74 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TEEEITOEIES. 



This river is about 450 miles long. From its source to longitude 103° 15' it is a beau- 

 tiful little stream of clear running water, of a width of from 10 to 15 feet, gradually- 

 widening as it descends. Its valley furnishes here very good grass, abounding in 

 rushes or prele, but is for the most part destitute of wood even for cooking. After 

 flowing thus far it rapidly widens, till in longitude 102° 30' it attains a width of 60 to 

 80 yards ; its valley is still quite open and easy to travel along, but destitute of wood, 

 except occasional pines on the distant hills to the north. In longitude 102° 30' it enters 

 between high steep banks which closely confine it, and tor a long way it is a complete 

 canon ; here, however, wood becomes more abundant and pine is occasionally seen on 

 the bluffs, while small clusters of cotton-wood, elm, and ash occupy the narrow points 

 left by its windings. In longitude 101° 45' the sand-hills come on the north side close 

 to the river, while on the south they are at the distance of from one to two miles off, 

 leaving a smooth road to travel on along the bluffs ; the bluffs gradually appear higher 

 and higher above the stream as it descends until they reach the height of 300 feet. The 

 sand mostly ceases on the north side in longitude 100° 23' ; but it lies close to the 

 stream on the south side nearly all the way to the Wazihonska. Throughout this sec- 

 tion, lying between longitude 102° and longitude 99° 20', a distance of 180 miles, the 

 Niobrara is in every respect a peculiar stream, and there is none that I know of that it 

 can be compared with. It flows here between high, rocky banks of soft, white, and 

 yellowish calcareous and siliceous sandstone, standing often in precipices at the water's 

 edge, its verticality being preserved by a capping of hard grit. It is here impossible 

 to travel any considerable distance along its immediate banks without having fre- 

 quently to climb the ridges which rise sometimes perpendicularly from the stream. As 

 you approach from the north or south, there are no indications of a river till you come 

 within two or three miles of the banks, and then only by the trees, whose tops occasion- 

 ally rise above the ravines in which they grow, so completely is it walled in by high 

 bluffs which inclose its narrow valley. The soft rock which forms the bluffs is worn 

 into the most intricate labyrinths by the little streams, all of which have their sources 

 in beautiful gushing springs of clear cold water. In these small deep valleys the grass 

 is luxuriant ; pine, ash, and oak are abundant ; cherries, currants, gooseberries, plums, 

 and grapes grow in profusion in their season ; elk, deer, and other animals find here 

 their choicest haunts, and here they congregate during the snows and cold of winter. 

 The region is a perfect paradise for savage life, and the brutes who now have possession 

 of it probably value it as highly as ever human being did a home. Their indignation 

 was great at our intrusion among them, and they were earnest in declaring that the 

 white man should never dispossess them while they lived. To the agriculturist this 

 section has, however, comparatively little attraction, and that between longitude 99° 

 20' and the mouth, an extent of about 90 miles, is perhaps far more valuable. Here the 

 bottoms will probably average a width of a quarter of a mile ; are susceptible of culti- 

 vation ; and cotton-wood, oak, walnut, and ash will furnish settlements with all the 

 timber and fuel they will need. The river-banks seem to present no good building- 

 stone, nor did we, though searching diligently, discover any signs of valuable coal or 

 other minerals. In describing the tributaries to the Niobrara, I shall begin at the 

 mouth and take the north side first. The Ponka Kiver, which has a very fine, weU- 

 wooded, and fertile valley, runs into the Missouri, about five miles north of the Nio- 

 brara, in latitude 42° 48' north. Its course is parallel and near to that of the Niobrara, 

 as far up as the mouth of Turtle Hill Eiver. Turtle Hill Eiver (Kehah Paha) is the 

 main branch of the Niobrara, and is about 120 miles long. I crossed it, in 1855, sixty , 

 miles above its mouth, and it has a very fine valley one-half to three-fourths of a mile 

 wide, with good soil and a limited quantity of fine cotton-wood timber. The bed of the 

 stream is sandy, and its waters are clear and sweet ; width at the mouth, fifty yards. 

 The first 20 miles of the space between this branch and the main river is occupied by- 

 sand-hills. 



The next northern branch which joins the Niobrara, in longitude 100° 23', is named 

 Minicha-Duza-Wakpa, or Eapid Creek. At its mouth it is about eight yards wide, with 

 a valley about a quarter to a half mile wide, and a soil quite fertile ; the banks are 

 scantily fringed with small trees. It forms about the eastern border of the sand-hills 

 on the north side of the Niobrara as far as we could see. Its length is about 50 miles. 



The mouth of the next stream is in longitude 101° 18' ; it has scarcely any appreciable 

 valley, flows between high, rocky bluffs, difficult to ascend and descend ; it is about 

 fifty yards wide, with clear, deep, swift-running water, and is probably about 35 miles 

 long. 



The mouth of the next northern tributary is in longitude 101° 30', and is called White 

 Earth Creek ; it is about three-fourths the size of Eapid Creek, which it resembles in 

 every particular, and is about 25 miles long. The next, in longitude 102°, is a small 

 spring rivulet about 26 miles long ; and above this the branches are all small runs 

 coming from the bluff's, generally dry except after rains, with scarcely any valleys to 

 speak of. 



On the south side of the Niobrara there are numerous small branches coming in be- 

 tween its junction with the Missouri and the point where it receives the waters of the 



