Creek, Cherokee and Osage Nations. 187 



Ingalls, as shown above, there is a fifty foot ledge of red clay 

 which may not be distinguished from typical Red-beds clay, 

 below the thickest limestone ledge in the region. On the State 

 line there are several hundred feet of blue and green shales 

 between the upper limestone and the base of the Red-beds. 



In general, however, it may be observed that in going east- 

 ward from a Red-beds region toward the Carboniferous the 

 sandstones and shales, which have been of a deep brick-red color, 

 become more and more brownish and grayish, and finally lose 

 entirely their characteristic hue and take on that of the older 

 formations. The lithology changes also, but so gradually that 

 it is impracticable if not impossible to fix any but an arbitrary 

 line of separation between the two groups. 



With these facts in mind the reconnaissance was undertaken. 

 In the absence of evidence to the contrary it was assumed that 

 the limestones forming the southern extension of the Flint 

 hills extended as far south as the Seminole nation. The plan, 

 then, was to go east from Norman, Oklahoma, until these lime- 

 stone ledges were encountered and then to follow them north- 

 ward to the Kansas line. This object was not accomplished 

 for the reason that on the eastern trip no limestones were 

 found. As will be shown later, the only time when the party 

 encountered the Flint hills was in the Osage nation, on the 

 road from Pawhuska to Winfield. While the trip extended 

 much farther east than had been planned, still this fact need 

 not be regarded as an unmixed evil inasmuch as it enabled us 

 to visit a region the geology of which has not been well under- 

 stood. 



From Norman to Shawnee the rock is prevailingly red. 

 About the west line of the Seminole country the sandstones 

 begin to lose their red color and are usually brown or even 

 light gray. These ledges are frequently quite pronounced and 

 in many localities form prominent escarpments or even hills of 

 considerable size. Keokuk Falls of the North Canadian, on 

 the north line of the Seminole reservation, is formed by one of 

 these ledges. From Keokuk Falls to Okmulgee, a distance of 

 fifty miles, only sandstones and shales appear. The sandstone 

 ledges are often many feet thick and dip slightly to the west 

 or southwest. The peculiar " stair-step arrangement " so notice- 

 able in the Carboniferous of Kansas is observed throughout the 

 region. Prominent ledges appear to the east as the escarpment 

 of a bluff or hill. To the west these dip lower and lower and 

 finally disappear beneath the bed of a stream, while they are 

 succeeded above by other ledges. 



These sandstones are not barren of fossils ; the more common 

 Carboniferous types being abundant in certain localities. Beds 

 of coal are reported from the vicinity of Okmulgee. At Henry- 



