KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



deep; fifty and sixty feet being extreme depths. These beds of so-called coal are 

 really lignite, woody fiber being observable in nearly every specimen. The seams 

 vary from two to twenty-eight or thirty inches thick. They have various qualities, 

 some approaching in texture and value the true coal of the eastern part of the State, 

 but the greater part is much inferior, yielding much ash after combustion. Some is 

 little better than carbonaceous shale, which would yield gas or oil by distillation. 

 The localities where lignite of a usable quality is obtained in workable veins of 

 ten inches and upwards are limited in extent, but are widely distributed, in Russell, 

 Ellsworth, Lincoln, Mitchell and Republic counties. The carbonaceous shales have 

 have been found as far south as Barber county and as far west as Hodgeman and 

 Hamilton counties. 



All these seams are contained in rocks of the Lower Cretaceous period. They 

 belong to the same series of strata that contain the remarkable dicotyledonous leaves 

 for which Middle Kansas has become famous. This is the Dacotah Group. 



Years ago Prof. Mudge suggested that the lignite beds of several of these coun- 

 ties were probably of the same horizon. Three years ago the present writer in a 

 paper read to the Academy suggested the desirability of verifying or otherwise de- 

 termining this conclusion. A recent paper by Prof. St. John indicates that he 

 thinks of the veins of the various localities as constituting one horizon, though he 

 has not given its position. We are not aware of anyone who has defined this horizon. 



Within the last three years, and notably within the last twelve months, the writer 

 has made numerous excursions into the regions where the lignite is developed; some 

 journeys being made specially to examine its outcrop and find its horizon. The re- 

 sults are of the most definite kind, and it is probable that their publication will be 

 of economic value. 



The Dacotah sandstones are seen resting on Permian (Permo-Carboniferous ) 

 formations near the Little Blue River at the north line of the State. The contact of 

 these groups is seen at various other points in an irregular curve extending through 

 Clay, Dickinson, Saline and McPherson counties to the southwest, but hidden by su- 

 perficial deposits on the high prairie and in the Arkansas valley. Near this easterly 

 boundary of the Cretaceous rocks there has been no important discovery of lignite. 

 The lignite deposits in Republic, Jewell, Lincoln, Ellsworth and Russell counties are 

 from thirty to fifty miles from the eastern Cretaceous frontier. Another series of 

 rocks is becoming manifest in the topography of the country. The hill-tops and 

 sides show level ledges of limestone from three to thirty inches thick. In some re- 

 gions — e. g., in mid-Lincoln county — there are five of these ledges separated by lay- 

 ers of limy shale. Some soft and friable, some slaty and hard. These limestones 

 and their intercalated shales constitute the Fort Benton Group, and lie above the 

 sandstones and colored shales of the Dacotah. It is within sight of these Benton 

 limestones and within a short distance vertically below them. that the seams of lig- 

 nite occur. In one or two instances the same seam is apparently continuous for sev- 

 eral miles. Besides this, further to the south in the northwest corner of Barber 

 county, and in parts of Hodgeman and Hamilton counties, a black lignitic shale is 

 found in persistent beds of about the same thickness as the main seams of the lig- 

 nite in the other counties. These also are in the same relation to so-called magne- 

 sian limestone ledges of the Benton. In the southwest there are large areas covered 

 by superficial deposits — the two tertiary formations and more recent gravels and 

 clays. It is quite possible that in some of these areas the lignitic horizon may be not 

 far from the surface, and instead of the shale may yield a usable variety of lignite 

 coal. 



There is no doubt that the lignites and carbonaceous shales are practically at one 

 level. They form an horizon very nearly at the top of the Dacotah Group. In no 



