THE I'ERMIAN SYSTEM IN KANSAS. 43 



to many such local names as "the Red bank," "the Red 

 bluff," etc. Thus, for example, we have the so-called "Red 

 bank" on North Elk creek in the northeastern part of 

 Comanche county, southeast of Stokes hill; and on Bluff 

 creek, above Protection, is the 'Red bluff"* which gave 

 name to the former postoffice of Red Bluff, after which in 

 turn the Red Bluff beds are named. 



On the Medicine Lodge river, the Red Bluff beds con- 

 stitute the highest surviving formation of the Cimarron 

 series and occur as far west as Belvidere. At the latter 

 place, they are unconformably overlaid by the Che3'enne 

 sandstone, only the lower part, about lOO feet, of their thick- 

 ness being represented. On the Salt fork drainage, they 

 are seen in ravines of the upland slope a few miles south of 

 Deerhead, underlying sandy soils of probably Loup Fork 

 Tertiary origin. Thence they extend up the valley of Big 

 Mule creek to within a few miles of Wilmore, and that of 

 the Salt fork itself to the vicinity of Avilla. On the Cimar- 

 ron river, the location of the eastern border of the Red 

 Bluff outcrop is unknown to the writer, but it is at least 

 considerably southeast of the Panhandle line of the A. T. 

 vt S. F. railway, since the formation is beautifully exposed 

 along that line on the slope south of the river. Westward 

 on the Cimarron drainage, exposures of this formation ex- 

 tend to the lower part of Crooked creek in Meade county, 

 ascending the creek-valley to Odee. They are also seen 

 in the lower bluffs of Tainter's creek (also known as Cot- 

 tonwood canyon), a beautiful brook heading in the Neocene 

 sands south of the Cimarron, and entering the river a little 

 west of the mouth of Crooked creek. The RedBluft beds 

 are seen again at intervals on the Beaver in Oklahoma, but 

 in Beaver county, they are largely mantled with fresh-water 

 Neocene sediments. They are probably well developed on 



♦This bluff is illustrated in fifr. 18 of Professor Hay's Geological 

 Reconnaissance in Southwestern Kansas. Bulletin No. 57 of the 

 United States Geological Survey. 



