E. Haworth — Deformation of Strata in Kansas. 371 



Wilburn and the southwestern direction for nearly twenty 

 miles across a plain sloping to the southeast are certainly very 

 remarkable, and probably have a cause different from that 

 which ordinarily determines the location and direction of a 

 stream. But if in post-Tertiary times a triangular area equal- 

 ling in size and position the present artesian area could have 

 dropped a hundred feet or more with a single fanlt line extend- 

 ing southward to beyond the limits of Kansas, thereby chang- 

 ing the direction of Crooked Creek into the present channel 

 below Wilburn, the general physiographic conditions could 

 easily be accounted for. 



It should be added that there is a chain of wet-weather lakes 

 reaching eastward from Wilburn to the north of Minneola 

 which may represent the former channel of the eastward exten- 

 sion of Crooked Creek. An examination of the country lends 

 more color to this view than can be gained from thelJ. S. topo- 

 graphic sheets, for the twenty-foot contour lines often fail to 

 represent physiographic conditions of great importance in such 

 studies as these. 



Other lesser disturbances have occurred in this locality. 

 About one and a half miles south of Meade, on the eastern bluff 

 of Crooked Creek a sink hole a hundred feet across, thirty or 

 more feet deep, and almost circular in form was formed, tradi- 

 tion has it, less than thirty years ago. It is reported that a 

 trail formerly passed directly over the sink hole. A very 

 strong brine now tills the bottom of the hole, the salt probably 

 having been obtained from the adjoining Tertiary clays, which 

 are perceptibly saline. It would seem that this is an ordinary 

 sink hole caused by portions of the sub-surface materials having 

 been carried away by solution. 



A few miles to the southeast of this area in western Clark 

 county other indications of local disturbances are found. A 

 broad and level valley more than a mile across and nearly cir- 

 cular in outline seems to have been dropped vertically for 

 about a hundred and fifty feet. This is locally called the great 

 basin. On the east of it a hundred yards is a similar valley a 

 fourth as large, which likewise seems to have been dropped a 

 like distance. In the northern part of this latter valley a sink 

 hole about seventy-iive feet across now holds fresh water with 

 a maximum depth of twenty-seven feet. This is locally called 

 St. Jacob's well, and is so marked on the U. S. topographic 

 sheets. 



These two areas are so large that it is difficult to understand 

 how they can be classed as ordinary sink holes, as the Meade 

 salt well may be. Their origin should be looked upon as due 

 to some greater movements, possibly similar in character to 

 that which produced the artesian valley near Meade, although 

 no connecting fault has yet been located. 



