g8 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 
the southern border of the state, and the lmestones succeed each 
other at short intervals, so that the platforms are not very wide 
and their surfaces are generally undulating. West of the lola 
escarpment and the Carlyle which blends with the former, lies an 
area which is more diversified, due to the manner in which erosion 
has acted upon the heavy beds of sandstone which are present as 
the equivalent of the Le Roy Shales* further north. North of the 
Neosho river sandstones are represented but sparingly in the 
Le Roy shales, but south of the river they gradually displace the 
shales, until in Chautauqua county they are everywhere predomi- 
nant. From their exposure here they are named the Chautauqua 
sandstones.t At Yates Center they become conspicuous, producing 
the hills upon which the town is built. From here the area 
broadens to the south, its eastern border passing west of Buffalo, 
Fredonia and Tyro, while its western border runs approximately 
from Yates Center to Toronto, Fall River, Elk Falls, Sedan and 
Elgin. The area will here be described under the geographical 
name of the Chautauqua Sandstone Hills. These hills are as 
characteristic a feature of the southwest part of the state as are 
the Flint Hills,t and I here propose the name as one best appii- 
cable since it is already employed somewhat in common usage for 
a portion of the area. The surface is intersected by many small 
streams, which have deep valleys. The Verdegris, Fall and Elk 
rivers cross it, occupying narrow, deep channels, which are down 
to base level except along the western portion. The valleys of 
these rivers are narrow and walled in by bluffs, which show heavy 
sandstones as their protecting element. The low hills which are 
the prominent feature of the area are usually covered with a growth 
of jack-oaks. The sandy soil is seemingly adapted to their 
growth, for where the limestone areas are approached the oak 
timber begins to disappear. There are some small areas outside 
of the Chautauqua platform which have a similar growth of timber, 
as west of Thayer and south of Independence along the west bluff 
of the Verdegris, where the Thayer shales, || which lhe between the 
Independence and Iola limestones, carry a great deal of sandstone. 
Although the Chautauqua sandstone hills are nowhere very high, 
the difference in elevation over the entire surface being nowhere 
greater than 250 feet, yet they make traveling difficult because of 
the rocks which wear to the surface on the slopes, and the sand 
*Haworth and Kirk, Kansas Univ. Quart., Vol. IT. p. 110. 
+Name here proposed. 
tAdams, Kansas Univ. Sur., Vol. I, Chap. 1. 
| Haworth. Kansas Univ. Geol. Sur., Vol. I, p. 157. see foot note. 
