© Copyright by the Center for Great Plains Studies THE PRESETTLEMENT PLATTE: WOODED OR PRAIRIE RIVER?

ABSTRACT-The pre-settlement Platte River is commonly de-scribed as a mostly unwooded prairie river, comprised of water, sand, and wet grassland. However, primary historical accounts do not support this prairie river concept. Instead, the early accounts and quantitative information from the General Land Office survey indicate that, prior to settlement by European immigrants, the Platte was a wooded river tra-versing a prairie landscape. Woodland was reported as dense on innu-merable islands in the channel, but scattered along on the outer banks. This woodland was cleared during exploration and early settlement. Thus, the openness of the post-settlement river observed early in the 1900s was an artifact of deforestation rather than of the result of natural processes. Since the 1930s, however, reforestation and channel narrow-ing have occurred in response to reduced streamflow and less demand for timber. The new woodland harbors high biodiversity, while occupy