Chapter 1.

Position and Comparitive Area -  The Republican River and its Tributaries – Prairie Dog, Sappa and Beaver Creeks – The Driftwood – Forks of the Republican – The Arickaree – Frenchman’s Fork – Waunita Falls – Blackwood – Big Timber Creek – Red Willow – Big Medicine, etc.

THE valley of the Great Republican River occupies a large area central in the American Republic, and comprises considerable portions in Southern Nebraska, Northern Kansas and Eastern Colorado.

From its union with the Kaw River, at Junction City, Kansas, its course extends northwest too miles through a somewhat narrow valley, not exceeding 15 miles in width, to Superior, on the 40th parallel, where it enters the State of Nebraska.

Its direction from this point bears mainly west, with bends and flexures for 26o miles and reaches the eastern boundary of Colorado at the 102nd meridian.

The area drained by this river and its many tributaries lies between parallels of 38° and 41° N. latitude, and of longitude 97° and 105° west from Greenwich. The immense territory included within the watershed of the main stream and accessories is more properly a basin or plateau, widening towards the west, and contracting into a neck towards its eastern outlet, its narrowest portion being the last 100 miles of its course from the Nebraska State line to Junction City, Kansas.

Its entire length, following its winding course, exceeds 500 miles, viz.: 100 miles in Kansas, 260 in Nebraska, and 150 in. Colorado.

It has several important tributaries from the southwest: 1^st, the Prairie Dog, 150 miles in length; 2nd, the Sappa, 140 miles; 3d, the Beaver, 138 miles; these have their rise near the sources of the Solomon and Smoky Hill; 4th, the Driftwood, 8o miles in length, noted for its extraordinary supply of timber and stone; 5th, 6th, and 7th, Rock Creek, Arickare and Republican Fork unite with the main stream near the western limit of Nebraska; their length has not been definitely stated, but they drain a large area of homestead lands; 8th, Frenchman’s Fork rises in Colorado near the Platte, and has its course southeast through the southwestern portion of Nebraska; it is 90 miles in length; 9th, Red Willow, wholly in Nebraska, 75 miles; 10th, Medicine Creek, also 75 or 8o miles in length.

A Kansas writer remarks: “It is the Largest river of the plains, and drains a broader area of the homestead lands than any other.” The branches above enumerated, each with its suite of smaller creeks and valleys, form the drainage system of a district containing many thousand square miles.

Says Dr. Latham, in 1874:—”The Republican Valley, southwest from Fort Kearney to the sources of the Republican River east of Denver, is 250 miles long and 100 miles wide—a region half as large as England.

“It is diversified with plains, bluffs, and valleys. Not a rood in its sixteen million acres but is the finest of grazing, with a luxuriant growth of blue, buffalo and bunch grasses.
“It is well watered by the Republican River and its nineteen tributaries, which with their feeders intersect this whole basin.
“No streams on the plains compare with these for timber. On their bottoms are groves of white oak, ash, cottonwood, and elm. The average width of the main valley is nine miles. The smaller streams have narrower bottoms, but they all abound in grass. So do the divides between, but with other varieties.
“The altitude of the Republican River is much lower than the Platte, and it is therefore much warmer. Its mean annual temperature must be 53° F. The annual rainfall is 18 inches,—the snowfall about 20. There is timber enough for building and fencing. Limestone outcrops in all the valleys. Winter grazing is equal to any in the world.”

Besides these there are on both sides, but more especially from the north, many streams of local importance, varying from 25 to 50 miles in length. With few exceptions they are mill streams, fed by innumerable springs, and maintain a flow nearly uniform during the year.

The narrowest portion of the Republican Valley in Nebraska is found in Nuckolls, Webster and Franklin counties, where the distance across from the Platte to the Solomon does not exceed 40 miles. But in Harlan and Furnas, as the larger tributaries gradually converge, the valley expands to a width of 80 miles. Along the 100th meridian it is 100 miles in width.

Through Red Willow County, north and south, its width is 110 miles. Through the county of Hitchcock, following the State line, it is 125 miles. Its greatest expanse or width in Colorado, from a point near Julesburg to the Arkansas divide, is nearly 140 miles. Its western rim is determined by the course of the South Platte, Beaver, Bijou, and Big Sandy, shaping its watershed into the form of a huge semicircle.

