A CHAT WITH PROF. COPE. 339 



the Cretaceous Strata of Kansas." Let us begin 

 with " Part I — A General Sketch of the Ancient 

 Life." 



That vast level tract of our territory lying between 

 Missouri and the Rocky Mountains represents a con- 

 dition of the earth's surface which has preceded, in 

 most instances, the mountainous or hilly type so prev- 

 alent elsewhere, and may be called, in so far, incom- 

 pletely dev^eloped. It does not present the variety 

 of conditions, either of surface for the support of a 

 very varied life, or of opportunities for access to its 

 interior treasures, so beneficial to a high civilization. 



It is, in fact, the old bed of seas and lakes, which 

 has been so gradually elevated as to have suffered 

 little disturbance. Consistently with its level surface, 

 its soils have not been carried away by rain and 

 flood, but rather cover it with a deep and wide- 

 spread mantle. This is the great source of its wealth 

 in Nature's creations of vegetable and animal life, 

 and from it will be drawn the wealth of its future in- 

 habitants. On this account its products have a 

 character of uniformity; but viewed from the stand- 

 point of the political philosopher, so long as peace 

 and steam bind the natural sections of our country 

 together, so long will the plains be an important ele- 

 ment in a varied economv of continental extent. 



But they are not entirely uninterrupted. The nat- 

 ural drainage has worn channels, and the streams 

 flow below the general level. The ancient sea and 

 lake deposits have neither been pressed into very 

 hard rock beneath piles of later sediment, nor have 



