304 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 



geographically. The Topeka coal is fully 125 feet lower than the 

 coal at Silver Lake. The latter belongs to the same horizon with the 

 Osage City coal. 



The Topeka coal is about 2075 ^^^^ above the base of the Coal 

 Measures, and is not the geologic equivalent of any other coal known 

 in the state, unless possibly the coal claimed to have been discovered 

 recently in Jefferson county should be correlated with it. The im- 

 portance of the Topeka coal is not very great, for the mining opera- 

 tions are limited. 



THE OSAGE CITY SHALES. 



The coals occupying these shales are remarkable for constituting so 

 extensive a deposit at so high a point within the Coal Measures. 

 They are located 2200 feet above the base of the Lower Coal 

 Measures, yet in quantity and quality the coal will compare tolerably 

 well with many coals in the Mississippi valley obtained from much 

 lower horizons. The total output from this horizon in 1893 reached the 

 large quantity of 7,018,942 bushels, equaling 9.742 percent, of the 

 total output of the state for that year, from Osage county alone, while 

 a considerable amount came from Shawnee county. 



The mines are principally located along the line of the Atchison, 

 Topeka ti: Santa Fe Railroad between Topeka and Emporia at Car- 

 bondale, Scranton, Burlingame, Osage City, and oiher places. The 

 coal seam outcrops to the southeast and is therefore first mined by 

 stripping. When the dip has taken it too far under the surface to 

 admit of profitable mining in this way, the ordinary shafting process 

 is employed. The coal averages about 16 inches in thickness, but in 

 many places exceeds this coi^isiderably. The depth at which it is 

 reached of course will depend upon the position with reference to 

 the outcroping and the particular surface contour. 



Beyond the limits just given coal belonging to the same horizon 

 has been mined in Coffey county near I^ebo and Lyon county along 

 its eastern line. Thin seams of coal are found in Greenwood county 

 near Madison and southward, and in Elk county near Grenola, also 

 in Chautauqua county at Leeds, in some of which places considerable 

 mining is done. North of Osage City the same coal is mined at Dover 

 and Silver Lake, two points which lie so close to Topeka that they are 

 usually classed wtth the Topeka coal. Beyond this to the northeast 

 traces of coal have been found in Jefferson county and at a few other 

 points. This Survey has not yet done any detailed work in that part of 

 the state, and therefore cannot speak authoritatively but presumably 

 such coals should be correlated with the Osage City-Burlingame coal. 



