THE SANTA FE ROUTE. 35 
Near Garfield the Arkansas Valley is much narrower than at most 
other places, for a ridge of the upland encroaches from the northwest 
and the sand dunes on the southeast side of the river 
Garfield. rise rapidly to the broad plain which borders the 
oatcsratigr ag feet. valley on that side. Near Kinsley the ridge on the 
omg City 318 miles, North side of the valley trends somewhat northward 
and the flat widens to about 4 miles. 
At Kinsley, al for W. E. W. Kinsley, of Boston, the old main 
line of the Santa Fe by way of Great Bend is joined by the cut-off or 
Hutchinson branch, described on pages 28-30. West 
Kinsley. of Kinsley the railway continues its nearly direct 
eters kaise course west, diverging from the valley of the Arkansas, 
Causas City 332 mites 2nd thus avoiding the southward bend of the river. 
The ascent to the surface of the Great Plains? is so 
gradual as to be barely noticeable, for the valley slopes west of 
Kinsley are very gentle. 
At milepost 324, about a mile east of Offerle, is an 8-foot cut show- 
ing exposures of hiown loam with streaks of gravel, apparently a 
part of the deposit of Tertiary age which covers the 
ener. Great Plains. The eastern edge of this loam appears 
“pearance to pass downward toward the east under the higher 
i ' terrace deposits of the Arkansas Valley, which are of 
later age. Probably both lie on the Dakota sandstone. A short 
distance beyond milepost 329 are other small exposures of the 
gravelly loam in shallow railway cuts. 
West of Bellefont, between mileposts 331 and 332, and for half a 
mile west from milepost 332, are cuts in the brown 
menetont. sand containing white calcium carbonate concretions. 
—. 2,347 feet. Westward of these cuts the line gradually ascends 
ansas City 346 miles. - ‘ 
on a very smooth surface typical of the Great Plains. 
Spearville and Wright (see sheet 6, p. 40) are on 
Spearville. the plain, which reaches an altitude of 2,570 feet in 
Elevation 2,451 feet. the summit a short distance west of Wright. Beyond 
peeins ‘ miles, this point there is a down grade into the valley of the 
Arkansas, and the train passes through extensive 
Wright. cuts, beginning near milepost 347. Brown loams 
Elevation 2,516 feet. and fine sands of Tertiary age are exposed in these 
apa ct pes cuts, in some places to a depth of 10 feet. South of 
the railway, at a point half a mile beyond milepost 349, 
there are scattered exposures of a bed of white limestone a few feet 
1 The distances given in the side notes | distance by way of Topeka and the 
are those by the old main line. To get | Hutchinson branch can be ascertained by 
the distance traveled by way of the | deducting 15 miles 
Ottawa and Hutchinson cut-offs 30 miles ?The Great Plains, a part of which is 
mae be deducted from the figures given | crossed on the way to — are de- 
and stations beyond; the | scribed in the footnote on page 29. 
