The largest stream in Bell County is Little River, which is formed by the confluence of Leon and Lampasas rivers southeast of Belton and nearly south of Temple. For the study of river terraces in Bell County, the area south of Temple on Little River was chosen because an excellent development of terraces may be seen there, and it was believed that conditions in that area may be typical for other streams in the county. A plane table map was made for the vicinity of the villages of Little River and Sparks, and the traverse was continued south to the town of Holland. On this map, outcrops of bedrock are shown, and also some data on depths of water wells, which in this area are closely related to the depth of bedrock. Samples of gravel were taken from several pits within this area and analyzed for percentages of different types of pebbles.

Within the area mapped, there are three main terraces, which are numbered 1, 2, and 3, beginning with the lowest. There is also a small development of a sub-terrace between numbers 1 and 2, which is given the number 1-A.