90 CAUSE OF THE JUNE FLOODS. 



any higher. I am confident, however, from what I have seen of Upper 

 Red river, that at a medium stage there will be sufficient depth of 

 water for small steamers, such as ply upon some of the tributaries to the 

 Mississippi, to ascend the river as high as where the two principal 

 branches unite, (about fifty miles above the mouth of Cache creek.) As 

 an evidence of this, on our outward march, at a time when the river 

 was at a high stage, I had occasion for crossing frequently, but could 

 find no place below the point mentioned where the water in the channel 

 was of less depth than five feet ; indeed, I do not think as many ob- 

 structions will be found above Preston as below, for the reason that 

 there is but little woodland bordering upon the upper portion of the 

 river, and consequently but few of those formidable obstacles called 

 suags. 



At a low stage the water in the river becomes very shallow, and can 

 then be forded at any point. But during high water, the quicksands in 

 the bed of the stream become loose and unstable, and make it hazard- 

 ous to attempt a passage with animals. It was observed throughout 

 that portion of the valley of the river which came under our observation } 

 that it was bordered upon each side by three distinct terraces or benches 

 running parallel with the course of the stream. The first of these is 

 from three to six feet high, from fifty to two hundred feet wide, and in 

 places subject to overflow. The second, which is from ten to twenty 

 feet above the first, is from two to five hundred feet wide, and is never 

 submerged. The third varies from fifty to three hundred feet in eleva- 

 tion above the second, and forms the elevated line of bluffs that 

 terminate the prairie lands adjacent to the valley. 



In many places between the upper extremity of the Witchita moun- 

 tains and the sources of the river, we found continuous chains of 

 sand-hills, from twenty to fifty feet high, bordering the valley, and 

 denuded of all herbage save a few plum-bushes and grape-vines. 

 Although there is some good soil upon the small affluents to the main 

 river, the country generally, immediately bordering it, is barren and 

 sandy. 



Several erroneous opinions have for many years been entertained in 

 regard to the country upon the headwaters of Red river. For instance, 

 it has generally been supposed, from the circumstance of a heavy rise 

 occurring in the river during the month of June, at a time when there 

 is generally no rain in the settlements, and during the dry season upon 

 the plains, that the sources of the river would be found in lofty mountain 

 ranges, where the melting snows would account for the great amount 

 of water passing through the channel at the season mentioned. But 



