GEOLOGICAL PAPERS. 



107 



A FOSSIL FOREST IN JACKSON COUNTY. 



By C. H. Shattdck, Washburn College, Topoka, Kan. 

 Read before the Academy, at Topeka, December 30, 1904. 



TPvURING the month of June, 1900, while making a study of the 

 -'-^ geology of the northwestern part of Jackson county, I was asked 

 to visit a well which was being dug on the Channel farm about two 

 miles south of America City. The workmen had discovered a layer 

 of some twenty inches of a soft, white stone which they were unable 

 to name. This proved to be a very good grade of massive gypsum. 



While at this place one of the workmen brought me a large frag- 

 ment of petrified wood. He informed me that it came from the 

 Laban Brenner farm, about one mile southeast of America City, and 

 that great quantities of this material had been found here and carried 

 away by any who cared for it. 



He also said that stumps could be found at this place projecting 

 above the surface of the earth, giving the appearance of a recently 

 cleared field. I later found this last statement to be somewhat over- 

 drawn. However, it so far aroused my interest as to cause me to visit 

 Mr. Brenner at once. I found in his yard numerous fragments of 

 petrified trees, and one large stump which he had used for a number 

 of years as a stile-block. It was about two and one-half feet in height 

 by one and one- half feet in diameter at the base, and at a distance 

 might easily be taken for an old, partially decayed stump of the pres- 

 ent time which had been dug up by the roots, as these extended on 

 each side some two feet. Mr. Brenner told me that there had for- 

 merly been many of these on his place, but only one was now left, 

 and this only because it was too large to be easily handled, and was 

 surrounded by about eight inches of limestone, and is illustrated in 

 plate XII. 



Fig. 9. Diagram showing location of stumps in the fossil forest in Jackson county, 

 (a) Soil and gravel ; (b) limestone ; (c) shaly limestone ; (d ) soil and clay ; (e) shale. 



I found this fossil located on the south bank of Wolf creek, on top 

 of a high knoll, probably the highest point in the county, as it easily 

 overtops the high ground along the western edge known as English 

 Ridge. On examining the locality, I found that all the stumps re- 

 moved had come from just beneath this layer of limestone (fig. 9, b), 



