GEOLOGICAL PAPERS. .129 



THE KANSAS MINERAL EXHIBIT AT ST. LOUIS. 



By G. P. Geimslet, Assistant State Geologist, Morgantown, W. Va. 

 Read before the Academy, at Topeka, December 31, 1904. 



npHE chief of the mining department of the Louisiana Purchase 

 -*- Exposition insisted from the beginning of the work of prepa- 

 ration that the mineral exhibits should have an educational value, 

 and that it should be an exhibit of processes, as far as possible. It 

 was hoped that the exhibits of states and foreign countries would not 

 be wholly of the nature of mineral curiosities and unique specimens, 

 but should be practical, so that here in the compass of a single build- 

 ing the people might see the steps in manufacture, from the crude 

 ores up to the finished product adapted to its various uses. 



PLAN OF ARRANGEMENT. 



Realizing the value of this wise plan, the Kansas exhibit was 

 planned and erected with these ends in view. That we succeeded 

 in approximating this ideal of arrangement is proved by the many 

 favorable comments made by the visitors from other states and coun- 

 tries and by the awards given us by impartial juries. 



Several months before the fair opened we made detailed plans for 

 the Kansas mineral exhibit and submitted them to the mines depart- 

 ment. These plans called for a space of 3000 square feet, and were 

 later adapted to 2000 square feet, which we felt sure would be awarded 

 to us. The demand for space was so great that the chief of the 

 mines department, though expressing his deep interest in our display 

 and his satisfaction with our plans, was compelled to cut our allot- 

 ment of space to 1588 square feet. This space was in the form of a 

 rectangle fifty-nine feet long and twenty-seven feet wide, situated in 

 block 51, in the southeastern section of the building. We had for 

 our neighbors on either side Nebraska and Oklahoma, with Wyoming 

 back of us and Montana in front, across the aisle. 



This space was enclosed by building a partition fifty-nine feet long 

 and twelve feet high at the back of the booth. This partition was 

 covered with green fire-proof burlap, and it was used for a large dis- 

 play of pictures, maps and charts of the Kansas mineral industries. 

 The maps on a large scale, three in number, showed in colors the 

 geology of the state, the mineral belts of the eastern third of the 

 state, giving the location of the oil and gas territory, the lead and zinc 

 area, and the important coal areas. A third map showed vertical sec- 

 tions of the rocks of the state, a log of one of the gas- wells, and a 



