The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1905-12-27
NEBRASKA'S new RIVER
Clear Stream Suddenly Springs
Out Of Sandy Plains.
WORKING IT'S THE MISSOURI

Grasing Land Into Farms-source
said to Re From Underground
Rocky Mountain Shed.
A wonderful geological event has re-
Gently taken place about Longtime, in
the sand hills Of Nebraska. A great
new river Of clear water, rivaling the
Niobrara, the Elkhorn and the Platte
rivers, has suddenly sprung into exist
enc and Is ever now working its way
southeastward to the Missouri river.
says a special dispatch from Longtime,
Neb., to the st. Louis Post Dispatch.
Already the new river is more than $50
miles long, and its waters are slowly
going forward to an outlet to the gulf.
In some places New river, as it is call
ed, is half a mile wide. while in others
it is only a few rods. Its depth varies
from a few feet to fifty feet.
The water by which the stream IL
fed Is supposed to come from the great
underground f1ow Of water from the
Rocky mountains eastward to the Mis-
souri,. The phenomenon has attracted
a great deal Of attention from scientific
men in the state, and the University Of
Nebraska is preparing to make a thor
ough and exhaustive search into the
reasons which led the underground
stream to burst forth.
New river takes its rise in the east
ern part Of Cherry county and flows
toward the southeast, passing through
Brown, Rock, Holt and portions Of
Wheeler and Antelope counties. At
present it has reached a point in north
western Boone county and is slowly
creeping eastward toward the Missouri
river.
The country New river travels is
mostly sand hills"-a range Of sand
dunes extending from South Dakota
clear across Nebraska and covered with
scant vegetation in the shape Of sage
brush and buffalo grass. There are no
springs or streams In the sand hills, but
flowing artesian wells Of first class
clear water can be secured at any point
In the hills at a depth Of from fifteen to
fifty feet.
Geologically there is a strong dip in
the strata from the Rockies to the Mis-
souri, river, and below this strata it has
long been known that there was q
strong and heavy flow of water. This
strata seems to have given way In
many places. due to some underground
CONFUSION, and the water beneath has
been permitted to gush out.
Between the sand dunes there are
| small v0110V-o 0Vod Hnxr,,~ An4n4 A. sa-..
IL taking Its course. Each valley or de-
preston must be filled to OVERCOMING
before the stream can go onward. And
once over the rim Of one Of these de.
pressions (Which are from ten to fifty
feet deep the next valley is attacked
and filled by the water before the
stream enters the next one. The front
of the river is travelling at a rate of
three or four miles each day and was
recently $50 miles long and about forty
days old.
Very little rain falls In the sand hills
except during the spring, and the cat
tie which roam over the hills must be
driven far to water unless there hap.
pens to be an arteslan we'll near by. It
IL the great cattle range Of Nebraska.
So when James Wilson, one Of the
great cattle kings Of Cherry county,
made the discovery last summer that
the spring rains had almost filed a
deep depression on the range where
his cattle roamed he saw prospects of
fresh water all the summer and fall.
The depression was deeper than n
other on the range.
But the next week, when Wilson
again rode on to the range, he noticed
that there was more water in the pool
than had been there the week previous.
When next he saw the miniature lake
1t had overflowed the original depres-
sion and, in addition, had filed several
others. This was about the middle Of
September Of 1905.
From that start the stream has work
ed Its way forward. It seemed that
the coming Of the water had some mys-
FERROUS effect upon the underlow men,
toned, for each additional depression,
as soon as the river reached 1t, was i'm
mediately fed by underground springs,
and the entire surface of the river Is
covered with bubbles, which break as
they reach the surface. The water Is
clear and cool and not muddy.
All over the section traversed by New
river ~aytesian wells abound. The drill
never fails to produce a flowing we'll
In any Of the counties Of Boyd, Brown
and Cherry. This only shows the tire.
mendous flow Of water very near the
surface In this territory. Should the
flow Of water cease al quickly as it be-
gun 1t would probably be years before
all the water In the course now would
seep into the ground.
Just what effect this new stream will
have on the surrounding country Is a
question which Is exciting much dis
cussion. It flows through the short
grass" country, where. for lack of wa
ter, there has been little or no farm
ing, through a land which has been
given over to grazing because no rain