GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 447 



perhaps at intervals of 50 miles along the railway west of Topeka. If 

 the dip of the carboniferous series is really to the west or northwest, 

 as generally held, the depth of the coal as far west as Abilene or Brook - 

 ville may be too great for working until a greater demand shall grow 

 up. A drill at Wamego, 100 miles west of Leavenworth City, could, at 

 a cost of a few thousand dollars, tell us whether the veins of the Leav- 

 enworth shaft are persistent westward at a depth not beyond useful- 

 ness. 



The coal found in the bluffs of the Smoky Hill Eiver, opposite Wil- 

 son Station, though very recent, can hardly be classed as "ligirite," if 

 to be lignite it is necessary that wood should have contributed to its 

 formation. The material is rather a carbonaceous or bituminous earth, 

 in layers of one to three feet in thickness, with earthy partings, and 

 breaking in cubical fragments, having the external characters of coal. 

 It is used, with advantage as domestic fuel ; and, with changes in the 

 grates and fire-boxes, could be made available in locomotives; while for 

 stationary engines it will no doubt be extensively used as the country 

 becomes more densely settled. 



A coal said to be of better quality, but probably of similar origin and 

 characteristics, is found in the bluffs of the Smoky, near the mouth of 

 Big Creek, east of Fort Hays. A similar deposit is known near the 

 town of Ellsworth. In boring for water at Bunker Hill Station, 12 miles 

 west of Wilson, a stratum of two or three feet in thickness was drilled 

 through, at a depth giving it a geological position similar to that of the 

 coal opposite Wilson, which seems to be in the lower beds of your Cre- 

 taceous No. 2, or the upper of your No. 1. North of Wilson, in ravines 

 leading to Saline River, I have found similar coal in small quantity, in 

 position apparently identical with that in the bluffs south of Wilson. 



When one particular stratum (or a limited series of beds) was in pro- 

 cess of growth, there seems to have been deposited over a large area, in 

 layers more or less continuous, combustible matter now mined as coal, 

 and of much prospective usefulness as fuel. How far westward beyond 

 the mouth of Big Creek, and how far northward op southward from the 

 bluffs at Wilson this mineral fuel may in the future be discovered, can- 

 not now be safely conjectured ; but enough is known to justify the belief 

 that it will play an important part in the development of an extended 

 region, not only as domestic fuel, but also in the propulsion of machinery. 



Borings at Ellis, near the one hundredth meridian, would, probably, in 

 less than 300 feet, penetrate strata of the same age with the coal strata 

 at Wilson, and in due time it is likely that examinations will be made. 

 West of that point the strata are gradually covered to depths that will 

 perhaps render this particular eoal unavailable for many years. But if 

 we have a store of fuel only so far west as Ellis, we are provided with 

 this essential article for about three-fourths the length of the State of 

 Kansas from east to west ; and the western fourth of the State can, at 

 a moderate cost, be supplied from the beds spoken of, or, if need be, from 

 the mines near Cedar Point, about the one hundred and fourth meridian. 

 Should all other sources of supply fail, we can (in this most improbable 

 contingency) rely on the exhaustless stores of the mountains, already 

 reached by rail. In any event, abundant fuel is available at all points 

 on the line of this railway for the use of settlers in the woodless region. 

 As the demand increases, and mining and transporting arrangements 

 become more perfect, the cost will be so reduced as to meet the ability 

 of all to purchase. Nature and art have thus already provided fuel for 

 human uses on the Plains until forests can be grown, if desirable, to 

 supply it. 



