Introduction 1 What is the Great Plains? 5 The Great Plains—its parts 7 Early history 10 Warping and stream deposition 11 Sculpturing the land 18 Landforms of today—The surface features of the Great Plains 19 Black Hills 20 Central Texas Uplift 22 Raton Section 23 High Plains 25 Missouri Plateau 32 Preglacial Drainage 33 Glaciated Missouri Plateau 33 Unglaciated Missouri Plateau 36 The Colorado Piedmont 42 Pecos Valley 45 Edwards Plateau 46 Plains Border Section 48 Epilogue 49 Acknowledgments 49 Some source references 50 FIGURES