GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TEREITOEIES. 275 



nearer the foot-liills. The natural effect of decreasing precipitatioa 

 and increasing aridity is in some degree shown in the vegetation. The 

 grama and buffalo grasses continue, together with the sunflovv'er, 

 solarium, eupliorMa, and other plants, which are vigorous, nearly if not 

 quite as far east as the ninety- seventh meridian 5 but we find that the 

 blue-joint grass of Central and Eastern Kansas is less abundant, and 

 that cleomej ipomea, cactus, artemisia^ &c., enter on the more arid 

 scene as if in their chosen home. But no considerable part of the 

 plains between the Platte and Arkansas is so arid as to be destitute 

 of vegetation, although the change in the flora is rather distinctly 

 marked as we pass from the middle of Kansas westward. 



Like any other extensive area, the plains exhibit a variety of soils, 

 but the fertile greatly exceed in extent the unfertile districts. Loam, 

 with greater or less mixture of vegetable matter, is the prevailing soil, 

 the proportions of sands and clays differing greatly in different locali- 

 ties. The patches of sand or gravel of meager fertility, or of alkaline 

 clays, unsuited to general plant-growth, are very small in proportion to 

 the whole area, and with irrigation in some parts, and without it in 

 others, the entire region would prove, on trial, to be productive, with as 

 small a share of waste-land as some of the most favored States. The 

 value of the plains for i)roduction is more affected by peculiarities of 

 climate than by poverty of soil. 



EXPERIMENTS IN CULTIVATION ORDERED. 



Twenty years ago the lands available for general agriculture west of 

 the State of Missouri were supposed to lie in a belt of not more than 

 one hundred miles in width, extending north and south. Even when 

 the Territory of Kansas was organized, the whole area west of Missouri 

 and east of the mountains was of doubtful value in public estimation ; 

 and emigration was stimulated by political considerations rather than 

 by correct knowledge or appreciation of the country. Beyond the nar- 

 row belt, and stretching awa}^ to the mountains, was the unfruitful 

 waste, as popularly estimated. Its possible future usefulness for 

 pastoral purposes had been at times suggested, but the day for its 

 actual occupancy, if ever to arrive, was regarded as far distant. The 

 settlers, however, soon ventured beyond the supi:>osed boundary of pro- 

 ductiveness; and as they increased in numbers, thQ area of available 

 lands was found to extend itself westward, as if to meet their necessities. 

 The construction of the railway brought increased emigration, more 

 accurate knowledge of the resources of the country, and a firmer confi- 

 dence in its future. By 1870 settlements had stretched along the rail- 

 way to points more than two hundred miles west from the State of Mis- 

 souri. The pioneer had passed the boundary of the traditional ''desert'^ 

 at the ninety-seventh meridian, and in his march westward had found 

 that the desert, like its own mirage, receded before him. Was his 

 march to continue; and how much farther could soil, temperature, and 

 rain-fall be relied on to reward cultivation^ These questions, important 

 to the interests of the general public, as well as of the railway, could 

 best be answered by experiments, and the directors of the company 

 ordered some such experiments to be made. 



In the spring of 1870, gardens were made at some of the stations, at 

 distances between two hundred and thirty-nine and three hundred 

 and seventy-six miles west from Kansas City; the farthest westward 

 being at Carlyle Station, LyjlS feet above the level of the sea. Seeds 



