OF THE UPPER MISSOURI. 
41 
In ascending the hills back of Leavenworth city we observed no outcrops of rock along 
the slopes until near the summit, where at an (estimated) elevation of about two hundred 
feet above the highest bed of the section at the river, there is an exposure of hard bluish 
gray impure limestone, weathering to a yellowish tinge, the beds of which are separated 
at places by partings of clay. Of this rock we saw a thickness of sixteen feet. It is much 
used for building purposes, and quarried rather extensively back of Fort Leavenworth. 
At one of these quarries, amongst the loose material thrown out by the workmen, we found 
specimens of Spirifer cameratus, A. Kentuchensis, S. planoconvexci, S. hemiplicata, Spirigera 
subtil ita, Procluctus semireticula tits, P. Norwoodii, Leptodomus TopeJcciensis, Fusulina cylin¬ 
drica, Terebratula millepunctata , and fragments of Grinoids, with Chcetetes and Fenestella 
of undetermined species. 
Above the quarry there is a slope of some forty or more feet to the summit of the hills, 
apparently occupied by clays; and the qnarrymen informed us that there is immediately 
under the bed of limestone an eight feet bed of clay, beneath which they had made no 
excavations. 
West of this locality the surface of the country soon descends gradually into a depression 
connected on the north with the valley of a small stream flowing into the Missouri above 
Fort Leavenworth. In this immediate neighborhood the face of the country is slightly 
inclined to be hilly, but the soil is rich, and the long gentle slopes are clothed in the spring 
and summer months with a luxuriant growth of prairie grass. From several points near 
here we had a fine view of the broad rich valley, with its beautiful groves and scattering 
farmhouses along the little stream to the north of ns. 
Beyond this the road, after passing over some undulations, ascends to the summit of the 
country, which is rich elevated prairie land. At several places near the upper part of the 
slopes, some five or six miles from Leavenworth, we met with outcrops of light gray lime¬ 
stone, apparently in ten to twelve inch layers, containing Fusulina, Product us semireticu- 
latus, Chcctctes, and small Cyathophylloid corals. These beds probably belong to the same 
horizon as the limestone near the top of the bluffs back of Leavenworth, or may even hold 
a higher position. 
At Big Stranger creek, some fourteen or fifteen miles west of Leavenworth city, the 
following section was observed in descending order: 
Feet. 
1. Slope, without any exposure of rocks, ............ 60 
2. Layers of limestone, weathering yellowish, containing Spirifer cameratus and Fusulina cylindrica, . 8 
3. Slope, probably occupied by shale or clay, ............ 40 
4. Grayish yellow limestone, with Fusulina cylindrica and Spirigera suhtilita, ...... 5 
5. Bluish gray soft shale, or laminated clay with occasional harder sandy seams, . . . . .38 
6. Coal immediately overlaid by one inch of cone-in-cone, . . . . . . ... . i 
7. Bluish gray laminated clay or soft shale, extending down to the creek, ....... 18 
VOL. XII.—6 
