A Geological Reconnoissance in Southwest 

 Kansas and No Man's Land. 



BY E. C. CASE. 



That portion of Kansas lying south of and bounded by the Arkan- 

 sas river, together with the western arm of the Indian Territory known 

 as No Man's Land, or Beaver county, is comparatively an unknown 

 region to the geologist. St. John in Vol. IX of the Reports of the 

 State Board of Agriculture gave a somewhat general account of the 

 region, but failed to recognize, with certainty, as Triassic the friable 

 red sandstone that covers a great part of the region. Later, Hay 

 published in the U. S. Geologic Bulletin of 1890 a more detailed 

 account of the eastern portion of this region, giving the Triassic due 

 recognition. During the past summer, under the direction of 

 the Department of Palaeontology, the writer made a trip through 

 this region, following especially in Seward, Clark and Meade coun- 

 ties, and in the adjoining portion of the Territory, the western limit 

 of the red Triassic beds. 



There is little of interest to the casual observer in this region. 

 The succession of prairie flats and shallow, sand-choked water 

 courses, is monotonous in the extreme, but to the geologist it is 

 replete with interest. The object of the trip was the examination of 

 a terrane visited by Cragin in 1S90, and by him referred to the Loup 

 Fork Tertiary (^American Geologist, July, 189 1, p. 29). The de- 

 posit was reported to be rich in impressions of Tertiary leaves. A 

 further object was to make a general reconnoissance of the country 

 preparatory to more extended work by the University. The south- 

 western counties of Kansas — Stanton, Morton, Grant and Stevens, 

 are covered with the ^Tertiary sand and the characteristic coarsely 

 cemented sandstone, or " mortar-rock," with the exception of bluffs 

 of Dakotah sandstone on the head-waters of the Cimarron, as stated 

 by St. John. The same formation extends over Haskell, Seward and 

 Meade counties, with the exception of a deposit of Cretaceous 

 extending at least as far south as Meade Center, or to the middle line 

 of the county. In Clark, Comanche, Barber and Harper counties, 

 and northward into Kingman and Reno counties, the Triassic has 

 been located, edged on the north by the Cheyenne beds of Cragin. 



(143) KAN. UNIV. QUAR. VOL. H, NO. 3, JAN., 1894. 



