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18 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 
slope of about twenty feet to the mile and their sides are deeply 
indented by erosion. They vary in height above the creek level 
from 100 to 150 feet. The effect is that of a dissected plateau with 
irregular surface. A number of small towns are situated along the 
railroads in the central part of the area, while larger cities are lo- 
cated on the river. 
The southern area is situated 120 miles southwest of Gypsum 
City. The northern part is drained by the Medicine Lodge river, 
which rises in Kiowa county and flows southeast to Medicine 
Lodge, where it abruptly turns south and flows into Oklahoma; 
there it empties into the Salt Fork of the Arkansas river. The 
southern part is drained by the Nescatunga and its branches. The 
streams have cut deep channels or canyons in the soft strata which 
reach 200 feet in depth. The water shed between the two rivers 
is broad in Comanche county, with an elevation of 2200 feet; but 
it rapidly narrows to the southeast in Barber county, where its 
elevation is 2000 feet, descending to 1600 feet in the valley of the 
Medicine Lodge river within adistance of seven miles. The water- 
shed trends parallel with this river and turns south near the central 
part of Barber county, still parallel with the river. This region, 
with its gypsum capped buttes of red clay and shale, possesses a 
very rugged topography and gives evidence of great erosion. 
These features are well shown in the photograph of Flower Pot 
Mound shown in Plate IV; and also in the photograph of the 
Gypsum Hills, near the town of Medicine Lodge, shown in 
Plate V. 
BLUE RAPIDS AREA. 
The first gypsum deposits worked within the state of Kansas 
were in the northern or Blue Rapids area. In November, 1869, 
the commissioners laid out the site for the town of Blue Rapids. 
They carefully investigated the natural resources of the region and 
recognized the value of the water power of the Blue, and also the 
value of the gypsum deposits which had been known for some time 
to exist on the Big Blue about two miles northwest of the town. 
On selling their various properties they made a reservation along 
the Blue of 100 rods, including the known outcrop of the beds and 
extending back from the river for a distance of 320 feet. 
About the year 1871 Mr. J. V. Coon, of Elyria, Ohio, came to 
the new town, and, as the story goes, he burned some of the gyp- 
sum and carried it back to Cleveland, where it was pronounced to 
be of good quality and two car loads were ordered at a good price. 
He and a brother returned to Blue Rapids in 1872 and built a 
