16 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TEERITORIES. 



were most abnnclant and destructive. July 2d aud 3d they commenced 

 their flight northward, filling the air as high as the eye could reach, 

 looking much like flakes of snow. They have committed some depreda- 

 tion in Soutl Nebraska, but more especially in Kansas. Whenever 

 counties become more thickly settled and more densely wooded, so that 

 the annual amount of moisture is more equally distributed over the 

 year, this pest I believe will entirely disappear. 



I am informed that notwithstandiug the grasshopper there will be at 

 least half a crop of wheat. In Eichardson County the .harvesting of 

 winter- wheat has commenced, (July 8th,) Last year it commenced June 

 22d The corn looks finely everywhere. All the crops are late this 

 season on account of the wet weather. 



EICHAEDSON COUNTY. 



Eichardson County is in some respects the finest county in the State. 

 It lies in the southeastern corner of the State and borders on the 

 Missouri Eiver, and forms the type of fertility of soil and climate. 

 Being located near the fortieth parallel, the climate seems to favor the 

 cultivation of all the hardy fruits and cereals. 



The surface is more rugged than many of the interior counties, partly 

 on account of the extreme thickness of the superficial deposit of soft 

 yellow marl and the numerous layers of limestoue which crop out along 

 the. river-banks. The county is fully watered with ever-flowing streams 

 and innumerable springs of the purest water. 



There is more woodland in this county than in any other I have ex- 

 amined, and on this account the planters have neglected the planting of 

 trees too much. I did not find the farms quite as well improved as in Ke- 

 maha County, but the county is now becoming thickly settled by actual 

 settlers, who are devoting themselves to the improvement of their farms 

 and the raising of large crops. 



It is not an uncommon thing for a farmer to have growing 40 or 50 

 acres of corn and about the same number of acres of wheat and oats, 

 and not unfrequently as high as 100 or 200 of each. 



There is a ready market for all kinds of produce at the highest price. 

 Although nearly all the settlers came into the country poor — many with- 

 out any money at all — nearly all are becoming moderately rich, and 

 every man with industry and prudence may become independent in a 

 few years. This country may certainly be called the poor man's para- * 

 disc. There is scarcely a foot of land in the whole county that is not 

 susceptible of cultivation. I have never known a region where there is 

 so little waste land. The underlying rocks of the whole county belong- 

 to the age of the Uijper Coal-Measures, and are composed of alternate 

 beds of limestones, sandstones, and clays of almost all color, textures, 

 and compositions. There are several localities along the Missouri Eiver 

 and the larger streams where there are good natural exposures of the 

 rocks, but, as a rule, the beds are concealed by the superficial covering 

 of yellow marl or Loess, which gives the beautiful iiudulating outline to 

 the surface, gentle slopes, with only now and then an exposure of the 

 basis rocks. This aids in rendering the investigation of the geological 

 structure of the county more complicated and difficult. 



The river counties present better exposures of the rocks than any 

 other counties in the State, and it is partly on this account that I have 

 given them my first attention. Even these exposures are by no means 

 good. 



In my last communication I spoke of the coal-seam at Aspinwall, ISTe- 



