14 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



prolific. In places pines and cedars abound. Near the east end of the 

 canyon region the oak,ash, cottonwood and elm, and occasionally box 

 elder are intermingled with pines — which sometimes, however, are 

 entirely wanting. Grass, too, is abundant. Here formerly was the 

 paradise for elk, deer and antelope, wolves and foxes. Food and 

 shelter, the agencies most important to preserve brute life was spe- 

 cially abundant. No wonder that the Indian tenaciously clung to 

 this region. Here the chase always supplied him with abundance 

 of food. To him it was also consecrated ground. Here in the laby- 

 rinthine canyons among the trees, druid like, with the light of the 

 sun shut out, he communed with the shades of his ancestors. Here 

 he heard as he did nowhere else the voice of the Great Spirit in the 

 rustle of the leaves and the sighing of the winds. 



Where the river enters the canyon it is about eighty-two yards 

 wide. It narrows towards its source, and before the west line of 

 the State is reached it is reduced in breadth to ten or fifteen feet. 

 The water, however, is remarkably clear and cool. Above the 

 canyon the valley is well covered with grass and a great abundance 

 of rushes. Wood, however, in this part of its course is rare. 



A large part of the entire middle portion of the Niobrara River, 

 as first observed by General Warren, flows lengthwise of an anti- 

 clinal ridge. In the canyons, for example, the rocks dip away from 

 the river on each side. In places where I had opportunity to 

 measure the angle their inclination away from the stream amounted 

 to from ten to fifteen degrees. It is probable that the river has been 

 outlined only since the close of the submergence that attended the gla- 

 cial age. Flowing along this anticlinal ridge when it first emerged it 

 has continued in its old rut as the continent was rising, cutting 

 down its bed about as rapidly as the uplifting took place. It is 

 probably a continuation of some uplift and break eastward from 

 the mountains similar to the one seen near Camp Robinson. Over 

 a portion of the western end of the Niobrara River this anticlinal 

 ridge on top of which it flows is not visible. The cutting of the 

 river still continues, but its rate is uncertain but probably about a 

 foot to the century. 



As would be expected the tributaries of the Niobrara that flow 

 into it from the north or south are very short. The larger ones in- 

 variably flow parallel or nearly so to it. The Keya Paha and 

 Snake River are the most conspicuous instances. I have no doubt 

 that hereafter it will be found that the Keya Paha occupies a 



