Along- the lower courses of the larger draws, however, the valleys are sharply cut into the plain and are defined on their outer edges by steep slopes or bluffs, which in a few places are rugged and barren of soil. The floors of the small valleys, however, are comparatively wide and nearly level. Small, isolated, leveltopped hills or buttes and low, rounded knolls seldom more than twenty to fifty feet above the general level of the surrounding lower lying- areas are features of the upland plain. There are also numerous slight basins or depressions without drainage outlets scattered over the table-land. These are all shallow, lying- twenty to fifty feet below the surrounding land, and vary in size from two or three to about 1,000 acres. They appear to represent original depressions in the plain, but have probably been increased in size by wind erosion.

The elevation of the county varies from about 4,800 to 5,300 feet above sea level, and the general slope is eastward. The drainage is principally through Lodgepole creek, the only stream of importance in the county and a tributary of South Platte river. A small area in the extreme northern part of the county is drained by Rocky Hollow, which flows into Lawrence Fork, a small tributary emptying into North Platte river. Short draws occur throughout the upland, so that no part of the county is poorly drained, except some of the low bottom land along Lodgepole creek. The draws are dry throughout the year, except immediately after heavy rainstorms. Lodgepole creek has a small flow of water. It is a perennial stream, although for a few miles of its course in the eastern part of the county it disappears beneath the sand and gravel which fill its channel.