GEOLOGICAL PAPERS. 129 



GOLD IN KANSAS SHALES. 



By J. T. LovEWELL, Topeka, Kan. 

 Read before the Academy, at lola, December 31, 1901. 



^¥"^HIS paper might be written very briefly, like the celebrated chap- 

 -*- ter on "Snakes in Ireland," by saying : "Gentlemen, there is no 

 gold in Kansas shales." Such a summary, though delightful for its 

 pedagogical positiveness, appears to me lacking in the element of 

 truth ; therefore unworthy of the consideration of this scientific body. 

 In what follows, I will endeavor to state to what extent gold has been 

 proven to exist in the shales along the Smoky Hill river in Trego and 

 Ellis counties, and sketch briefly the extent and manner of investiga- 

 tion pursued under my observation. 



We find in these shales abundant evidence that the region was once 

 an ocean bed ; that the shales are sedimentary deposits, which, by 

 upheavals, by the i3lowing of glaciers, by the washing of prehistoric 

 rivers, have in process of time reached the condition in which we 

 find them. 



The Smoky river, cutting its way through the shale-beds, reveals 

 the stratification to some extent. Near the surface there is usually a 

 hard, compact layer of fos-siliferous limestone, from a few inches to a 

 foot in thickness. Below this, the shale is softer and darker in color 

 and more or less filled with fossils of the Benton group. Sometimes 

 it is in thin laminations, and there will be a layer of an inch or two 

 in thickness of yellowish material, coming probably from oxidation 

 of pyrites. Other hard layers of compact limestone occur at irregular 

 intervals, and this formation extends to a depth of several hundred 

 feet, perhaps. It has been stated to me by four or five creditable 

 witnesses that gold has been panned from the sands of the Smoky by 

 the early gold-seeking emigrants on their way to Colorado ; also, that 

 gold has been found in several instances in sands from wells in this 

 region. 



From the United States government report published in 1848, we 

 learn that attention had been directed in this Smoky Hill district, and 

 a map from this report, which I have the pleasure of showing you, 

 designated the place where is now the Smoky Hill town site as a 

 point from which tin was obtained. The report indicates a doubt as 

 to whether the metal they obtained was tin or zinc. 



The late Cyrus K. Holliday, led by these reports and traditions, 

 joined with a Mr. Stotz in outfitting a prospector named Ephraim 

 Baker, who explored the region and obtained samples, which were 

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