Kansas and the Country Beyond, on the Line of the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division, From the Missouri to the Pacific Ocean - Partly From Personal Observation, and Partly From Information Drawn From Authentic Sources; Written in ... #269577

The river continues to rise, and is beginning to Overflow the flats. It is impossible, while this state of things continues, to run trains through. I am consequently detained longer than I expected. But 1 need not be idle, for I have already seen enough to occupy me for some days in writing out my impressions of this most beautiful of all the regions I have ever seen. About the meridian of this place the character of Kansas changes not so much in conformation and general appearance as in geology and the composition Of the soil. East Of this, that is below this, the Only stone is a magnesian limestone. Of this, and Of its excellence as a building stone, I shall speak more fully hereafter. Here the sand stone region commences-z — Of the varieties Of which I have already Spoken. Below this the soil is almost black, and extremely fertile. Here, on this extensive river flat, it is quite dark-colored but as we mount upon the higher grounds to the west, it is a rich dark brown-w. In some few places rather thin, but generally several feet in thickness. It is evidently strongly impregnated with iron, and to the eye is better than any upland soil I ever saw in Pennsylvania. In our State it would be first-rate wheat land; but whether wheat can ever be successfully grown. Oh the plains west of this is a question I cannot answer. Colonel Fisher, who lives more than thirty miles west of this, in a place where the brown stone, of which I have before spoken, abounds, told me that it produced root crops admirably, especially sweet potatoes. The land Of which he spoke is far from the river and fairly within the buffalo grass region.