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f- 1 .; ~ flood was the flatten~g out of, the crest due _t2- the na'tural storage afforded by the area Inundated.. . Above La Junta the effect of chnnfiel storage in flattening tIle crest was obscured by. the flood flows from the tributary streams, which in- creased the maximum discharge greatly. Below La Junta the flow from tributaries was small and the storage effect more marked' as . , shown by the decrease in maximum discharge from 200,000 second- feet at La Junta to 170,000 second-feet at theAmity canal, ata dis- tanceof 51 miles, and to 120,000 second-feet at Holly, at an additional distance of 37 miles. . .,;, . . The flattening of the flood' crest Was compensated by its greater duration. At Pueblo it lasted 6 minutes;' at La Junta, 45 minutes; and at Amity canal, 3f hours.' The duration of the crest at Rolly is not known, but it must have been several hours. . . . . . '. . . . . I'.. .1', : i. 1., , . I . . j L TOPOGRAPHY OF, A.RKAN~A.S BASIN. :1" . The part of the Arkansas drainage basin lying in Colorado . is rougWy rectangular and occupies the sOutheastern quarter o:(the State. Its northwest corner reaches the heart of the Rocky Moun- tains near Leadville, lI.little west of the center of the State. .Arkan- sas River is formed by 'the jwiCtion OfES;St'Forkand:Teilliesse~ Fork, each of which rises i~the Continental Divideatiin elevation of 11,000 feet ormore. From the junction of the two forks, 3 miles west of Leadville, the river' floW's southeastward for 54 miles to a point near Cotopaxi, then tnrns IIntl follows an eastedy course for 245 miles to the State line. In the Upper part of its course it flows throngh mOllnt.ainolls (,ollntt'Y in a natTO\V valley formed by parallel mOllllta in rangl':;. Between Cotopaxi and Callon City it cuts through the front range of mountains, and 11. few miles below Canon City it enters the uppet' end of the open valley. This valley grudually widens until. it merges into the' Greut Plains a few miles we~. ~! P bl .'. _" , . .---~- ue 0.. .' ., The drainage basin east of the mountains lies in the west.ern por- tion of the Great Plains, which exte~d' from the foot of the Rockj Mountains .. to . the Mississippi Valley, These plains present. wide areas of smooth'surface traverSed by the broad, shallow valley of A"rkansas River and .~~-.Qr less deepl~~u.~ .bL th~ ~~~~~~ va~~~_-.:;;(~;;";:> ,~} ll!te!.!tl streams~.J Smooth surfaces and eastward-slopIng plams :~~<.' :' ' are the ch'aracteristic features, esp~cially of the uplands, but in parts 'r; ,':'" of the region there are buttes, extended escarpments, and canyons of ";}<:-:'" considerable depth.s One of these buttes is Baculite Mesa, northeast~:_~.... of Pueblo, which rises 400 feet from the plain. . :....,....A :/f7.~):tr ~.: ';-'~ ~~~7~f;" . Darton,. N. R., GeOlogy and underground. waters ot Arknnsas Yalley,. Colo.: U. S. GooL SUl','ey Proto Paper 52, p. 8, 1906.