DIGEST OF STATE REPORTS. 377 



Marais clu Cygne, Delaware, and Nemaha Rivers are all fine, full-flowing streams, 

 and nearly all of them afibrd excellent water-powers. The Kansas River is dammed 

 at Lawrence ; the Blue, at Manhattan, Blue Rapids, Waterville, and Marysville ; the 

 Neosho, at Burlington, Neosho Falls, Le Roy, Humboldt, Oswego, and several other 

 points ; and the Delaware, at Valley Falls. The water-powers atibrded by the Blue, 

 Neosho, Solomon, Republican, Cottonwood, Delaware, Marais du Cygne, and several 

 other streams, are unexcelled in the West. The rivers and creeks of Kansas, both 

 large and small, are more generally bridged than is common in new States. Many of 

 these bridges are substantial iron structures resting on stone abutments and piers. 



In an article on the geology of Kansas, Prof. B. F. Mudge speaks as 

 follows of the area, latitude, and soil : 



The State of Kansas is about four hundred miles long, from east to west, and about 

 two hundred miles (three degrees) in width, from north to south. Its average altitude 

 above the level of the ocean, based on the " List of Elevations," by Henry Gannett, 

 one of Hayden's reports connected with the United States geological survey, is not far 

 from 2,375'feet. The lowest point is at the junction of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers, 

 and is 750 feet. The highest is in Cheyenne County, about 4,000 feet. The altitude of 

 Monotony Station of the Kansas Pacific Railway, on the west line of the State, is 3,792 

 feet. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa FtS Railway station at Syracuse, Arkansas 

 Valley, near the line of Colorado, is 3,425 feet. Though, theoretically, this altitude 

 would give a cooler climate than that of States in the same latitude farther east, on a 

 lower level, yet the records of the temperature kept at the various forts and other 

 points within our State show that the climate does not differ from other places in the 

 same latitude. 



By an inspection of a map of the State, it will be seen that the rivers diain the 

 country in a southerly and easterly direction. As there is not a fall on any of these 

 streams 7 feet in height, the descent is very gradual, averaging 7^ feet to the mile. 

 The surface for the most part is a gentle rolling prairie, with few steep hills or bluffs. 

 Even where the rivers have rapids, a mill-dam can seldom give a fall of more than 10 

 feet. 



The soil of both valley and high prairie is the same fine, black, rich loam, so common in 

 the Western States. On the high prairie it is from 1 to 3 feet deep, but in the bottoms 

 it is sometimes 20 feet. A few exceptions to this general rule of fertility exist in the 

 extreme western and southwestern counties, but they constitute but a small proportion 

 of the whole. The State is so well drained that there are very few valleys with stag- 

 nant pools, and there is not a peat-swamp of 50 acres within its boundaries. 



The following facts relating to the economical geology of the State are 

 gleaned from the same article : Limestone is the most abundant and best 

 building-material in the State. It is found in all the formations, except 

 the Pliocene and the lower part of the Dakota. The limestones of all 

 the Carboniferous divisions furnish a great variety of good building- 

 material of all degrees of hardness and shades of color. That known as 

 junction-stone has been used extensively. It is soft, and can be sawed 

 with a common saw and smoothed with a carpenter's plane, and is yet 

 firm enough to be durable. The limestones from Manhattan, Atchison, 

 Leavenworth, Lawrence, Fort Scott, Florence, &c., are also noted as 

 affording excellent building-material. Some of the limestones take a 

 good polish, and are used as marbles. The sandstone of the Dakota 

 group is usually some shade of brown. It is of all degrees of hardness, 

 from that which crumbles between the fingers to that which turns the 

 edge of the best cold-chisel. 



Hydraulic limestone, suitable for the manufacture of water-cement, is 

 found near Fort Scott, Leavenworth, and Lawrence, and probably exists 

 at many other places. Gypsum (sulphate of lime) is found in many 

 places. While Kansas is relying for its suijply of salt on Kew Tork, 

 Michigan, and other States, there is an abundance of that article within 

 its limits, sufficient, if well developed, to meet the demands of the whole 

 valley of the Mississippi. Small deposits occur in various places, and 

 brines have sometimes been struck in wells dug for fresh water, also in 

 boring for coal. Several of these have been made useful in manufact- 

 uring salt for the local demand. A very large deposit of crystallized 

 salt exists south of the great bend of the Arkansas Eiver. 