The area in Nebraska, within the basin of the Republican, is as follows:

In Northwestern Kansas, the area included in the Valley is as follows:

To these add 2,000 square miles for its area in Republic, Cloud, Washington, Clay and Riley counties, Kansas; and allowing for half-townships and the vague character of divide lines, the area of the Republican Valley in the State of Nebraska is nearly 6,200 square miles; in Kansas, 8,500; in Colorado, 1,300; total, 27,200; exceeding in size one-half the State of Ohio, and larger than all the New England States. At its mouth (Junction City) its elevation above sea-level is 1,100 feet. The following table of altitudes shows its general inclination from said point.

The estimates arc barometric and have been used in public surveys:

State line (Kansas) ............................................................................... 1,500
Red Cloud ........................................................................................... 1,676
Riverton ............................................................................................... 1,770
Bloomington ........................................................................................ 1,930
Republican City .................................................................................... 1986
Alma .................................................................................................... 2,018
Orleans ................................................................................................. 2,150
Arapahoe .............................................................................................. 2,250
Indianola............................................................................................... 2,600
Culbertson ............................................................................................ 2,276
Head of the Republican in Colorado ................................................... 4,050

The main River has a descent of 7 feet per mile in the lower half of its course. The tributaries and the upper portion of the river are generally more rapid, caused by the more abrupt lines of drainage in approaching the various sources near the great divides.

From the river bed, north and west, the inclines are long and gradual, terminating upon an even plateau. Towards the south the slopes are short and broken by innumerable intervals, with steep and often precipitous sides—a result which relates in part to the direction and force of glacial action, and partly to the decided outlines of a still more ancient topography.

The Prairie Dog, Sappa, and Beaver creeks, from the south, are the most important tributaries of the Republican River. They all have their rise near the Colorado line in Northwestern Kansas, emanating, doubtless, from the deep-seated sands that now appear to be the source of the wonderful water-system of this great central basin of the continent.
Each of these streams traverses and drains nearly the same area, and is accompanied with very similar physical conditions of rocky basis, surface, soil and subsoil, timber groves and stone-quarries. Already are they occupied nearly to their sources with new farms.

The convergence of streams whose sources are widest apart indicates the common centre of the upper basin of the Republican Valley to be at or near Culbertson. It is the drainage centre for several large streams, viz., the Driftwood, Blackwood, and Frenchman’s Creek—the main stream here bearing to the South west, and keeping this direction to its course near Cedar Point, 90 miles east of Denver.

Prof. Aughey, however, describes a large hydrographical basin, traversed by the South Fork of the Republican in Colorado, which he indicates barometric altitudes.  He regards it as the area once occupied by a great inland sea, on whose low, retreating shores gathered in droves the huge mammalian forms whose remains are so abundant.

The Driftwood has a length of 60 miles, and bears northeast. It is a rapid stream, in a close valley, diversified with large groves of timber and ledges of rock. These arc so interspersed as to give nearly every quarter-section extra value. This series of rocks are of the Pliocene tertiary. As yet no quarries have been opened, but it is evident that this material can be easily wrought.

The stream generally lies deep within the banks, and though very tortuous, can be easily and cheaply bridged. For many miles on either side the prairies, with winding stream, rocky ledge, large groves and varied upland, form charming groups of scenery in this secluded corner of the State.

Frenchman’s Creek—or Fork, as it is usually called—is over 100 miles in length. Thirty miles above Culbertson it receives Glenn’s Creek (called sometimes “Stinking Water” from Indian tradition,) from the northwest. Its course is meandering to and fro across bottom lands of considerable width, well furnished with groves of timber, mainly cottonwood, with cedar in the side canons. The bluff’s flanking the bottoms are of a moderate type, easily receding to the rolling uplands, that present the same evidence of fertility observed in Eastern Nebraska. Waunita, or Wauneta Falls is 50 miles above Culbertson. It is in the southeast corner of Chase cou           nty, with rapids above of 10 feet or more and a fall of 8 feet over a ledge of the Fort Pierre group, escaping with quick descent. It is the most charming spot in Southwestern Nebraska. The amount of water is sufficient for half-a-dozen mills.

