In the 150 years since Sternberg’s Law of downstream fining was published, causes and complications have proliferated with research in many fluvial environments. The basic relationship is a first-order differential equation expressing an energy relationship, and the geologic causes and effects that fall under its umbrella are diverse. Grain size distributions of sands provide indications of modes of deposition, but gravels do not. However, while competence is seldom a limiting factor for sands, it is for gravels. The study area includes the low-relief Great Plains and the high relief of the Rocky Mountains. Island mountain ranges complicate this somewhat, but stream courses are sufficiently simple for Sternberg’s Law. Most of the study area exhibits features generally believed to have resulted from Ice-Age glaciation. Catastrophic evidence in the form of planation surfaces is also present. Thus channelized flow, transport by ice, and sheet flow are all candidate processes for transport of gravel. Predictions of grain size distributions from these processes are compared with results from statistical analysis of 5,839 sieve analysis reports. The results indicate a complex history for the surficial gravel deposits.