THE PERMIAN SYSTEM IN KANSAS. 2g 



As seen at their eastern border about six miles south- 

 west of Medicine Lodge, the foundations of the Gypsum 

 hills are laid in Cedar Hills sandstone, theii* walls are reared 

 in the variegated sediments of the Flower-pot shales, and 

 they have, as coping, a massive bed of gypsum to which 

 the stratigraphic name. Medicine Lodge gypsum, is here 

 given, in double allusion to its overlooking the valley of the 

 Medicine Lodge river for many miles and to its prominent 

 position opposite the picturesque county-seat of Medicine 

 Lodge, in which was established the first mill to make large 

 commercial use of this gypsum. 



For a considerable distance alon<j the Medicine Lodire 

 river, the Salt fork, l^ig Mule creek, and the Cimarron 

 river, the outcrop of the Medicine Lodge gypsum is promi- 

 nent and practically continuous. It is usually best displayed 

 on the south side, owing to the fact that here, as generally 

 on the Plains, easterly-flowing streams, while planing down 

 to base-level, are shifting to the south, then* valleys conse- 

 quently having a short and steep slope with bold bluffs and 

 deep canyons as prevailing topographic features on the 

 south side, and a long, more or less alluvium-laden slope 

 with less rugged relief on the north. The Medicine Lodge 

 gypsum, however, is itself conducive to rugged surface- 

 features, and even on the north side of these streams the 

 exposures of the gypsum are sometimes conspicuous. The 

 best of these north-side exposures are seen on southward- 

 running branches, such as Mulberry creek of the Medicine 

 Lodge river drainage east of Sun City, and Cave creek of 

 the Salt fork drainage west of Evansville. 



The Medicine Lodge gypsum is seen on the Medicine 

 Lodge river from the eastern border of the Gypsum hills 

 to a point about four miles southeast of J3elvidere, where it 

 disappears beneath the Dog Creek and Red Bluff formations 

 of the Kiger division in the floor of the river-valley. On 

 the Salt fork, it extends from the eastern extremity of the 

 high bluffs capped by it a few miles southeast of ^tna, 