It now idles itself away to its own music. But Nature made it for use as well as beauty, and soon enough it will take on the drudgery of machinery. The bluffs near by, with buttes like the ruined foundations of some feudal castle, give back many echoes, and fill the air with charming undertone of melody. It calls to mind Irving’s description of the Alhambra: “Such is a faint picture of the moonlight nights I have passed loitering about the courts and halls and balconies of this most suggestive pile, feeding my fancy with sugared suppositions and enjoying that mixture of reverie and sensation which steal away existence in a Southern climate, so that it has been almost morning before I have retired to bed and been lulled to sleep by the falling waters of the fountains of Lindaraxa.” Above Waunita the bluffs wholly disappear in the gradual sweep of rolling prairie, and this type of surface is maintained for many miles beyond the Nebraska border, in Colorado.

The Arickaree

This stream flows into the Republican about six miles cast of the east line of the State. At this point the Arickare is about thirty feet wide. Except after rains the water is clear and pure. Occasionally it is rapid, and rarely sluggish. Over a large part of its course it flows over a rocky bottom. It is larger than the main channel of the Republican. From its mouth to its source it is over one hundred miles long. The character of its bottom, adjoining bluffs, and uplands is somewhat different from that of the Republican. In its lower half the bottoms are not so wide, narrowing often to less than one-fourth of a mile, and again widening out to more than treble that size. The bluffs bordering the plains are sometimes composed of rocks of Pliocene age, underlain by deposits of the Fort Pierre cretaceous group. The softer rock underlying the silicates of lime at the top have in places been worn away, leaving shallow caverns. Lateral canons also often come in, adding much to the rough character of a few sections along this drainage system. To make amends, however, for this peculiarity, nature has clothed the bottom with timber. There were here, at least formerly, fine groves of h, elder, cottonwood, elm, an occasional oak, and a few other trees. The needs of the herders, however, have long since commenced a rapid diminution of this timber supply. Some few of the groves, in sequestered canons, will be perpetuated because of the difficulty of access. In the upper part of the valley, and especially towards the sources of the Arickree, the bluffs become lower and gradually shade into the great Colorado plain. In many places along the river, springs of water of delicious freshness make their appearance and greatly enhance the value of this basin.

As in so many other places outside of the floodplain of the valley, the land is exceedingly various in form and character. The superficial observer would claim that it did not differ from any other portion of the basin. A close study, however, reveals some exceptional features. In places the uplands are gently rolling, with a black surface soil, under laid by loess or modified loess. In other places the soil is composed principally of drift materials rich in the alkaline earths. The sandy tracts, however, vary most in character. Some of these are composed of partially coarse materials, and though now grown over with a sparse covering of coarse grasses, will probably need to be fertilized in order to become remunerative farming lands. Other sandy tracts arc remarkable for the microscopic fineness of the soil, and are so mingled with organic matter and alkaline earths as will make them at once productive when brought under cultivation. On the whole, there will be little waste land here when once the advancing wave of settlement occupies this basin. The few excessively sandy tracts will be utilized for pasture lands, and the rough canons and steep bluffs will prove admirable for sheep pasturage and forest-tree culture.

There is great advantage in having some rough land in a district. It prevents for a longtime too much crowding; it leaves a breathing spot for society, where the wild flowers can be perpetuated, and the land reconsecrated to the uses of nature. Cultivated fields are beautiful, but the sight becomes tame unless relieved by some of nature’s original productions.

FORKS OF THR REPUBLICAN

In approaching the Forks of the Republican, the bottoms widen out and shade more or less into the uplands. The upland bluffs are composed in part of loess, and in part of exceedingly fine sand, and these two characteristically distinct deposits in this region shade into each other. At and near the Forks, the sands are conspicuous, and have crept down more or less to the bottoms. They are here exceedingly fine, and seem to be little more than loess with the finer and more impalpable material removed.

