ressed by the proprietor's enthusiasm for arboreal development, Mr.
Goodman began investigation and experiment. It took him but a short time
to acquire a knowledge of the deficiencies of the soil, and this done,
the bigger half of the problem was solved.

Indian legend tells us that this part of our country was once an inland
sea. There is authority for the statement that to-day it is a vast
subterranean reservoir, and the conditions warrant the assertion. The
soil in all the region has a depth only of from one to three feet, while
underlying the shallow arable deposit is one immense bedrock, varying
in thickness, the average being from three to six feet. Everywhere water
may be tapped by digging through the thin soil and boring through the
rock formation. The country gained its reputation as a desert, not
from lack of moisture, but from lack of soil. In the pockets of the
foothills, where a greater depth of soil had accumulated from the
washings of the slopes above, beautiful little groves of trees might
be found, and the islands of the Platte River were heavily wooded.
Everywhere else was a treeless waste.

The philosophy of the transformation from sea to plain is not fully
understood. The most tenable theory yet advanced is that the bedrock
is an alkaline deposit, left by the waters in a gradually widening and
deepening margin. On this the prairie wind sifted its accumulation of
dust, and the rain washed down its quota from the bank above. In the
slow process of countless years the rock formation extended over the
whole sea; the alluvial deposit deepened; seeds lodged in it, and the
buffalo-grass and sage-brush began to grow, their yearly decay adding to
the ever-thickening layer of soil.

Having learned the secret of the earth, Mr. Goodman devoted himself to
the study of the trees. He investigated those varieties having lateral
roots, to determine which would flourish best in a shallow soil. He
experimented, he failed, and he tried again. All things come round to
him who will but work. Many experiments succeeded the first, and many
failures followed in their train. But at last, like Archimedes, he could
cry "Eureka! I have found it!" In a very short time he had the ranch
charmingly laid out with rows of cottonwoods, box-elder, and other
members of the tree family. The ranch looked like an oasis in the
desert, and neighbors inquired into the secret of the magic that had
worked so marvelous a transformation. The str