GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 443 



line of the Appalachian, or more densely- wooded, province, is subdivided 

 into several regions, two of which, the Dakota and the Comanche, 

 divided by the thirty-eighth parallel, stretch from the ninety-seventh 

 meridian to the Eocky Mountains. 



The general course of the Kansas Pacific Eailway is on the thirty- 

 ninth parallel, and in the "Dakota region" of Professor Cooper; but 

 the country traversed partakes of the character of both regions at 

 least as far southward as the Arkansas. 



That portion of the State of Kansas east of the ninety- seventh merid- 

 ian (which crosses the railway near Abilene) is so well known and estab- 

 lished as a domain of great natural resources, arable and pastoral, that 

 extended remarks on it are unnecessary. Near Abilene, eastward, we 

 find the permian rocks in the bluffs of the Smoky Hill Eiver and other 

 streams. These rocks are overlaid by a soil of great fertility, more or 

 less arenaceous, but similar to the loess or bluff deposits further east. 

 Near Topeka the upper carboniferous rocks are on and near the sur- 

 face — the line of separation between these and the permian not very 

 distinctly defined. The carboniferous series extend to and across the 

 Missouri Eiver. The formations are so generally covered with earths 

 of productive character that no rocky districts of meager fertility are 

 found near the line of the railway. No swamps or unproductive areas 

 impair the healthfulness of the country, or affect its capacity to sustain 

 life. Water is abundant — generally of excellent quality ; timber is 

 plentiful in many localities ; and coal is known to be obtainable over 

 thousands of square miles. This notice of the country along 162 miles 

 of the railway, from Abilene east to State line, is given in order that 

 we may have in a single view the entire line of the railway from State 

 line to Denver. 



WEST QF NINETY- SEVENTH MERIDIAN. 



The track at Abilene is 1,057 feet above the level of the sea. In 53 

 miles westward, at Summit Siding, (2£ miles east of Fort Harker,) the 

 railway track rises to 1,556 feet, or 499 feet higher than at Abilene — an 

 average of nearly 10 feet to the mile. This elevation is on a part of the 

 road which cuts off a bend of the Smoky Hill Eiver. At Ellsworth, 60 

 miles from Abilene, the track is again in the vale of the Smoky, and is 

 1,440 feet above the sea — 116 less elevation than at Summit Siding, and 

 383 greater than at Abilene. From Abilene to Black Wolf, 10 miles 

 west of Ellsworth, we have a sandy soil on the uplands, nourishing a 

 rich growth of grass, and productive under the plow ; in the bottoms a 

 darker loam, containing more clay as a general rule, but having all the 

 elements of permanent fertility. Eocks appear in the bluffs and banks 

 of streams; also in limited areas on the surface of the uplands west of 

 Salina, and in picturesque buttes, ledges, and crests between Brookville 

 and Fort Harker. 



The geological age of the country from Abilene to Black Wolf has 

 not been very positively defined by any geologist whom I have read. I 

 take it to be triassic, merging on its western border between Black 

 Wolf and Wilson Station into " Cretaceous No. 1 " of your classification, 

 which, in the highlands north of Wilson and in the bluffs of the Smoky, 

 south, appears to me to be very distinctly overlaid by your "Cretaceous 

 No. 2." The decomposition of the triassic rocks, clays, and shales west 

 of Abilene has left a kindly soil for the plow, except in the limited areas 

 where too rocky for arable uses ; and in these the native vegetation 

 affords excellent pasturage, and promises well for tree culture in the 