The following analysis, by Prof. Aughey, of about an average specimen seems to prove this:

Insoluble siliceous matter .......................................................................... 83.01
Ferric oxide ................................................................................................. 8.02
Alumina ...................................................................................................... 0.06
Lime carbonate ........................................................................................... 5.11

Lime phosphate ........................................................................................... 2.99
Magnesia carbonate .................................................................................... 1.87
Potassa......................................................................................................... 0.91
Soda............................................................................................................. 0.99

Organic matter............................................................................................. 0.60

Moisture....................................................................................................... 0.90

Loss in analysis.................................................................................. ......... 0.55
Total. ................................................................................................. ..... 100.00

It would be seen that these sandy tracts differ but little from true loess. They vary from them principally in containing a trifle more silica and considerably more alkaline matter, especially carbonate of magnesia, potash and soda, and slightly less organic matter and alumina. Their composition, however, is such as only requires proper cultivation and moisture to make them valuable, agricultural lands. From the above soil there is a shading on the one hand into distinct loess, and on the other hand to an occasional deposit of coarser sandy material.

Big Timber Creek

A few miles above the Forks on the south side of the South Fork, is the site of an old ranche now fallen into decay. It was kept by a character, noted in his day named Biefleld. A fine spring at this point, no doubt, was the inducement to establish his ranche here. He was supposed to be engaged in the fur trade with Indians and trappers, and to retail to them groceries, whisky, and other luxuries of frontier life. More knowing ones, however, insisted that his principal business was horse-stealing and harboring horse-thieves. However that may be, many curious stories are told of unlawful transactions at this old ranche, and eventually it became so hot for him that he took refuge in Canada.
Near this old ranche of Biefield’s is the mouth of a creek, which is now known as Big Timber Creek. It is in range 37 west, and near the Kansas line. It comes from a direction a little west of south. Going up this creek I found the bottoms to range from one-fourth to two miles in breadth, interrupted, however, by several low terraces of easy ascent. The lower bottom was mainly covered with cottonwood timber which in places crept over the first and second terraces. Some elder, elm, and willows were in places mixed with the cottonwood.. A few groves of plums were also encountered. The timber extended up the valley for nine miles, and scattering trees were common still farther. A noticeable feature of the timber was that nearly all the trees were old or mature, and few young groves were starting to take the places of the old. One old tree, lying on the ground that had a section sawed off had at least one hundred and twenty rings, showing that it had been growing for at least that number of years. It is probable that when the groves on this creek started to grow there was a more abundant rainfall than characterized the country afterwards, until quite recently. This is also indicated by the largeness of the old creek bed, which in its lower course now contains no water except during flood-time.

Water, however, even now, is abundant towards the upper end of the valley. Nine miles from the mouth I found a large number of magnificent springs and a considerable stream. where the beavers had constructed many dams that had formed lakelets, some of which were partially filled with peat, attesting the great length of time during which this condition of things must have existed. The water, which is here so abundant, sinks into the creek-bed farther down. Along the valley, where the water still flows, and especially around the small lakes formed by the beaver dams, the vegetation was exceedingly rank, and yet the soil was not perceptibly different from the lower part of the valley. This is further evidence that all this region needs is a slightly increasing rainfall in order to make it one of the finest possible agricultural regions. In many places around and near these miniature lakes young timber is also starting.

Eight miles up the valley from the mouth of the creek, low down at the edge of a bluff, the Fort Pierre cretaceous shales were exposed. They contained a large quantity of selenite in fine crystals. Two miles further up the valley long ledges of Pliocene rocks capped the sides, and in some places the tops of the bluffs. At a distance from their vertical exposure they resembled gigantic masonry. On a closer examination they were found to be made up in part of silicates of lime, and conglomerate of the pudding-stone variety. The pebbles were cemented together generally by silicates of lime. Some of these rocks were intensely hard, and some on exposure crumbled or gradually decomposed, thus forming, when the cement holding the pebbles together was washed away, gravel beds. There would, however, be little difficulty in obtaining large quantities of stone here, suitable at least for foundation purposes. From this point toward the southwest, the ledges of Pliocene rocks increase.

The uplands that bound the valley of Big Timber Creek, are mostly gently rolling, with some limited areas of rough land. The soil is composed of loess, fine drift material, and occasionally sandy tracts. These latter partake very largely of the character of the sandy lands near and at the Forks of the Republican, an analysis of which was given on a previous page. Very little territory here will turn out to be waste land, as the loess itself is so abundant that it will eventually support a dense population; and even if the sandy tracts are relegated to other purposes for awhile, they finally will be utilized, because, as has been shown, they also possess the elements of fertility in a high degree. The heavy matting of grasses and other vegetable matter, wherever moisture is supplied, is sufficient evidence of the abundance of mineral fertilizers in the soil.

