KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 13 



sumed the form of bluish-green chert, with small, white spots. This was seen 

 in many of the openings or shafts, and was the rock said to contain the most 

 silver. At a few places the stratum was twisted into small folds, as if the 

 hot water had rendered it plastic, and the pressure had caused it to yield. 

 The colors usually shaded into each other, but sometimes the change was 

 abrupt. 



At the deepest shaft, Mr. Van Meter's, the bluish-green chert, or quartzite, 

 is traversed by veins of white quartz, which was said to contain gold ; but a 

 portion which I took out did not yield a trace of that metal. 



Near the center of the metamorphic area, the strata were dipped as much 

 as 45°. This was undoubtedly caused by the washing-out of the underlying 

 stratum, and was very local. At several places we saw sharp, angular frag- 

 ments of chert, which had become cemented together by the same material. 

 This feature is frequently seen at the lead mines of Cherokee county. In 

 nearly all other respects, the metamorphic action at the two localities are en- 

 tirely different. 



I have caused some of the rock said to yield silver — some specimens given 

 me at the mines, and some that I broke from the ledges and shafts — to be ana- 

 lyzed by Professors Patrick, of the State University, and Failyer, of the State 

 Agricultural College, and no trace of silver, or any metal except iron, was 

 found. I was surprised, when I saw the metamorphic action, not to find any 

 lead, which is usually met with under such circumstances. 



I was told at Belmont that assays of rock'from these shafts had been made 

 by chemists in Massachusetts and Colorado, and silver had been obtained, 

 varying in amount from $5 per ton to $6.25 per ton. This, it will be seen, is 

 fully equal to the silver mines at Leadville; but, on the other hand, though 

 several thousand dollars have been spent, not a single ounce has been sold as 

 the product of all the mines. This should settle the practical question of 

 the advisability of the enterprise. Whether the ore was "salted" before it 

 started for Massachusetts, or whether the whole story was a fabrication, I do 

 not know. 



I have been thus particular in the description of these mines, because I am 

 constantly consulted on similar wild metallic stories about rich deposits in 

 Kansas, and because the metamorphic action indicated a possibility that sil- 

 ver might be found. 



A HOLIDAY EXCURSION TO THE BIRTHPLACE OF 

 MONTEZUMA. 



THEO. S. CASE, KANSAS CITY, MO. 



Before entering upon a description of the ruins of the Pecos pueblo and 

 church, I will say, that notwithstanding the volumes that have been written 

 by the explorers of this central portion of the western hemisphere, descrip- 

 tive of its past civilization, the vastness and perfection of that civilization 



