98 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
showed that they had belonged in the limestone stratum just above the coal; 
though that was nowhere in sight. The south bank of the creek at this point 
appears entirely of drift material. Boulders occur in the bank to a height of 15 
feet. One boulder about 16 inches in diameter was held bound between the roots 
of an elm tree nearly three feet in diameter, near the top of the bank. The 
height of that boulder above the bottom of the creek is a trifle over 15 feet. The 
tree is firmly rooted in the bank, and has not yet begun to topple over, oleeues 
several of its large roots are exposed. 
At another similar bend up the stream — call it the fifth —the creek cuts en- 
tirely through the moraine, and runs parallel with the moraine and partly on top 
of it for a distance of about 10 rods. Along this course the creek has cut forward 
into the original undisturbed strata south of the creek for an apparent depth into 
the bank of four to eight feet or more. The coal stratum, where not covered with 
talus, is here plain to be seen about 15 feet above the creek bottom. It is over- 
laid with a stratum of shale about 18 inches thick, and this is covered with a 
solid stratum of limestone 244 feet thick. This accounts for the blocks of lime- 
stone in the other bend below. The creek, in coming from the northwest, strikes 
the original bank at an acute angle, so that the drift portion of the bank thins 
out until it disappears, and the bank of native strata succeeds eastwardly. The 
bank here is vertical, slightly overhanging at a height of about 18 feet. The line 
of junction between the native and the drift portions of the bank is vertical, and 
can be distinctly seen from a height of 8 feet up to 20 feet. Here the drift bould- 
ers are jammed into the vertical face of the original bank, some of them so firmly 
that they still cling to the face of the native bank, though the supports have 
been removed by the creek. The front edge of the limestone stratum at this 
point is slightly lifted and the boulders and drift material jammed and wedged 
firmly in under it for about one or two feet. This illustrates the tremendous 
pressure that was exerted upon the drift material as it was being pushed from 
the north. The lower eight feet of the line of junction was not seen, being ob- 
scured by talus, and the time taken for examination did not admit of any digging. 
A few rods further up the creek, where the drift bank is exposed to the base, 
the drift material reaches down to the bed of the creek, and how much deeper is 
not known. 
At the sixth bend, the creek, after crossing the moraine to the south, does not 
run along the moraine, but has cut a new channel to a distance of about 15 rods 
into the original stratified earth, then turns and recrosses the moraine to the 
north. This portion of the creek was not examined. The length of the paved 
portion of the creek here is 45 paces. It is slightly diagonal across the moraine. 
At the upper end of the next bend the coal is just above the paved bed of the 
creek, and here it is worked. Herea straight cut-off comes from the bend further 
up. It passes on the north side of the moraine, and is parallel with it. This cut 
is about 150 feet long and 25 feet wide. It has vertical banks 20 feet high, ap- 
parently fresh, and its floor is naked limestone, about three feet higher than the 
bed of the creek. On the south side of the cut, boulders appear in the bank to a 
height of 10 feet; on the north side drift clay, small boulders, and pebbles, 
partly stratified, from the clean rock floor up to a height of eight feet, then 
mixed with prairie earth, gradually changing to clear prairie earth above. 
There are no glacial scratches on this floor, Possibly, if there ever were any, 
the overrunning water and pebbles have worn them away ; though the water does 
not run in the cut unless it is at least three feet deep in the creek above; other- 
wise, it runs around in the old channel. No effort was made to discover any 
scratches on that portion of the limestone floor that is covered with drift ; 
