and less fertile than in the prairies. Nevertheless the
population might in time become as dense and prosperous as almost
any in the world if only the rainfall were more abundant and good
supplies of coal were not quite so far away. Yet in spite of
these handicaps the northwestern peneplain with its vast open
stretches, its cattle, its wheat, and its opportunities is a most
attractive land.

South of Nebraska and Wyoming the "high plains," the last of the
four great divisions of the plains, extend as far as western
Texas. These, like the prairies, have been built up by deposits
brought from other regions. In this case, however, the deposits
consist of gravel, sand, and silt which the rivers have gradually
washed out from the Rocky Mountains. As the rivers have changed
their courses from one bed to another, layer after layer has been
laid down to form a vast plain like a gently sloping beach
hundreds of miles wide. In most places the streams are no longer
building this up. Frequently they have carved narrow valleys
hundreds of feet deep in the materials which they formerly
deposited. Elsewhere, however, as in western Kansas, most of the
country is so flat that the horizon is like that of the ocean. It
seems almost incredible that at heights of four or five thousand
feet the plains can still be so wonderfully level. When the grass
is green, when the spring flowers are at their best, it would be
hard to find a picture of greater beauty. Here the buffalo
wandered in the days before the white man destroyed them. Here
today is the great cattle region of America. Here is the region
where the soul of man is filled with the feeling of infinite
space.