152 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
Lignite is mined and used for fuel in Barton, Cloud, Ellsworth, Jewell, Lin- 
coln, Mitchell, Republic, and Russell counties, Kansas. Some of the principal 
mines are at Wilson and Ben’s Ranch, Ellsworth county; Coal cafion, Russell 
county; Elkhorn creek and Rattlesnake creek, Lincoln county; and Rock creek, 
Mitchell county. The supply is quite considerable and promises to meet the lo- 
cal demand for a number of years. That it will ever do more than this is 
scarcely to be expected. 
SAND AND GRAVEL. 
Like clay, sand is a constituent part of the Dakota. The supply is inex- 
haustible and the quality usually suitable for building purposes. As in the case 
of stone, however, there is often better material at hand, and the Dakota sand is 
not in great demand. As stated above, the region of Dakota outcrops is cut 
nearly at right angles by a number of streams flowing southeast. These streams 
ordinarily take their rise in the Tertiary, or at least flow across these formations, 
and for the most part have numerous low banks and sand-bars. The supply of 
sand for the larger towns, which are usually situated in the valleys, is obtained 
chiefly from these streams. In the Glacial regions the sand for building purposes 
is obtained from pockets in the drift. The Dakota sand is rarely so loosely 
cemented that it can be removed without the use of the pick: more often powder 
must be used to loosen the rock, which is afterward pulverized with the sledge. 
The drift sand, on the contrary, may usually be obtained with the shovel. An 
example may be cited at Lincoln, Neb., where the building sand is obtained from 
numerous drift pockets near the city, although there is in the vicinity plenty of 
Dakota sand, which would be used were the drift sand not more easily obtainable. 
In not a few localities, however, the Dakota sand is utilized for building pur- 
poses. One of these is at Bennett, Neb., referred to above. A small outlier of 
the Dakota forms a cliff thirty feet high, surmounted by drift boulders. Thesand 
is taken from the face of the cliff and utilized for general building purposes. A 
similar sand-bank is found at Tekamah, Neb., from which the sand is in places 
removed with the shovel, while only a few feet away it is so hard as to require 
blasting. The material from the Tekamah ledge makes a superior brick sand. 
In the vicinity of Beatrice, Neb., there are a number of Dakota sand-banks. One 
west of the Blue river furnishes 400 wagon-loads a year. Besides being used for 
building purposes, it has been utilized as molding sand by the Dempster Wind- 
mill Company. : 
Gravel is not common in the Dakota. The few localities in which it has been 
found are generally located in the hollows of the old Carboniferous floor upon 
which the younger Dakota has been deposited. These localities are invariably 
found near the eastern edge of the group. The most typical examples are seen 
on the Platte river, in eastern Nebraska, and have been discussed under ‘‘Stra- 
tigraphy.”’ 
The Cedar creek gravel-bed, which is, perhaps, the best known, was seem- 
ingly deposited in the channel of an ancient Dakota river. The material, which 
has been extensively excavated, is used by the Burlington & Missouri River rail- 
road for ballast, riprap, fills, and foundations. The Missouri Pacific gravel-beds 
near Springfield, Neb., are very like those at Cedar creek. The supply in these 
localities is very considerable and will last for many years. 
WATER-SUPPLY. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The Dakota is distinctly a water-bearing formation. The porous sandstone is 
capable of storing great quantities of water, while at the same time it offers very 
little resistance to its flow. Even the shales are in most places more or less 
