JO KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



COALS OF KANSAS. 



BY WILLIAM H. SAUNDERS. 



At the request of Secretary Parker, I have condensed in the fol- 

 lowing paper the results of some chemical investigations, which I 

 have from time to time made, of the quality of our Kansas coals. 



Up to this time, so far as I know, no true bituminous coal has 

 been found west of the Missouri river, and probably none exists. 



Many valuable beds of coal, some of which are many feet in 

 thickness, occur throughout the western part of the country, but all 

 belong to that class of coals called lignites. On a c ose examina- 

 tion of the most compact, homogeneous specimens, lamina; of a soft, 

 black, pulverulent substance like charcoal, retaining its original or- 

 ganic structure can be found, which assign them to the class of 

 lignites. 



In Kansas all qualities are found, from the soft, brown, woody 

 lignite, destitute of bituminous matter, and showing plainly the 

 original vegetable structure, to that so highly bituminized and 

 homogeneous in quality, as to approach very nearly a true bitumin- 

 ous coal. 



The general distribution, good quality, and easy access of our 

 coal beds render it highly probable that in years to come Kansas 

 may be made commercially independent, by the possession of a 

 cheap means of preparing for use the crude products of the vast 

 and varied industries that her fertile soil and varied resources are 

 capable of sustaining. 



The eastern half of the State lies on the western border of the 

 great interior coal basin of the continent, where the outcrop of the 

 strata would bring the coal to the surface. Owing to the very slight 

 disturbance of the strata in this part of the west, they lie nearly 

 horizontal, having a slight dip to the northwest and north, thus in- 

 suring the distribution of coal over a large area, and greatly facili- 

 tating mining operations, for, when once a bed is reached, the miner 

 can work in any direction with no prospect of having his progress 

 impeded by a fault in the strata. 



At numerous places throughout the eastern half of the State, thin 

 beds of coal of the upper coal measures outcrop along the hillsides, 



