this place 
there were several Indian fights. Toward Garden 
Pierceville. City (see sheet 7, p. 44) the Arkansas Valley widens, 
Elevation 2,752 feet. the bluff on the north side receding northward and 
ace. i miles, Pecoming a gentle slope, which continues for sev- 
ral miles west. 
Garden City, the seat of Finney County, has wide streets, with many 
shade trees, orchards, and garden plots sustained by irrigation. It is 
the center of an extensive beet-sugar industry, and 
Garden City. —__ Jarge refinery is prominent in the northern part of 
Elevation 2,829 feet. the town. In 1914 about 50,000 tons of beets were 
ee a abe’ ae at the refinery, yielding 13,000,000 pounds of 
ugar. The pulp is used for cattle feed. Several 
canals bring wae pee na Arkansas River, not only for irrigation in the 
