7o Hicks on Irrigation of the Niobrara Valley. 
and it i.s so interwoven with all human industries that if the 
geologist should announce the speedy exhaustion of the supply 
of iron ore it vs'ould produce greater consternation than war or 
plague. Agriculture, the most ancient and the most important 
of all industries, is especiall}' benefitted by the labors of the 
geologist. The very soil which the farmer cultivates depends 
for its fertility upon the rocks which have produced it by their 
disintegration. In arid regions the problem of water supply 
for domestic pui'poses, for power, and for irrigation, falls to the 
geologist for investigation. 
While The American Geologist will be for tlie most 
part devoted to pure science, yet it will not slight or ignore the 
problems of economic geology. An earnest of the disposition 
of its editors to do full justice to the claims of apj^lied science 
may be found in the following discussion of the Niobrara river 
as an irrigation stream. Many other Nebraska rivers are well 
adapted for irrigation and I may perhaps report upon them in 
subsequent papers. 
Although such a discussion is primarily of greatest interest to 
citizens of the localities mentioned, it is not purely local. Irri- 
gation has been practiced from the remotest ages. It is hon- 
orable on account of its antiquity, if for no other reason. 
.Incidentally the geology of western Nebraska will be involved 
in the discussion; also the topography, the scenery, the general 
physical features and conditions of that region. These topics, 
it is hoped, will interest all readers however indifferent they 
may be to the practicability of irrigation. 
The early French voyageurs in North America had a quick 
eye for topographical features and striking natural phenomena 
of any kind. The names they conferred upon natural objects 
are often as significant as they are beautiful and appropriate. 
"Za Belle 7-iviere^'^ the beautiful river, as they called the Ohio, 
is an example of their good taste and felicity of diction. So 
they called the Niobrara river '•'■U'eau qui court^'' or Rapid 
river, from the swiftness of its current. It does indeed glide 
down its narrow bed with arrowy speed, stretching a silvery 
thread along the bottom of its valley as it descends from the 
high plateau of Wyoming, 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. 
Its mouth is about 1300 feet above tide, so that in the course of 
