BROADHEAD CARBONIF. ROCKS OF EASTERN KANSAS. 481 



Carboniferous Rocks of Eastern Kansas. 

 By G. C. Broadhead. 



From the eastern line of Kansas to the Verdigris the country 

 is either undulating or of long gentle slopes, but sometimes hilly. 

 The surface is varied by occasional mounds and ridges which 

 rise 100 to 150 feet above the lovi^er plains. These are capped 

 with limestones, which have preserved them from entire disinte- 

 gration. The lower slopes from the mounds are long and gentle, 

 and include chiefly sandstones and shales, with occasional thin 

 limestone layers with rarely a thin coal seam. 



The general elevation of the country above the sea does not 

 greatly vary in this distance of about 100 miles east and west, 

 being 910 to 1,000 feet at Ft. Scott, 875 at Paola, 947 at Olathe, 

 970 at Garnett ; and in the valley of the Neosho it is 921 at Par- 

 sons, 1,000 feet at Neosho Falls, and 1,160 at Emporid. From 

 Neosho we rise to 1,145 at Yates Centre on divide between the 

 Neosho and Verdigris, descending to 925 feet in the valley of 

 Verdigris near Toronto. 



West of this the country is more hilly and rugged for 30 miles, 

 rising by terraces and rough ridges to 1,235 f^^t elevation at head 

 of Fancy creek on divide between the Verdigris and Fall rivers. 

 In Fall river valley near Twin Falls we again find ourselves rest- 

 ing upon a 1,000 feet elevation. 



The Neosho traverses an almost flat valley or trough in the 

 lower part of the middle coal measures, only productive in coal 

 in its southern extension, but northwardly in Osage county coal 

 is mined, which, according to Prof. Mudge, belongs to the lower 

 measures. This, then, shows an uplift of lower (middle?) coal 

 measures, flanked to the east and west, as we proceed northward- 

 ly, by the upper coal measures. 



In Neosho, Wilson, Labette and Montgomery counties there 

 are numerous exposures of sandstone, which often occur in verv 

 even flag-like layers. Near Chanule and Thayer these sandstones 

 show about 50 feet thickness, with coal at Thayer low in the hills, 

 which is extensively worked on an area of about six miles square. 

 Associated with the coal are many fossil plant remains, including 



