TWENTYSEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 245 



It may be stated that many blocks on Broadway have been curbed with 

 the moulded blocks, and they have worn well. 



There is another source of material for bricks. It is the dump piles of 

 shale at the various coal mines. 



The brick works at the penitentiary use this material exclusively. The 

 hard "slate" which forms the roof of the coal is brought to the surface when 

 it has been cut out to form the main entries of the mine. There are streaks 

 of limestone or limy shale in this roof slate that do not improve the quality 

 of the bricks, but if these are thrown out the material makes a fair vitrified 

 brick. It is extensively used for sewers and paving, and will have still fur- 

 ther development. 



CEMENT. 



I have not recognized here any gypsiferous deposits that would be suitable 

 for plasters, but some of the shales are probably sufficiently calcareous to have 

 some utility in that direction. The bed of limestone elsewhere mentioned 

 as being in the shales lying over the coal on Little Stranger creek has con- 

 siderable resemblance to the Fort Scott limestone, which is the only Kansas 

 bed which so far has produced an hydraulic cement which has withstood 

 competition and has obtained an established place on the market. It is 

 probable that some shale beds and some other limestones may yet be found 

 with hydraulic properties that may take a place among the regular products 

 of the district. But the value of these can only be determined by actual 

 experiment. 



MINERAL SPRINGS. 



There are no springs in this region that are noted by their force and 

 large volume of water. But the numerous creeks of the district are fed by 

 constant seepage from the sandstones, sandy shales and occasional gravels of 

 the region, and wells varying in depth from 20 to nearly 100 feet have plenty 

 of water in all parts of the county. 



There are, however, in the region of the outcrop of the various parts of 

 No. 7 of our section springs with a perennial flow of water. And several of 

 these have decided mineral qualities. Coming out of sandstones that are 

 charged with iron as carbonate or oxide, or from shales that besides iron 

 have alum and other salts as well as sulphur in pyrites, the waters are 

 charged more or less with these minerals, and some of them have without 

 doubt valuable medicinal properties. I have visited three localities where 

 such springs are found. One is on the Doctor Marshall place, near the Wyan- 

 dotte county line, on Island creek. The water comes out near the contact 

 of sandstone and limestone. There is certainly some iron in the water, but 

 only a chemical analysis can determine its quality and medicinal value. Its 

 quantity can only be found by having it cleaned out, as much debris has re- 

 cently fallen into it and obstructed its flow. 



Other springs are on the Ramsey farm, less than one mile northwest from 

 the last. One of these is said to taste and smell strongly of sulphur, but it 

 now fills a small pool for cattle that makes it diflficult to obtain the water 

 direct from the spring. Much of this has been taken away by the country 

 people at different times. 



The third region is on the Little Stranger creek, west of the Brewer farm. 

 The bed-rocks in place here are a soapstone shale at and a little above the 

 creek bed and a yellow sandstone on the shale in several low bluffs, the whole 

 capped by loess on the slopes. 



At the spring the yellow sandstone is missing and an immense mass of 



