2,2 The American Geologist. January. 1904. 
river, occurs in each instance in a sandstone of the same g-eo- 
logical age, just below the base of the upper Coal Measures. 
Tar springs occur near Rich hill and southwardly in Ver- 
non and Barton. Miners in Jasper county pick the tar from 
the ore and chew it like gum. 
The bituminous sandstones of southwest Missouri seem to 
have been rendered tougher by the presence of bitumen, and 
while we do not consider that there is oil sufficient in Missouri 
to search for, yet these rocks may become valuable as a paving 
material. 
Oil Zones. 
In America, bitumen occurs along a zone extending trom 
■Point Gaspe, Canada, to Nashville, Tennessee, and under an 
area, in the United States of more than 3100 square miles; also 
from lake Athabasca, southwardly through Nebraska, Kansas, 
Missouri, Indian Territory and Texas, being especially abund- 
ant in the northern and southern extension. It is found along 
the Mexican coast, and in Wyoming and Colorado on the east 
side of the Rocky mountains. In California it is well known 
from San Francisco to San Diego. It occurs from Havana, 
Cuba, through San Domingo, the Leeward and Windward 
islands to Trinidad, thence to Magdalena, South America, and 
to Cape Blanco, Peru ; along the Rhine valley and the Rhone : 
along the Apennines to southern Sicily, and east to the Adri- 
atic ; from Spain through Switzerland, the Balkans, Palestine 
and eastwardly ; from Hanover on the North sea through Gal- 
licia, the Caucasus and the Punjaub; from west China through 
Burmah to Sumatra and Java ; in Japan, and along the Au- 
stralian coast. 
Most of these oil zones are intimately connected with the 
direction of the chief mountain ranges of the world, and seem 
to be, apparently, along certain lines of weakness in the earth's 
crust. 
Some Remarkable Oil Districts. 
In the eastern part of Kansas there are manv gas wells, 
and but few strong oil wells. Wonderful gas flows have been 
known at Fort Scott, Ossawattomie, and lola, some also at 
Kansas City, Kansas, at Ellsworth, Emporia, Paola and Lew- 
isburgh. Gas wells also occur in Indiana. Ohio and the Ap- 
