THE FISHES OF ARKANSAS. 
73 
The follo’wiug table, showing the rainfall at Little Eock, Ark., by monthly aver- 
ages, (luring the past fourteen years, from 1880 to 1893, inclusive, was prepared by 
the director of the XI. S. Weather Bureau Station at that place: 
Jan- 
uary. 
Yeh- 
ruar3L 
Uarch. 
April. 
May. 
June. 
July. 
Au- 
gust. 
Sep- 
tember. 
Octo- 
ber. 
IN'ovein- 
ber. 
Decem- 
ber. 
1880 
4-61 
7 '93 
7-60 
4 -09 
2 -44 
3 -23 
3 -37 
5-53 
5 
2-07 
C -84 
3 -03 
1881 
2-07 
6-34 
2-38 
1-94 
5 '51 
6 02 
1 -95 
1 -42 
1 *87 
.4-69 
6 -50 
2-34 
1882 
8-17 
12 -74 
6 -25 
5-59 
15 -91 
1-96 
5-17 
3 -47 
3 '03 
6 -05 
0 -17 
1 -33 
1882 
5*44 
6-47 
4-24 
8 -92 
4 -17 
3 01 
4-83 
2-30 
3 -67 
5 -.55 
3 -13 
3-89 
1881 
3 -45 
9-79 
4-67 
10-24 
7 -33 
2*18 
4 -23 
3-26 
5 
1-30 
2-83 
16-92 
188.5 
4-41 
2-43 
3-84 
6-03 
3 -26 
3 -39 
1 -13 
1 -9.5 
2-06 
1 -03 
2 -64 
3-74 
1886 
3 -97 
4-27 
3-45 
3 -09 
1 -13 
9-28 
2-97 
5 -31 
6-24 
1-07 
5 -81 
■88 
1887 
2-26 
6-42 
4-54 
■49 
C -08 
2-20 
1 -74 
1 -18 
1 -04 
•97 
4 -50 
7 -14 
1888 
4 -94 
2-49 
5 -06 
•84 
5 09 
7-25 
3-78 
11-13 
1 -33 
2-39 
8 -82 
4 ■-43 
188!) 
7-30 
1 -48 
C-17 
4-28 
2-97 
3 -07 
7-59 
3 -00 
5 -90 
1-99 
10-20 
•14 
1830 
8-48 
C-48 
5-79 
7 *77 
6 -16 
8-28 
1 -83 
2-59 
5 '55 
2-75 
5-21 
2-83 
1891 
7 -OS 
3 -99 
5-48 
3 ••29 
2-38 
2-81 
9-23 
2 -66 
■87 
1 '30 
5-32 
(5 -40 
1892 
3 -92 
3-44 
2-55 
7-53 
9 -62 
2-48 
3-10 
U-C3 
3-54 
2 -82 
8 -02 
8-48 
1893 
6-83 
5 ’48 
4-47 
5-83 
13 -25 
4 '70 
2-32 
2-32 
•73 
■51 
3 -79 
DETAILED ACCOUNT OF THE INVESTIGATIONS. 
WHITE RIVER BASIN. 
The White Elver has its origin in three branches which unite 8 or 10 miles east of 
Fayetteville. These branches are known as Main, Middle, and West Forks of White 
Eiver. The Main Fork is the largest and is the only one deserving to be called a 
liver. The West Fork is the smallest and is only a moderate-sized creek. These 
streams are all very similar in character. Their currents are very swift and their 
bottoms usually rocky or gravelly. All have their source in the northern slope of the 
Boston Mountains and drain, for the most part, a sandstone country. The general 
dip of the rocks in this region is too much to tlie south to be favorable to the forma- 
tion of large springs. A number of springs are formed, but none are important. 
These streams become very low during the driest portion of the year, and the water 
in them is then conhued to the deeper places in their beds, forming long, deep pools, 
with little or no running water between them. There are very few bayons formed in 
these river bottoms, and none of any size. Below the juuctiou of these three forks 
the White Eiver becomes a stream of some imiiortance. It cuts through the cherty 
limestone previously meutioned, which forms its bed most of the distance to Newport, 
and it also drains most of the cherty limestone region in Arkansas and Missouri, as 
explained above. The river and its largest tributaries are fed by many spring brooks. 
At most places visited, viz, near Fayetteville, Eureka Springs, and Batesville, its bed 
is usually gravelly or sandy, w^ith occasional stretches of rocky or muddy bottoms. 
Except a short time after a rainy season the water in the river is quite clear. Taken 
all together the White Eiver is one of the clearest and most beautiful streams iii the 
Mississippi basin. 
King Eiver was visited near Marble during the spring of 1892. It is a very clear 
stream, flowing over a sandy and shingly bottom. It is also fed by many springs in the 
cherty limestone through which it flows for the greater portion of its course. 
The War Eagle is a tributary of the White Eiver, some distance above King Eiver, 
which it exceeds in size. It is reported to be the best stream for fish in northwestern 
Arkansas. It is not uncommon for anglers to cross the one or two forks of the White 
Eiver and trav^el some 15 miles over a rough road in order to try their fortunes in the 
