Solomon River, once also known as the Nepaholla river, is formed by its two branches—the north and south—both of which rise in Thomas county, Kan., within 10 miles of each other, and for the first 10 miles flow almost parallel to each other at a distance of not over 4 or 5 miles. The north branch flows in a northeasterly direction through the county of Thomas, the northwest corner of Sheridan, the extreme southeast corner of Decatur, the southern portion of Norton and Phillips, the southwest corner of Smith and the northeast corner of Osborne and into Mitchell. The south fork flows almost due east through the counties of Thomas, Sheridan, Graham, Rooks and Osborne and unites with the other branch about 2 miles east of the west line of Mitchell county. The main stream then makes a bend to the southeast across Mitchell, the southwest part of Cloud, across Ottawa and the extreme northeast corner of Saline, where it unites with the Smoky Hill river near the town of Solomon. Including its branches the Solomon is about 300 miles long, has a number of small affluents and waters one of the prettiest sections of the state, approximately 6,000 square miles in extent. The legislature of 1864 declared the river unnavigable, although there is no history of its ever having been considered so. The U. S. weather bureau established a gauge station at Beloit in the year 1904, at which measurements of the stream have since been made. Mrs. Margaret Hill McCarter, in 1911, issued a little volume entitled, "The Peace of the Solomon Valley," which describes early day conditions along that stream.