10 EXTRACTS FROM [PRELIMINARY] REPORT. 
prairies which support the celebrated natural mounds, the scene was changed, and, for the 
first time, appears, for a day’s march, a nearly treeless, barren waste. 
Gypsum, which has been occasionally seen since leaving camp No. 29, in the valley of Deer 
creek, has now become exceedingly abundant. Extensive veins of it, beautifully crystallized, 
frequently occur, sometimes containing caves ten to twelve feet in diameter. 
Among the uncouth ravines, red clay predominates, and gathers the waters into numerous 
small springs and streams, slightly impregnated with salts of magnesia in solution. These 
communicate at times a disagreeable taste to the waters. 
Beyond the natural mounds, a mile west from camp No. 30, we approached a beautiful 
stream, flowing towards the Washita. It is finely timbered with post oak, alamo, and elm. 
It contains fish ; and we call it Gypsum creek, because its waters are tinctured with salts 
derived from the decomposition of that mineral. This was our entrance into the fertile basin, 
where numerous, unfailing rivulets, with luxuriantly wooded valleys, form the headwaters of 
the False Washita of Bed river. We cross the pretty rivulets Bear creek and Elm creek, and 
make our encampment (No. 31) on Comet creek. All of these streams have timbered banks 
and fertile valleys. 
Continuing to traverse the rolling prairies which divide the streams, fine views of beautiful 
valleys, fringed with red foliage of trees, constantly delight us. 
Near camp No. 31 we found oolitic sandstone, limestone, and shells, indicating the lower bed 
of the cretaceous formation which overlies the gypsum. This proves that the sandstone we 
have been passing is the new red, like that of Lake Superior. The nutritious buffalo grass first 
appeared in this region, and here we had the first chase for the noble game from which it was 
named. 
From camp No. 30 to camp No. 33, a distance of about forty miles, our route lay wholly in 
the basin, watered by numerous affluents of the False Washita. To our surprise, beauty and 
fertility were among its chief characteristics. 
Bed marl and gypsum characterized the soil. Grass was everywhere abundant. Bed oak, 
post oak, blackjack, cotton wood, and elm fringed the streams with dense, dark green, foliage. 
To have followed the fine valley of the False Washita to its junction with Bed river would 
doubtless have developed the same general features throughout, with a route for a railway to 
Preston direct, and of the most favorable character. 
A few hours’ march took us across the low dividing ridge which separates the waters of Bed 
river from the Canadian. As we ascended the hills, the country became more arid and sandy. 
From the crest, toward the north, at a distance of a mile, appeared the wide valley of the Cana¬ 
dian, with here and there patches of forest or a fringe of alamos. Abrupt ravines showed pools 
of water and foliage of refreshing green. 
Elsewhere, the parched hills wore the sombre aspect of a dreary waste, with which the deep 
carmine hue of the Canadian seemed in unison. 
The bed of the river we found about six hundred yards wide, with streams, a foot deep coursing 
through it in a network of channels. Though saturated with red marl, the water was pleasant 
to taste, and, when clarified by pieces of mucilaginous cactus, afforded a more grateful beverage 
than the slightly saline waters we had left behind. 
The valley of the Canadian possesses alluvial bottoms, covered with loamy soil and occasional 
patches of grass. 
To cut off a bend of the river, we passed through the Antelope hills, and struck the dry bed 
of a stream, which we followed to the Canadian to find water for camp. 
These hills consist of coarse friable sandstone, cemented by lime. They are the last mesa 
remnants of an elevated plain now worn away, by diluvial and atmospheric causes, to gentle hills 
and abrupt ravines. Occasional fields of sand, the absence of water, the scarcity of the verdure 
of grass and trees, rendered this march of eighteen miles the most dreary of our route. 
On reaching the Canadian the country improves ; the valley grows wide and more fertile ; 
