DESCRIPTION OF COUNTIES. 69 



While the want of a good topographical map of the region of course pre- 

 cludes a definite answer to the question, there is a considerable quantity of 

 negative evidence, all of which goes far toward proving not only that these 

 benches are not due to the action of sea or lake, but, on the contrary, that 

 they are due chiefly to causes at present actively engaged in the work. 



1. There are no large streams, except Sulphur Fork, within the limits of 

 the region, and there are no evidences of any stream or river or any drainage 

 system older than the present, unless we assume the broken and eroded con- 

 dition of the lower stratified red and white sands with their accompanying un- 

 stratified deposits of mottled sand to be due to the action of sub-aerial streams 

 before the upper beds of brown and yellow unstratified sands were deposited, 

 and even in that case the drainage system of the time of the deposition of the 

 stratified beds must have been in the same general direction and position as 

 that of the present. 



2. The streams within the district are all modern in their aspect, even where 

 they pass through the level lands or second bottoms near the Sulphur Fork 

 on the north, or through the flat wooded region to the east and southeast. 

 Throughout the lower level lands in these regions there are, however, numer- 

 ous evidences of the want of stability of these streams in the matter of chan- 

 nels. There is scarcely one of them that has not changed its course within a 

 very recent period. In nearly every bend there is a chain of ponds or sloughs 

 connected with dry, shallow channels, giving unmistakable evidence of a 

 change of stream bed. The present course of the Sulphur Fork, the largest 

 stream in the district, turns sharply to the north at the southwest corner of 

 the C. Johnson survey, and continues that course in a general way as far as 

 the northwest corner of the J. S. Jackson survey, where it resumes its gener- 

 ally eastern course. Between the Johnson land and the James Wilson sur- 

 vey, about five miles east of the place where the river turns east, there is a 

 chain of deep pools, ranging from one hundred to three hundred yards in 

 length and connected by a series of dry or shallow marshy channels. These 

 pools, with their connections, run in a northeasterly course and indicate a 

 change in the course of the river of over three miles at its greatest extent. 

 This old channel is still used occasionally for lumbering purposes, and saves 

 many miles of rafting. 



3. The benches are not uniform in their levels for any distance, nor are the 

 benches where they appear upon both sides of the ravine of the same altitude, 

 the one on the southern side of the stream being usually lower than the north- 

 ern, this difference depending upon the width and direction of the stream bed. 

 The upper surface of the stratified beds generally indicate the elevation of the 

 local bench when it exists, and the difference of altitude between the two sides 

 of a ravine is due to the dip of these beds. This is, however, not always 



