... SOIL, ETC., OF NEBRASKA. 73 At most seasons of the year the river is of little use for navigation. For about two hundred and fifty miles west of the Missouri river, the prairie through which the Nebraska passes is very rich, and admirably adapted for cultivation. On the northern side it has been less explored than on the southern. On the southern side, the regular road from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Kearney passes directly through it. The whole "divide" between the Kanzas and Nebraska, for the distance named from the Missouri, is soil of loam mixed with gravel; "a delightful soil to till, and yielding heavy crops." The valleys are quite well supplied with timber. The want of timber for fencing, in any part of this prairie, is abundantly made good by the ease with which the Osage orange is cultivated. This is indigenous a little farther south, and the finest hedged farms are made from it with less expense, time, and labor, than the clearing and fencing of timberland requires under the most favorable circumstances. The country is well watered. In rainy weather the roads now followed become muddy and difficult of travel, but in this respect, says Major Cross, in his report, it does not differ from any of the prairies of the west. When the season is dry, the ground becomes very firm, and as there are no hills to impede travelling, there is no reason why the best public highways in the western country should not be laid out here. So immense is the prairie country of Nebraska, of which the "divide" now described forms the southern frontier, that cattle were driven across, from the valley of the Missouri to St. Peter's river in Minnesota, as long since as 1828, when there was not a road in the whole country. The traders often prefer crossing it with their goods to the more circuitous and tedious route by boat up the Missouri river. The immediate valley of the Nebraska is a rich bottom soil. In 1842, Col. Fremont passed down on the left bank of the river without going inland. There was, even then, an excellent, plainly-beaten road there. He says that Grand Island, fifty-two miles long, with an average breadth of a mile and three-quarters, has on it some small eminences, and is sufficiently elevated to be secure from the annual floods of the river. It is well timbered, with an excellent soil. From the junction of the North and South Forks he found the Nebraska occupied with numerous islands, many of them large and all well timbered, possessing, as well as the bottom lands of the river, a very excellent soil. With the exception of some scattered groves on the banks, the bottoms are generally without timber. A portion of these consist of low grounds, covered with a profusion of fine grasses, and are probably inundated in the spring; the remainder is high river prairie, entirely beyond the influence of the floods. The breadth of the river is usually three-quarters of a mile, except where it is enlarged by islands. None of the recent exploring expeditions of the government have passed through the prairie country north of the SOIL, ECT., OF NEBRASKA. 75 Nebraska within the fertile belt of the first two hundred miles from Missouri. In 1820, however, Capt. Long passed from Council Bluffs across to Grand Island with a party of The prairie on that side appears to resemble that on the southern side in the richness of the soil, and there is, apparently, even less timber. Rev. Mr. Parker, who crossed it in 1835, thus describes it: men. "For about twenty-five miles since we crossed the Elkhorn, and between this river and the Platte, which are about ten miles apart, there is not a single hill. It is rich bottom land, covered with a luxuriant growth of grass. No country could be more inviting to the farmer, with only one exception the want of woodland. The latitude is sufficiently high to be healthy; and, as the climate grows warmer as we travel west, until we approach the snow-topped mountains, there is a degree of mildness not experienced east of the Alleghany Mountains. The time will come, and probably is not far distant, when this country will be covered with a dense population. * * * Then this amazing extent of most fertile land will not continue to be the wandering ground of a few thousand Indians, with only a very few acres under cultivation; nor will millions of tons of grass grow up to rot upon the ground, or to be burned up with the fire enkindled to sweep over the prairie, to disencumber it of its spontaneous burden. The herds of buffalo that once fattened upon these meadows are gone, and the deer that once cropped the grass have disappeared, and the antelopes have fled away, and shall solitude reign here till the end of time? No; here shall be heard the din of business, and the churchgoing bell shall sound far and wide." Freestone and limestone boulders of large size are found on the “divide” between the Kanzas and Nebraska. In the bluffs of the Missouri, brick clay is found, and there seems no lack of stone for building purposes. The supply of pine lumber will be at first from the waters of the James and Sioux rivers on the Upper Missouri. It may prove, however, that in high water pine lumber can be obtained from the upper waters of the Platte. From a private letter from one of the explorers of that region, it appears that there are pines and firs of considerable size on the Black Mountains west of Fort Laramie. In some of the valleys and gorges there is a thick growth of tall and slender spruces. Pines of good size are sometimes found in the adjacent prairies, growing in small groups or singly. As one travels southward from Fort Laramie to the Arkanzas, the hills to the westward are seen often densely wooded with firs and pines, though in other places quite bare. If it proves possible to run this timber down the waters of the upper streams in the freshets, it will be a material assistance to the prairie country. The fertile region thus described nowhere extends more than two hundred and fifty miles west from the Missouri. A more inhospitable country then begins, on both sides of the Nebraska, which affords pasturage for buffalo and for SOIL, ETC., OF NEBRASKA. 77 cattle, but little more which tempts the farmer. It is for a great distance unbroken by hills. For eighty-five miles west of Fort Kearney the road to Fort Laramie is wholly level. A gentle rolling country then begins. It is upon these sandy plains that the buffalo are now first found by westward emigrants. Fort Laramie is three hundred and twenty-seven miles west of Fort Kearney by the travelled route, and six hundred and thirty-nine miles from Fort Leavenworth. It is situated on Laramie's Creek, a rapid stream, about sixty yards wide, with a firm pebbly bottom. This stream rises in the Black Hills to the west, and falls into the north branch of the Nebraska, about half a mile below the fort. There is good grazing on the creek, and pine and cedar wood for the purposes of the fort are procured from the hills on the north of the river, at a distance of about eight miles. Westward of Fort Laramie the country is more broken and hilly. The spurs of the Rocky Mountains are covered with pine forests. The plains beneath are sometimes broken into more uneven surfaces, so as to render travelling more difficult. • Thus the route up the North Platte to the Great South Pass, the route followed by all Oregon emigrants and by most of the California parties, is more severe beyond Fort Laramie than to the west of it. The route followed by the track of the emigrants shows specimens of coal for forty miles. Major Cross has no doubt, from his observations |