62 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 



The great severity of the climate in winter, and the absence of the 

 thick covering of snow, renders it impossible to cultivate winter wheat, 

 so that spring-wheat is the only kind raised. Dixon, Cedar, and L'Eaii 

 Qui Court Counties are beginning to be settled, and good crops are 

 produced; but the land is not as desirable, generally, as that farther 

 south. 



The soil is thinner and drier; water is far less abundant as we pro- 

 ceed northward. The basis formation of these counties is the chalky 

 limestone of the Niobrara group, and the rocks furnish moderately good 

 building-stone, and it is converted into excellent lime. The eroded 

 materials, also, are freely mingled with the soils of the river-bottoms^ 

 adding much to their fertility. 



Among the most fertile portions of the State are the bottom-lands 

 of the Missouri, as the Tekama and Dakota bottoms. These bottoms 

 cover so large an area that they deserve especial mention here. 



The Tekama bottom is about forty miles long, and will average five 

 miles in width, and the luxuriance of the vegetation upon it attests most 

 emphatically the richness of the soil. Good grass grows on it, which 

 will yield two to four tons to the acre. Wheat and oats grow most 

 abundantly, with comparatively little cultivation. Wheat has been 

 raised here at the rate of fifty-two bushels by weight per acre. But 

 the bottom is low for the most part, and must be somewhat unhealthy ; 

 for such an abundant vegetation — almost tropical in its luxuriance — can- 

 not decay without sending forth into the atmosphere more or less 

 malaria. 



The water is not good in many places, though it is obtained by dig- 

 ging within a few feet of the surface. The soil, to a great depth, has 

 been formed by the repeated overflow of the Missouri River, the water 

 of which held in suspension the clays and marls of the Cretaceous and 

 Tertiary formations farther up the river, which are always impregnated 

 with alkaline matters, and these have given something of their nature 

 to these bottom-soils, and these alkaline earths necessarily afl'ect the 

 water. 



Above Decatur there is a second boltom, about two miles wide and 

 eight or ten in length, which is owned by the Omaha Indians. This is 

 a low bottom also, which is easily overflowed in high water, but possesses 

 the same fertility with the Tekama bottom. 



The next great bottom is the Dakota, upon which Dakota City is lo- 

 cated. This is the most important, not ouly on account of size and fer- 

 tility, but because it is several feet higher than the others, and is more 

 healthy and seldom overflowed. The Missouri River at times makes its 

 ravages upon it, removing many acres in a single season. The village 

 of Omadi, which was formerly quite a flourishing town, located some 

 distance from the channel and supposed to be safe, has been swept 

 away. 



AH these bottoms, as well as the immense bottom of the Platte, con- 

 tain some alkaline spots which are not usually productive. I am informed 

 by an old farmer on the Platte bottom that the second crop is success- 

 fid, and also that a coating of manure neutralizes the alkaliue influence. 

 This alkaline matter increases in quantity as we proceed westward, and 

 beyond Fort Kearney all the soil of the bottom is more or less impreg- 

 nated with it. 



When the water has stood for a time and dried away, a whitish 

 efflorescence is left on the surface. 



The valley of the Elkhorn and the valleys of its branches, Logan, 

 Pebble, and Maple Creeks, are among the most fertile and beautiful in 



