110 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
the Saline and the Smoky, and new flood plains would finally have been formed 
along both streams, as already explained for the Smoky. No such conditions 
have been noticed along either stream. Further, the great elevation required 
for the Saline would have carried it across the uplands into the Solomon above 
Minneapolis. Neither does the character of the present valley between the 
mouth of the Saline and the mouth of the Solomon river appear to have been so 
recently a mere lateral to the Solomon. 
Third. If the materials of the Equus beds were brought down from the west 
by the Smoky Hill river, or by any other stream, or if the materials were largely 
of glacial origin, then they should correspond closely in character with the recent 
river sands or with the glacial material. Almost every handful of sand gathered 
from the Arkansas, the Smoky, or Saline, streams passing through the Tertiary 
of the west, is largely composed of feldspar gravels, and frequently fragments of 
other rock-forming minerals are seen. Likewise the sands of the lower Kansas 
river valley, which are so largely of glacial origin, have a great abundance of 
feldspar gravels. But the sands of these Equus beds, so far as examined by Doctor 
Grimsley, seem to have no feldspar whatever. This strongly implies that they 
were obtained directly from the Dakota sandstone, as that rock is almost, if not 
entirely, free from feldspar gravel, in this part of the state. 
At present it must be admitted that no satisfactory explanation of the Equus 
beds channel, nor the agency for the deposition of the materials, has been ad- 
vanced. A further study of the problems involved is in progress. 
Economic INTEREST. 
This strip of country is particularly fertile and very valuable farm land. Tho 
soil seems to possess nearly all the peculiarities necessary to the growth of the 
various farm products. It is so level that it can almost all be cultivated, the up- 
lands being about as good as the bottom lands. The water-supply is almost 
ideal. Over the entire eastern portion, at a depth of 18 to 30 feet, pure, soft 
water is found in good supply. The soft, arenaceous texture of the clay above 
the sand beds containing the water makes well-digging easy. Over the western 
portion the wells vary from 40 to 150 feet deep, but the water is always good, and 
there is an ‘‘inexhaustible’’ supply of it. The amount of water contained in 
this lower gravel bed of small extent is remarkable. A glance at section 4 will 
suggest that the supply may be traced, upon further investigation, to the Smoky 
Hill and Arkansas rivers. 
The streams have no timber on them worthy of note; but on the uplands and 
in the valleys cottonwoods and other trees thrive wherever planted, their roots pen- 
etrating the clay to the sand for water. This isin marked contrast to the country 
to the east, where the Permian shales are the country rock, and the cottonwoods 
grow to be fair-sized trees and then die. 
The rainfall is sufficient on this area to produce a fair crop almost every year. 
The area covers over 900 square miles, and may be said to be the richest farm 
' land of any area of its size in the state, and its inhabitants the most thrifty. 
