8 
On the Burlington and Missouri Railroad, in Northeastern Colorado, 
new settlements are forming. Akron is a new town on the naked plain, 
near no stream of water. The land is said to be rich ; certainly it has 
this season produced promising crops of corn and millet on newly- 
broken sod. Water is obtained at the depth of about 75 feet. Half a 
mile north of the station is the artesian well which was sunk by the 
United States Government to the depth of 1,200 feet and then aban- 
doned. The water now rises freely in the well to within 140 feecof the 
surface, and is utilized to supply the wants of settlers in the vicinity* 
The grasses of the prairie are the same as at Wallace and elsewhere, but 
somewhat more sparsely covering the ground. On the same railroad, 
in Southwestern Nebraska, Beukelman, Culbertson, and McOook are 
thrifty towns on the Republican River, where the land is fertile and con- 
siderable of it under cultivation. At McCook, on high ground north 
and west of the town, fields of strong, promising corn and millet were 
growing on the dry prairie. The gramma and buffalo grasses cover the 
soil richly and afford excellent pasturage. The greatest difficulty away 
from the streams on the highlands is the want of water, to obtain which 
it is sometimes necessary to sink wells 150 to 300 feet. Wheat has 
yielded as high as 40 bushels to the acre without irrigation. In the town 
are planted several kinds of trees, as ash, box-elder, elm, white maple, 
and catalpa, which seem to be making healthy growth. 
On what is called the Julesburg Branch of the Uniou Pacific Railroad 
new towns are springing up, and land is rapidly being located. Atwood, 
Sterling, Iliff, and Sedgwick are within the boundaries of Colorado, and 
Ogallala, O'Fallon, and North Platte are in Nebraska. At the points 
in Nebraska particularly there have been many land entries and con- 
siderable cultivation commenced. At North Platte and many miles 
west of that place the river bottom is several miles wide, and contains 
rich meadow laud, where great quantities of grass are cut annually 
for hay. This consrsts of several coarse species, principally Panicum 
virgatum, Agropyrum glaucum, and Andropogon provincialis, intermixed 
with sedges and rushes. In some places over large areas the principal 
grass is that which is called alkali or salt grass (Distichlis maritima), 
which makes a close, thick mat, looking like a pasture of blue-grass. 
The highlands aw 7 ay from the river are covered with the ubiquitous 
gramma, with occasional buffalo-grass and blue-joint. On high levels, 
U00 feet above the river, on new breakiug, are fields of corn, which give 
promise of a good yield. 
SUPPORTING CAPACITY OF THE ARID PLAINS. 
There is a surprising difference in the estimates as to the supporting 
ability of these plains, some stating that it requires 40 or 50 acres to 
maintain one animal, others giving 20 or 30 acres, and still others 10 or 
15 acres. AIT these estimates are correct as to certain localities, and 
over the entire region it may be considered probable that the average 
