Platte from those which make their way on the south to the Arkansas. 
This ridge is about 100 miles from east to west and 60 miles from north 
to south. The southward drainage slope toward the Arkansas River is 
said to be about 40 feet to the mile. Occasional springs are found, but 
large areas occur without any water. 
There are some extensive tracts of very sandy land, sometimes thrown 
into ridges, and sometimes into small, shifting hillocks. But by far the 
larger part of the surface of this great tract is a rich mixture of loam 
and clay, increasing in richness, for the most part, as the land descends 
to lower altitudes. The same observations will apply mainly to the 
eastern portions of the tract in Kansas and Nebraska, where, at the one 
hundredth meridian, the" elevation is about 2.500 feet. 
Near Denver and northward on the Platte and its branches are some of 
the best agricultural lands of Colorado. They are irrigated by ditches and 
canals drawn from the mountain streams. In this part of the State are 
tlie enterprising towns of Boulder, Longmont, Fort Collins, and Greeley. 
In the southern part the Arkansas has been drawn upon for purposes 
of irrigation. But the irrigable lands constitute but a small part of the 
great plains. They are mostly elevated above the streams, and for a 
supply of water must depend mainly upon wells and artificial reser- 
voirs. The rainfall over this region is from 15 to 20 inches per year, 
increased occasionally in the southeastern part to 24 inches. The plains 
constitute about one-third of the entire area of the State of Colorado. 
CATTLE ON THE PLAINS. 
It is stated that in 1884 there were in Eastern Colorado about 800,000 
cattle, occupying an area of some 20,000,000 acres, or about 40 acres per 
liead. Occupying the same territory there were also about 1,000,000 
head of sheep. Some parts of this region have evidently been over- 
stocked, but there are large areas in the eastern part of the State which 
have been little utilized on account of the scarcity of water. 
In Kansas and Nebraska west of the one hundredth meridian the ele- 
vation runs down from an average of 3,500 feet to that of some 2,500 
feet in a distance of about 120 miles. I have not been able to obtain 
any recent estimates as to the quantity of cattle on ranches in this dis- 
trict. The number has been greatly reduced within two or three years, 
partly by the removal of many herds to more northern ranges and partly 
by means of the heavy losses of stock during the last winter from ex- 
posure to an excessively severe occurrence of storms and blizzards, by 
which some herds were almost entirely destroyed. 
There are some sections where the supply of running water is very 
limited, and these have not been much occupied. 
There is reason to believe that the unproductive character of much 
of this region has been greatly exaggerated, and many portions of this 
Territory have recently been the field of a great rush of immigration, 
by which the larger part will soon be absorbed by homesteads and pre- 
