42 University of Kansas Geological Survey. 
IN GENERAL. 
The different drainage channels of western Kansas have many 
similarities. If we except the period of Vertiary time Quring 
which the Tertiary materials were being carried from the moun- 
tainous areas, we are forced to the conclusion that none of the > 
streams of western Kansas show marked indications of variation of 
level. No stream has been studied which seems to bear evidence 
of a former condition of base level having been reached and a subse- 
quent elevation to the west, causing it to deepen its channel and 
form a new flood plain. This fact would imply a condition of 
stability in this part of the great plains area dating from the close 
of the Tertiary period. 
In addition to the streams already described a number of smaller 
ones of considerable local interest occur. A few of them have 
peculiarly shaped valleys of erosion which are different in some re- 
spects from any features connected with those described, in that 
wide, short valleys of the “fry-pan” form are produced. The best 
developed instance of this kind is in the Blood creek valley near 
Great Bend, locally known as Cheyenne Bottoms. Mr. Benj. L. 
Miller, one of the assistants on this survey, has written a tolerably 
complete description of this valley!, from which the following quota- 
tion is made: 
“Hven to the ordinary observer, these bottoms are of great in- 
“terest. They consist of an area of land about six miles in width 
“and eight in length, and include over thirty thousand acres. Over 
“this large scope of country there is scarcely to be found an eleva: 
“tion or depression of more than five or six feet. Even where such 
“do occur the slopes are so gradual that they are not noticeable to 
“the eye. While the basin is inclined slightly towards the east, the 
“inclination is very gentle, as is shown by the fact that on the gov- 
“ernment topographic survey sheets, with 20-foot contour intervals, 
“no contour crosses any portion of the basin. 
“Surrounding and enclosing this whole area is a line of hills the 
“slopes of which are quite steep on all sides except the east. In 
1 Benj. L. Miller, The Cheyenne Bottoms, a paper read before the Kansas 
Academy of Sciences, December 1896. 
