Gould — Geology of Indian Territory ', etc. 185 



Art. XI Y. — Notes on the Geology of Parts of the Seminole, 

 CreeJc, Cherokee and Osage Nations ; by Charles Newton 

 Gould. 



During the month of August, 1900, while engaged in the 

 Oklahoma Geological Survey, I was enabled to make a brief 

 reconnaissance of the northwestern part of the Indian Territory 

 and the Osage nation, Oklahoma. The trip was made by 

 wagon and occupied in all about two weeks. I was accom- 

 panied by Mr. Paul J. White, botanist to the survey, and Mr. 

 Roy Hadsell, general assistant. The route lay through Cleve- 

 land and Pottawotamie counties, Oklahoma, and the Seminole, 

 Creek, Cherokee and Osage nations. The chief towns through 

 which we passed were Shawnee, Keokuk Falls, Okmulgee, 

 Sapulpa, Tulsa and Pawhuska. 



The object of the trip was primarily to ascertain the general 

 geological features of the region, and particularly to locate the 

 eastern extremity of the Red-beds. Incidentally it was intended 

 to locate the position of the heavy ledges of limestone which 

 were supposed to extend southward from the Flint hills of 

 southern Kansas into the western part of the Creek nation. 



As is well known, the Flint hills or Permian mountains 

 extend north and south across Kansas, reaching their culmina- 

 tion in Cowley, Butler, Chautauqua, Elk and Greenwood coun- 

 ties in the southeastern part of the State. For the most part 

 these hills are composed of massive ledges of limestone con- 

 taining great quantities of flint in the form of nodular concre- 

 tions. Besides the limestones there are beds of green, blue and 

 reddish shales of considerable thickness. The entire series is 

 f ossiliferous. The fossils of the lower part of the hills indicate 

 that the rocks are of Upper Carboniferous age, while those 

 from the summit are Permian. The Cottonwood Falls lime- 

 stone, which lies near the point of division of these groups, is 

 located near the top of the Flint hills. 



Few ledges of sandstone are found except in the extreme 

 southern part of the State. In the vicinity of Dexter, Cowley 

 County, Kansas, a bed of arenaceous shale immediately beneath 

 the Strong flint (Prosser) changes into a ledge of light brown 

 sandstone. This ledge may be traced south past Maple City to 

 the State line, and thence down Beaver creek to the vicinity 

 of the Kaw agency. By this time, however, several other 

 ledges of sandstone have come in. The section of a hill at the 

 mouth of Beaver reveals the presence of six ledges of sand- 

 stone each from five to fifteen feet thick, alternating with 

 limestone and shale. 



This is intended to show that while the Flint hills in Kansas 

 consist almost entirely of limestones and shales, still on the 



