KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



PAPERS OF 1881-82. 



THE COAL FIELDS OF CHEROKEE COUNTY. 



BY ERASMUS HA WORTH, B. S., EMPIRE CITY, KANSAS. 



The coal mines of Cherokee county are developed to such an extent that 

 they are exceedingly interesting, both from an industrial and a scientific 

 standpoint. The distinct veins of coal that have been found are very nu- 

 merous, but the number of those which are valuable as a source of fuel is 

 not so great. The boundary line between the Carboniferous and the Sub- 

 carboniferous has been quite poorly defined. 



On the accompanying map, the blue line marks this division line with a 

 tolerable degree of accuracy. The small red spots farther west indicate lo- 

 cations where the Sub-carboniferous has been reached by digging. The south 

 one marked in section 7, township 34, south, range 25, east, is on a hill some 

 fifty feet higher than the surrounding plain. Near the south side of the hill, 

 a well was sunk over sixty feet deep without striking the Sub-carboniferous, 

 while on the northern slope, some two hundred yards away, it was reached 

 within twenty feet. The other mark in this section shows where a well 

 reached it in twenty feet. 



In the north-central portion of section 12, township 34, south, range 24, 

 east, is an outcropping of Sub-carboniferous rocks. The surface here is but 

 little if any lower than at any point between here and Spring river; yet at 

 one and a half miles east, at a depth of fifteen feet, a four-inch vein of coal 

 was found. These facts indicate that at some time there has been a slight 

 disturbance of the formation, either before or after the deposition of the Car- 

 boniferous, or that the Sub-carboniferous was left uneven by erosion. 



I am inclined to think that the only way this Sub-carboniferous can ever 

 be successfully studied, is to consider it in its relations to the Ozark and Bos- 

 ton mountains. It is generally admitted that there is a mountainous ridge 

 of archeean rocks extending in a southwesterly direction from the vicinity 

 of Iron Mountain, in Missouri, to the western line of Arkansas, passing 

 through Pulaski, Salina and Hot Springs counties of that State. This 

 archsean ridge is entirely concealed from view along the greater portion of 

 its length, but the occasional outcroppings of archsean rocks, and the regu- 

 lar occurrence of succeeding formations, place its existence beyond much 

 doubt. Using this as a starting point, it would seem reasonable that the 

 principal oscillations of this mountain range would affect the Sub-carbonifer- 

 ous and even subsequent formations. 



