116 THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 



are few beds of crystalline limestone in the Boone which are used 

 locally for bvii'.ding stone. In the vicinity of Grove, Delaware. 

 county, the basal bed which is about twenty feet thick has been 

 used for making lime. The Short creek oolite, a member of the 

 Boone which outcrops near Wyandotte, Ottawa county, is remark- 

 able for its purity, but, owing to the fact that it is only four to 

 ten feet thick and is usually covered by a great thickness of chert, 

 it will probably be used but little. 



In the country around Miami, Ottawa county, the dumps of the 

 lead and zinc mines supply an abundance of crushed rock for road 

 surfacing and concrete work. It is commonly known as "Joplin 

 chat." 



The triangular area bounded by I-enapah, Nowata, Tulsa, Ponca 

 City, and NcAvkirk, and by Kansas on the north is blessed with 

 man}' limestone outcrops, most of which supply fairly good material 

 for crushed rock, some of which, like the Dewey limestone at 

 Dewey, Washington county, are excellent for making Portland 

 cem.ent, but none of which so far as the writer knows, is suitable 

 for making lime. There are no very laige rock crushing plants in 

 the area, but small plants and portable rigs make crushed rock 

 available every where. 



The stone at Uncas, Ponca City, and Newkirk is too soft for 

 first class concrete material but is good enough for most kinds 

 of work. It n-akes a gocd building stone as any one may see by 

 noticing the buildings m those towns. 



In western Oklahoma, west of Oklahoma City, gypsum is the 

 most conspicuous building material. It has great potential import- 

 ance. When ground and calcined properly it makes our best wall 

 plaster. Calcined gypsum is a cement which can be used in mak- 

 ing building blocks or solid poured walls much as portland cement 

 is used. It can be prepared for a fraction of the cost of portland 

 cement, and, though it has neither the strength nor the excellent 

 weather resisting properties of portland cement, it is a good m.a- 

 terial for all inside construction above ground. It is particularly 

 useful where a light-weight fireproof material is needed. It has 

 been used with cinders for making outside walls at the plaster 

 plant of the Oklahoma Portland Cement Company near Homestead, 

 Blaine county. After about twelve years it is only slightly pitted. 

 Where it has been protected by a wash of portland cement and 

 water it has suffered practically no weathering. There are at 

 present four gypsum mills in Oklahoma. Those that have been 

 visited by the writer report that the demnd is good. 



There is but one. lime plant operating in Oklahoma, and much 