Several smaller streams unite at different places with Big Timber Creek, multiplying the conditions of the main stream. At the first large exposure of the Pliocene rocks, nine miles from the mouth, it was difficult to tell which way, the main stream, and which the tributary. The one flowing from the southwest seemed to have the least water, but its bottom was wide and beautiful.

The smaller streams which, coming from various directions, afford beautiful valleys and groves and valuable mill sites, will be described in the section of this work devoted to counties.

It is quite important to fix in the mind the precise order, or the name and location of the larger streams of the upper Republican. They have never been correctly located upon any map, and probably there are not a dozen men who can intelligently locate or describe them: Beginning with the Driftwood, flowing into the Republican from the south side, nine miles east of Culbertson, and extending southwest through Hitchcock, Neb., and Rawlins county, Kansas. The next stream in order, following the main river into Dundy county, is the South Fork of the Republican, which diverges near range 38, and has a course southwest, terminating near Cedar Point, in Colorado, about 200 miles distant. Its principal tributary from the south is Big Timber Creek, already described. The North Fork of the Republican meets the South Fork at or near range 38, four miles north of the Kansas line, and forty-eight miles west of Culbertson. The Arickaree, sometimes called Middle Fork, flows into the North Fork six miles east of Colorado line, and bears also towards the southwest in the direction of Denver. The North Fork bears almost due west from it junction with the South Fork, but is, in reality, one of the smaller tributaries. It is characterized by the usual variety of groves and springs. Frenchman’s Fork, called sometimes White Man’s Fork, already noticed, is next in order. The Blackwood empties into the Republican two and a half miles below Culbertson. It is densely wooded towards its mouth, with large groves of assorted timber, which, viewed from a distance, are very suggestive of the name it bears ; its course is from the northwest, forty to fifty miles at first through high rolling prairie, but in its upper sources makes its way through deep loess canons filled with cedar groves. It is on this stream, several years ago, that a few pioneers began the “frontier farms,” as they have since been called. They were duly cautioned against trying to farm in a region that could never raise grain of any kind, but several years of harvests have settled the important point in the controversy. Next comes Red Willow and Medicine Creeks, the most important tributaries from the north. They will be noticed in the more particular descriptions of counties. (See Furnas and Red Willow counties.) Draining a large basin already greatly depressed below the surrounding country, it is obvious that the Republican River must carry away a large supply of water by under drainage. This idea has held possession of the people since the first settlement of the country. This extra contribution of waters, as would naturally be supposed, comes from the north side. Hence has arisen the general impression that the great body of water in the sands beneath the Platte River reaches the Republican by the common process of filtering, or seeping. As evidence numerous facts are cited:

Many small streams from the north disappear in the sands when near the Republican.

Prof. Aughey has counted hundreds of springs giving their supplies to the Republican River below the water line, in addition to the multitude that are visible on the surface. The Republican constantly increases in volume as it flows eastward, independently of the tributaries, while the Platte constantly decreases in the same direction. The scarcely diminished flow of the Republican during the dry season of the year, and the steady and continuous flow of the Big Blue and its tributaries, which take their rise near to, but below the level of the Platte, tend strongly to confirm this theory. From these facts it is evident that the volume of water in the Republican and Big Blue Rivers is not directly but in a secondary manner dependent upon the constant and undiminished supply of the waters of the North and South Platte, which are supplied by the annual melting of snow and ice in the Rocky Mountains. It is easy to understand, also, that the extensive diversion of the waters of the Upper Platte, in Colorado, into many side channels, for stock and other purposes would sensibly cause the flow of waters to diminish, not only in the Lower Platte, but would so reduce the amount of water in the Big Blue and Republican Rivers as to lead to grave legal complications between the two States.

It does not fall within the proper limits of this volume, intended to be merely descriptive of general phenomena, to give, in detail, the interesting theories that relate to glacier origin and action, or to the more complicated origin of the great loess formation, which occupies an area so large.