Nineteenth annual Meeting. 47 



Summarizing the items given, we find that at the epoch when Kansas became a 

 State the knowledge of the geological formations within her borders was limited to 

 that contained in the following statements: 



1. The Bluff or Loess was conspicuous in the northeast. 



2. The Glacial (red) boulders had been observed. 



3. The rocks of the eastern part of the State were of Carboniferous age, bearing 

 coal. 



4. Permian strata, or rather fossils, had been recognized. 



5. Cretaceous formations were believed to be in middle Kansas. 



6. Gypsum was reported to exist in the same region. 



7. Sandy alluvion plentiful west. 



The State of Kansas began to do scientific work while it was still young. The 

 organic act, by which in 1861 the Territory became a State, makes provision in ad- 

 vance for important educational facilities. While the civil war was in progress the 

 educational scheme so foreshadowed was put into operation, and the State Univer- 

 sity, the State Normal College, and the State Agricultural College, were established 

 on what has proved to be an enduring foundation. 



During the same period Kansas began by act of the Legislature a Geological 

 SUBVET or THE State. This act became law February 15, 1864. By it the Governor 

 and Senate were to appoint a State Geologist for the term of one year — from March 

 1, 1864, to March 1, 1865. This State Geologist was "to proceed to classify the rocks 

 and soils of each county;" "to visit and analyze salt springs;" "investigate coal 

 formations, and other mineral deposits, by the appliances known to the departments 

 of geology and mineralogy;" "analyze the soils of the settled coiunties;" "collect 

 and label a geological cabinet;" and do other things necessary to a thorough survey 

 of the State. The expenditure was not to exceed three thousand five hundred dol- 

 lars, and it does not appear that the whole of this sum was used. Prof. B. F. Mudge 

 became State Geologist: Major Hawn was designated as Assistant Superintendent 

 of the Survey; Prof. G. C. Swallow, Paleontologist; Tiffin Sinks, M. D., Chemist and 

 Meteorologist; C. A. Logan, M. D., Botanist, and to report on the sanitary relations 

 of the State. 



The work of Prof. Mudge and his coadjutors was, of course, limited by the lim- 

 ited means at their disposal. The report of this year's work by Prof. Mudge was not 

 printed till 1866, when it was issued by the State Printer, Hon. John Speer. It is a 

 pamphlet of 56 pages. Considerable attention is given in this report to the items 

 of coal and salt. In connection with the former is given some account of the boring 

 for that mineral which had then begun at Leavenworth, and a geological section of 

 the strata of Leavenworth county is given to a depth of four hundred feet. This 

 section was verified to a remarkable degree by the progress of the shaft, which finally 

 reached coal at a depth of over seven hundred feet. With regard to salt, a full de- 

 scription of Tuthill salt marsh, in Republic county, is given, and references made to 

 other developments of salt brines in wells, streams, and springs. Some of these are 

 compared with the sources of salt utilized in New York and elsewhere, and analyses, 

 methods of manufacture are also given in detail. That advance had been made in 

 the geological classification of rock formations of the State, is seen from the fact 

 that Prof. Mudge recognizes in order the following groups of strata: 



1. Coal measures. 



2. Permian. 



3. Triassic. 



4. Cretaceous. 



5. Drift. 



6. Loess. 



7. Alluvium. 



