HAwortu. | Physiography of Western Kansas. 39 
and the gradual wearing away of the bluff lines until they are un- 
important. | 
The river from Salina downward has an unusually larger num- 
ber of bends as it meanders from side to side of the flood plain. 
The curves are such that in many places typical ox-bow forms are 
produced, and frequently more angular curves than those are notice- 
able. As these curves are confined to the flood plain area it is prob- 
able they have been produced since the river has reached base level 
through this part of its course. 
The most striking feature in connection with the Smoky Hill 
is its extraordinary deep channel and the narrowness of its valley. 
Compared with the Arkansas, the Saline, the Solomon, or the Re- 
publican, the narrowness of its valley is most remarkable. By an 
examination of the U. S. topographic sheets it will be seen that 
other streams, such as the Saline and the Solomon, which are much 
smaller, have valleys nearly twice as wide. The extraordinary 
depth of the channel which, as before stated, is between 300 and 
400 feet, implies an elevation of the land throughout the upper part 
of its course. It is probably true that the high uplands on each 
side of the Smoky Hill river are as high as any other parts of the 
state. Aside from the character of this stream there has not yet 
been observed any indications of such an uplifting. If in the earlier 
history of the stream it should chance to have been located on the 
summit of a ridge trending east and west, the general explanation 
of its somewhat anomalous characters could be explained. 
Saline River. 
The Saline rises in the southwestern part of Thomas county, or 
possibly across the line in Sherman county, and flows almost 
straight east to its junction with the Smoky Hill river near Salina. 
Its general direction is nearly straight east, its mouth being not 
more than twenty miles south of its source, while were a straight 
line drawn from the mouth to the source, the stream would no where 
miss this line more than ten miles. Its source is in the Tertiary 
material. For some distance along its uppermost course it is dry 
almost all the year, as its channel is not deep enough to be within 
reach of the Tertiary underground water. In Sheridan and Trego 
