REPORT ON FIELD WORK IN GEOLOGY. 1 27 



20.9 feet to the mile. As was shown in the division of the geologic 

 section along the Neosho river the average dip to the northwest of 

 the strata included in that section is only 9 feet to the mile. This 

 would make a difference of 1 1 feet to the mile, which represents the 

 degree of nonconformity between the Coal Measure strata and the sur- 

 face of the Mississippian series. 



The drilled wells above referred to, and others in that part of the 

 state, reveal a few very interesting points: At Cherryvale a shale 

 system immediately overlies the Mississipi)ian which is a little over 

 400 feet thick. This probably corresponds to the Cherokee shales 

 or a part of them. Above this five or six different limestone systems 

 were found which do not outcrop to the east, and which therefore 

 are not represented in the Neosho river section. This makes it 

 exceedingly uncertain regarding the position of the Oswego limestone 

 at Cherryvale and points further west. From surface indications 

 alone we have the right to call the first limestone below the soil the 

 Oswego limestone, and also the lower one at Independence by the 

 same name, as was shown in the description of the Verdigris river 

 section. But we now feel a considerable uncertainty about the mat- 

 ter, for these wedge-shaped limestone systems may be partly above 

 the Oswego limestone. Neither can we limit the Cherokee shales at 

 Cherryvale, for some of the shales above the 400-foot system may 

 correspond to the upper portions of the system farther east. 



We must recognize the fact, therefore, that we have here a great 

 unexplored territory hidden beneath the surface, and which can 

 only be reached, in Kansas at least, by the drill. This territory 

 includes the oil and gas-bearing rocks of Cherryvale, Indepen- 

 dence, Coffeyville, Neodesha, etc., and may contain other valuable 

 products. The well at Cherryvale passed through a 29-inch bed of 

 coal within the 400-foot shale bed, which therefore most likely corre- 

 sponds to some of the coal further east. 



Unfortunately few well authenticated records of the drilled wells 

 are obtainable. Some operators have the false notion that their 

 financial interests would be seriously interfered with should they 

 make public an accurate report of the well. Others were indifferent 

 to the importance of the matter, and still others entrusted the whole 

 subject to employes and comnvon laborers who were careless in their 

 work. The writer has compared records of wells near together which 

 apparently had almost no points in common. The two bored at 

 I-awrence, already mentioned, are good examples of inexplicable dis- 

 cordance. It can scarcely be believed that in a country with so high 

 a degree of regularity at the surface as eastern Kansas has would have 

 such a great lack of regularity a few hundred feet below the surface. 



