TWtWry-l^EVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 243 



upper vein and comes before Osage and Franklin county coals. The best 

 Indiana block coal is shown for comparison. 



Pounds of water evaporated per pound of coal used: 



10 per cent. 'M por cent. 



Place. correction. correction. 



Leavenworth 12.54 14.80 



Indiana (Clay county) 14 . 53 17 . 03 



The methods of this determination are carried out in apparatus that 

 assures nearly perfect combustion, and Professor Blake remarks that, "about 

 one-half the evaporative powers here given under the 10 per cent, correction 

 will be obtained in practice" in steam boilers. 



Prof. E. H. S. Bailey gives an analysis of Leavenworth coal as follows: 



Water 2.69 



Volatile 39.21 



Fixed carbon 47.41 



Ash ■■ 10.69 



And arranging the coals of Kansas as to their valup, as shown by analysis 

 in five groups, Professor Bailey places that of Leavenworth in the second 

 group. 



The black bituminous shales of the surface and down in the mines will 

 some day be sources of heat and illumination to the larger populations of the 

 future. They will all yield oil and gas by distillation, and when supplies of 

 petroleum, now constantly decreasing in the eastern states, are exhausted 

 these shales will everywhere be a source of wealth to the communities that 

 have them. It will pay better to mine them then than to mine coal to-day. 



MINERAL PAINTS. 



The bed of shale immediately above the 13 feet of limestone has a yellow 

 streak near the bottom that in many places is a good bed of ochre. It is seen 

 at Ryan's quarry and at the soldiers' home. Other parts of the shale beds 

 have similar deposits. There is also purple brown shale at a higher level 

 that shows on Salt creek, Little Stranger and near the Wyandotte county 

 line, that apparently would make a paint of the umber class. The yellow 

 ochre calcines a beautiful brown. These shales all belong to the coal meas- 

 ures. 



In a great many places the bottom of the yellow marl is a rich red clay, 

 free from sand, which from the quantity of iron in it will make a good pigment 

 for outdoor painting. It will have to be sought for and may be found where 

 the superincumbent marl is not very thick, and the paint-bed itself may be 

 found sometimes two or three feet thick. Under the circumstances of frost 

 and snow in which this examination has been made it is impossible to get 

 at the thickness of these soft deposits. This rich clay has, however, been seen 

 in the western part of the city and on slopes of Salt creek and Little Stranger. 



CLAYS. 



Leavenworth county is rich in clays for all kinds of bricks and moulded 

 blocks. The most prominent feature of the region, the loess or yellow marl, 

 is over a large part of its area fit for the best kinds of common bricks. It can 

 be found sufficiently porous for draining-tiles and also of quality suitable for 

 compact pressed bricks. The loess is everywhere. Experiment determines 

 its value. If inferior bricks are made it is usually the fault of the maker, 

 either in selection of his clay, or in its manipulation and baking. 



The bricks that are now claiming so much attention are the vitrified 

 bricks for paving. 



