GEOLOGY AND PALEONTOLOGY. 127 
The papers of Major Hawn and Professor Swallow induced Meek and Hayden 
to visit Kansas. In the summer of 1858 they ascended the Kansas and Smoky 
Hill rivers as far as the Smoky Hill buttes. As the result of this trip two arti- 
cles were published, both in January, 1859. The first was entitled, ‘‘On the 
So-called Triassic Rocks of Kansas.’’? The second, ‘‘ Geological Explorations in 
Kansas Territory.’’*” In the first article, which israther preliminary in character, 
the authors discuss the position assumed by themselves and by Major Hawn, and 
cite the authority of Doctor Newberry with regard to the dicotyledonous leaves 
to prove the Cretaceous age of the rocks. They admit, however, that the ledge 
which caps the Smoky Hill buttes may be either Triassic or Jurassic, but they 
also state that, in the absence of paleontological data, conjectures on this point 
are futile. One point mentioned in this paper may explain in a measure the con- 
fusion into which the discussion had fallen at this time. It is contained in the 
following lines: ‘‘There is no unconformity, as far as our knowledge extends, 
amongst all the rocks of Nebraska and northeastern Kansas, from the Coal 
Measures to the top of the most recent Cretaceous.”’ 
Had the obvious unconformity between the Permian and the Cretaceous, 
which has since been observed in numerous localities, been known to these 
pioneers in western geology, much of this misunderstanding would have been 
avoided. These men, not knowing that such unconformity existed, were simply 
trying to read into the geology of the region whole epochs which did not exist, 
in order to make the sequence correspond to that of European geology. 
The second article referred to above deals at length with the formation under 
discussion. A number of sections are given, the last of which is entitled: ‘‘Gen- 
eral Section of the Rocks of the Kansas Valley, from the Cretaceous down so 
as to Include Portions of the Upper Coal Measures.’’ The upper member of this 
section, taken at the Smoky Hill buttes, is described as follows: 
Red, brown, and yellowish, rather coarse-grained sandstone, often ob- 
liquely laminated, and containing many ferruginous concretions; also, 
fossil wood and many leaves of dicotyledonous trees, some of which 
belong to existing genera and others to genera peculiar to the Cre- 
taceous epoch........ SpaRasl cade stays eather shes a Syaisamseayetiabavafe atersila Sh cs - ae 60 feet. 
This ledge is one of the most pronounced in the Dakota area. It forms the 
cap of the Smoky Hill buttes and of Soldier Cap mound, and may be traced for 
miles along the valley of the Smoky Hill river and its tributaries. The section of 
Meek and Hayden is not carried so high as that of Swallow, the latter including the 
Benton limestone, which is exposed about ten miles northwest of this locality. 
Below this ledge the authors describe 230 feet of sandstones and variously colored 
clays and shales before reaching the limestones and clays which they rightly con- 
sider the upper member of the Permian. Concerning these beds they say: 
‘‘Between No. 5 (the Upper Permian) and the Cretaceous above (referring to the 
ledge at the buttes) there is still a rather extensive series of beds in which we 
found no fossils; they may be Jurassic or Triassic, or both; though, as we have 
elsewhere suggested, we rather incline to the opinion that they belong to the 
former age.”’ 
From the above it will be seen that Meek and Hayden at this time hesitatingly 
conceded the possibility of Jurassic beds in Kansas and Nebraska. The Kansas 
formations have since been demonstrated to belong to the Comanche Cretaceous, 
and, without further discussion, the beds at Blackbird hill have long been tacitly 
admitted to be Dakota. 
It was at this time that the Heer-Newberry-Lesquereux controversy concern- 
19. Am. Jour, Sei., 27: 31-35. 20. Proc. Phila. Acad. Sci., 11: 8-30. 
