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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />00221:7 <br /> <br />A familiarity with the High Plains clearly points out the near <br />impossibi 1 ity of fi ndi ng areas for the "with-and-without" compara- <br />tive approach suggested above. This was seen only after initiating <br />work under the contract. The Spanish term for the High Plains is <br />Llano Estacado, or "Staked Plains," a tableland so flat, featureless <br />and devoid of trees that the early Indians drove stakes in the <br />ground to mark their trails. Beyond the rich soils in a virtually <br />flat expanse over the 184 counties defining the area of this study, <br />the land surface drops off sharply to the Rolling Prairies land <br />form. <br />The interface of high-soil-quality and low-soil-quality prairie <br />is called the Cap Rock "escarpment." Beneath the rich flat plains <br />soils is Ogallala groundwater, while beneath the prairies there is <br />little or no groundwater. Thus, wherever two or more adjacent <br />counties were found with and without water, the other differences <br />were also very pronounced. Soil quality, rough terrain, vegetation, <br />mineral deposits, even climatic conditions differed. There was <br />never a basis for comparing irrigated and dry areas. The escarp- <br />ment feature is most pronounced in the South Plains of Texas, where <br />it divides from the Rolling Prairies geographic province to the <br />east, but it is evident northward into Southwest Kansas as well. <br />Northward into Kansas and Nebraska, the feature is less distinct, <br />but poor soil quality, rough terrain and other differences off the <br />smooth plains continue to mask differences in agriculture associated <br />with water alone. <br /> <br />111-3 <br /> <br />Arthur D Lillle.lnc. <br />