Kansas During the Ice Age. 47 



CONCLUSION. 



In conclusion, a few words on two points : First, to antici- 

 pate some questions which are apt to be asked after such dis- 

 cussion ; second, problems which are still unsolved. 



The time since the close of the Wisconsin is estimated by 

 some to be from 10,000 to 15,000 years, and from the culmijia- 

 tion of the Kansan ten to fifteen times that. 



Chamberlain's conclusion, after a careful consideration of 

 the rates of advance and recession of the ice, and the relations 

 and rates of erosion of such gorges as the Niagara and the 

 Mississippi near St. Paul, gives 20,000 to 80,000 years since 

 the recession of the Wisconsin ice, and 300,000 to 1,360,000 

 since the Kansan. 



Was man in existence at that time? Some claim to have 

 evidence that men lived in North America, even in Kansas, be- 

 fore the close of the glacial period. The ''Lansing man" has 

 been thought by some to have lived during the recession of the 

 Kansas ice, but at present the weight of evidence seems to show 

 that man was not contemporaneous even with the later stages 

 of the Wisconsin ice in North America, and that the ''Lansing 

 man" may have lived less than a thousand years ago. 



Finally, it should be frankly admitted that several problems 

 still unsolved can be pointed out : 



First, we have postulated glacial lakes to explain the re- 

 motely scattered bowlders in Washington county and those of 

 extraordinary height south of Clinton. May they not be 

 remnants of a still older ice advance, or in other words, may 

 they not be traces of the Nebraskan till sheet ? 



Second, the course of the Platte-Grande river has been only 

 partially determined. 



So also in several other cases only possibilities have been 

 indicated, and our statements are to be taken provisionally. 

 As the state is more and more developed, excavations will be 

 made which may throw floods of light on these and other 

 questions. Twenty years from now the glacial history of 

 Kansas, we may hope, will be much clearer and more complete. 

 I shall be satisfied if I have contributed my mite, as a pioneer 

 explorer. 



University of Kansas, Lawrence. 



