26 University of Kansas Geological Survey. 
looks as though little doubt could be entertained regarding the 
former existence of an old channel from the north into the Arkansas 
near Garden City. 
From the eastern part of Ford county to the vicinity of Larned 
but few if any blutf lines are noticeable on the north side of the 
river. Here the Dakota sandstone caps a hill of sufficient promi- 
nence to be noticed in the landscape which has received the name 
of Pawnee Rock, in commemoration of an important historical 
event in connection with the Pawnee Indians said to have occurred at 
this place. From Larned to beyond Great Bend the Dakota sandstone 
and the Benton which overlies the Dakota form considerable bluffs 
some distance back from the river. As the river bears to the east 
and finally to the southeast near Great Bend, the width of the valley 
between the river and the Cretaceous bluffs greatly increases. For 
some distance below Great Bend to the vicinity of Wichita, and in 
fact throughout the remainder of the state, there is but little de- 
marcation of the river valley or flood plain, the whole area being 
one great expanse of level country on both sides of the river, 
scarcely relieved by any upland areas of noticeable prominence. 
On the south side of the river from Coolidge to Great Bend the 
conditions in the main are quite diiferent from those on the north. 
A row of sandhills limits the river valley on this side throughout 
the entire distance. The actual elevation of the sandhills and the 
plains beyond is as great upon the average as the high uplands to 
the north of the river. In fact, the sandhills themselves are usually 
a little higher than the plains to the south of them, as though in 
some way they had been elevated above the surrounding country. 
The width of the sandhills is variable, in some places being no more 
than three or four miles, while elsewhere they stretch away to the 
south fifteen or twenty miles. Such an unusual southern extension 
occurs in the southern part of Finney and the northwestern part of 
Haskell counties where the sandhills reach almost to the Cimarron 
river. Again in the eastern part of Haskell county another long 
southern extension may be noticed, which extends from ten to 
twelve miles south of the river. Beyond the eastern limit of Ford 
county the sandhills become less prominent, but are very notice- 
able all the way from near Bucklin to almost opposite Great Bend, 
