Republican River.—This stream takes its name from the Republican Pawnees, who lived on its bank until about the year 1815. Lewis and Clark, the explorers, mention the stream in 1804, and it is more than likely that the name attached at an earlier period. The stream is formed by two branches, the northern of which rises in Yuma county, Col., and flows east, entering Nebraska in Dundy county. The southern branch has its source in the central part of Lincoln county, Col., and flows in a northeasterly direction through the counties of Kit Carson and Yuma, enters Kansas in Cheyenne county, flowing northeasterly and leaving the state at a point south of the village of Benkelman, Neb. Near this point it mingles its waters with the north branch and forms the Republican river; thence flows in an easterly direction through the counties of Dundy, Hitchcock, Redwillow, Furnas, Harlan, Franklin and Webster, across the southwest corner of Nuckolls, and enters Kansas a little west of the station of Stateline, Jewell county. Thence it flows in a southeasterly direction through the counties of Jewell, Cloud, Clay and Geary, until it unites with the Smoky Hill about 2 miles below Junction City to form the Kansas river. Among the most important tributaries of the Republican are the Arickaree river and Whiteman's creek of Colorado, the Redwillow creek of Nebraska, and the Beaver, Sappa and Prairie Dog creeks of Kansas. The legislature of 1864 declared the stream unnavigable, although as an experiment the Financier No. 2 in 1855 ascended for 40 miles without being grounded. The stream at Clay Center has been dammed and the power utilized. The length of the Republican river is estimated at 550 miles, about 100 of which are in Kansas.