10 GUIDEBOOK OF THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. 
The gentle northwesterly dip which prevails in eastern Kansas 
brings the Iola limestone almost to river level at De Soto. The south 
abutment of a bridge across the river here rests on this limestone, 
which shows for a short distance in the bank and finally passes 
beneath the alluvial filling of the river flats. About 8 miles farther 
west, the next overlying limestones (the Stanton and Plattsburg) 
in turn pass beneath the river flat near Eudora. As the formation 
above them is soft, easily eroded shale, the bluffs along the valley 
sides here greatly diminish in height and steepness. 
Eudora was named after the daughter of a Kansa chief, Pascal 
Fish, from whom the site was purchased. Here the railway crosses 
the mouth of Wakarusa Creek, which occupies a wide 
Eudora. valley extending far westward. This valley is wide 
— Sis feet. mainly because it has been excavated by a good-sized 
phccomey City 33 miles, Stream in a thick body of soft shales but also because 
at one time, probably during the glacial epoch, it 
served as a channel for Kansas River. Since that time, however, all 
the valleys of the region have been cut about 100 feet deeper. 
Another old channel of Kansas River extends across the wide bench 
on the north side of the present valley, 4 miles south of Eudora, 
about 150 feet above the river. This channel, however, is older than 
the one in Wakarusa Valley, for it is higher and the coarser materials 
in it are largely flint of local origin. This channel is believed to be 
preglacial, because its deposits show none of the rocks of northern 
origin which were later spread over this region by the glacier. 
The flat at the junction of the Wakarusa and Kansas valleys is 
. wide and shows terraces of moderate height, which extend some dis- 
tance west of Eudora. The railway passes over this flat, and in 
places, as at milepost 23, its course is 2 miles south of Kansas 
River. 
The wide flats along Kansas River contain a thick mass of sand 
and loam deposited by the river. This material affords excellent 
soil at most localities, and from Kansas City to and beyond Topeka 
it is cultivated for corn, vegetables, and other crops, which are highly 
profitable. Unfortunately some parts of this land are not out of the 
reach of ordinary freshets, and a large area is subject to flood and 
damage when the river is exceptionally high. Heavy freshets, how- 
ever, are so rare that many farmers take the chances of damage by 
high water. 
From points not far beyond Eudora the highlands south of the — . 
river are visible. Their prominence is due to a thick cap of hard, 
massive limestone which protects the soft underlying shale from 
erosion. One high butte known as Blue Mound, 5 miles southwest 
