TWENTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING. 29 
in color, separated by layers of shale. The total thickness is 15 to 20 feet. The 
principal stratum is the uppermost, which varies from 7 to 10 feet in thickness. 
It is a massive limestone, in color light gray tinged with yellow. The texture 
may vary considerably ina short distance. The typical exposures are at Calhoun 
Bluffs, about three miles northeast of Topeka, where the Union Pacific railroad 
cuts the bluff of the Kansas river, and just east of Tevis, and on the bluffs north 
of Richland. It also appears on Muddy creek. It is hard and quite fossilifer- 
ous. It has been quarried for paving stone, the quarry being situated north of 
the road where Sixth street crosses Deer creek. 
3. CALHOUN SANDSTONE AND SHALE.— This stratum is 50 to 65 feet in thick- 
ness. The lower part of the stratum is a layer of soft, argillaceous sandstone 
from 12 to 20 feet thick. This is perhaps the most persistent sandstone in the 
county. The shale is of bluish tint and comparatively fine texture. The loca- 
tion of this stratum is the same as the preceding, except that it ranges a trifle 
further west. 
4. TopEKA LIMESTONE ( Haworth ).*— This system of limestone is 10 to 15 feet 
in thickness, according to the thickness of the clay partings, composed of four 
strata separated by partings of clay-like shale. This system forms a marked fea- 
ture in the topography of the eastern part of the county. Typical exposure at 
the county quarry in the fair grounds, at Topeka; but here only the three lower 
strata are exposed. It rises in a southeasterly direction to the east line of the 
county, forming the tops of the high hills southeast of Tecumseh. It is exposed 
at Wakarusa station, and forms the top of the escarpment at Calhoun Bluffs. 
This limestone has been quarried more than any other in the county, and is used 
to a considerable extent for building purposes. It is a light buff in color, except 
the lowest layer, which is of a bluish gray tint. It contains considerable chert. 
5. Osace City SHALEs (Haworth).*— This is a stratum of bluish varying to a 
yellowish shale, 50 feet in thickness, very argillaceous and nearly barren of fos- 
sils. Typical exposure, Topeka vitrified brick works, one-half mile west of 
insane asylum. It is the shale used by the above company in the manufacture 
of the walk and paving brick in Topeka. The. brick is of very high grade of 
hardness, and is the finest produced in this country for paving purposes. 
6. OsaGE Coat.—This coal is variously called the ‘‘Osage,’’ ‘‘ Burlingame,’’ 
‘*Scranton,’’ ‘‘ Carbondale,”’ ‘‘ Topeka,”’ etc., coal. It is correlated by Professor 
St. Johnt as the Osage Coal. It isa stratum of bituminous coal from 6 to 20 
inches in thickness. It is mined three miles southwest of Topeka and from 
Martin’s hill to within a mile and a half of Washburn College, and also at 
Burnett’s mound. It appears near Pauline, where it is about six inches thick; 
while on Wakarusa creek, west of Wakarusa station, it seems to be entirely 
wanting, or the shale above it thickened to four or five times its usual thickness 
in this county. On the north side of the Kansas river it is to be found on the 
Halfday and Indian creeks and also near Meriden and Valley Falls. 
7. SHUNGANUNGA SHALE.— Base of the ‘‘ Wabaunsee’”’ formation of Professor 
Prosser. This stratum of shale varies from 10 inches to 10 feet in thickness and 
in color from a dark olive to a bluis: and even jet black. It is very fossiliferous 
in places. Localities same as previous stratum. Eastern extremity of this 
formation indicated on the plate by the line between the shaded and unshaded 
portions. The shaded portion is the Wabaunsee formation. 
_ *These names are-simply local references to the particular strata for convenience of students 
in this county, and no other importance should be attached to them. 
tIbid. See, also, Univ. Geol. Surv. Kan., Vol. 1, p. 161, and foot-note. 
{Third Biennial Report Kansas State Board Agriculture, 1881-’82, p. 585. _ 
