sree ESE 
GRIMSLEY: GYPSUM IN KANSAS. Ly 
pear to be separate, but careful mapping shows a number of isolated 
intermediate deposits which serve to connect at least two of the 
larger areas. Gypsum is reported from near Randolph and in the 
reservoir excavation at Manhattan in Riley county. It is worked 
for plaster at Longford in the southern part of Clay county, and it 
is found near Manchester in the northern part of Dickinson county. 
These smaller areas indicate a connection between the northern 
and central areas. 
Gypsum deposits of economic importance are reported from near 
Peabody in Marion county, while they appear to be absent through 
Reno, Sedgwick and Kingman counties, where the extensive salt 
deposits occur. There is thus a break between the central and 
southern areas which is occupied by salt deposits. 
GEOLOGY. 
The northern area is located in the Permian. beds, consisting of 
fossiliferous limestones and shales. ‘The central area lies in the 
Permian, though higher than the northern, while the salt measures 
to the south occur, near the top of the Permian. » The southern 
Kansas gypsum is found in a series of red, sandy shales, called the 
Red Beds, which probably mark the transition from Permian to 
Cretaceous. The deposits, therefore, rise geologically from north 
to south, but they are confined to the Permian formation. The de- 
posits to the south in Indian Territory and’ Texas are placed in the 
Permian, while those at the north in Iowa are referred to. the 
Cretaceous, 
‘TOPOGRAPHY. 
The northern area shows the remnant of a plateau of 1250 feet 
elevation now indented by the Blue rivers and their tributaries, 
yielding a somewhat rugged topography. (This is shown in plate 
III from photograph at Manhattan with Blue river on right.) The 
central area lies seventy miles southwest of Blue Rapids, The 
area is drained by the Smoky Hill river, which flows in an extremely 
irregular or winding channel north of east, uniting with the Repub- 
lican river at Junction City, thirty miles away, to form the Kansas. 
It flows in the middle of a broad valley 1100 feet above sea level 
and a mile or more in width. Its tributaries in the gypsum area 
are three or four small creeks—-Gypsum, Holland and Turkey 
Which flow almost directly north. The main water-shed lies 
twenty-two miles to the south of the river, and trends nearly east 
and west, with an elevation of 1500 to 1550 feet. This descends on 
the south side Within eight miles to 1400 feet at the Cottonwood 
river. The divides between the north flowing creeks have a gradual 
