3o8 The American Geologist. May, l!^9lt 
southward. This statement is manifestly Httle more than a 
happy guess. It was only very recently demonstrated beyond 
doubt that the limestone so well exposed at the first mentioned 
locality and the one in the top of the blufTs at St. Joseph are 
the same. As Swallow, in the same sentence referred to, made 
three other and very distinct limestones continuous with this 
one it is safe to conclude that he merely surmised the connec- 
tion between the limestones of all four localities. 
In the recent geological work done in Kansas there has 
come to be widely recognized through the eastern part of the 
state a conspicuous limestone which has been named, after the 
hill on which the Kansas State University stands, the Oread 
limestone. It appears to be identical with the Plattsmouth 
limestone of Nebraska and Iowa. The name Oread was first 
used by Haworth, in 1894. At a subsequent date it was ex- 
tended so as to include two limestones separated by 23 feet of 
shale. Its wide extent in Kansas was recognized, and it was 
correlated with the Plattsburg limestone of Missouri, a view 
now known to be erroneous. Subsequently Bennett traced the 
Oread north from Leavenworth nearly to Iowa Point, and re- 
garded it as probably equivalent to Broadhead's No. 150. 
This is now correlated with the Plattsmouth. 
The thickness of the Plattsmouth limestone may be placed 
at about 30 feet. 
Platte Shales. In the Nebraska sections along the Missouri 
river, there appear above the Plattsmouth limestone over ico 
feet of shales to which the term Platte may be appropriately 
applied. The name was first used by Meek, who called the 
rocks ej^posed from Omaha to Nebraska City the "Platte di- 
vision, from its development in the vicinity of the mouth of 
the Platte river, where the various outcrops seem to exhibit 
a thickness between 200 and 300 feet." This embraces all of 
the shales from the upper limestone, — the first important lime- 
stone (Forbes limestone, or bed B of Meek's section) above 
the Plattsmouth,— the latter, and some 25 feet of shales below. 
The Plattsmouth limestone forming a w^ell defined member by 
itself the name Platte is retained for the major part of the 
"division," or the shales. 
The Platte shales are also well exposed in Missouri and 
Kansas between St. Joseph and Forest City. They extend up 
