58 
ON THE GEOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY 
mouth of Chapman’s creek from Ogden is considerably south of west, it is probable the 
inclination of the strata here is greater than the above figures would indicate, and that it 
may not be less than twenty feet to the mile, in a northwest direction. 
From the foregoing statements it will be seen that in consequence of the dip of the 
strata to the northwest, and in some slight degree to the fall of the Kansas and Smoky 
Hill rivers, the whole of the foregoing general section below No. 12 passes beneath the 
level of the Smoky Hill, between the mouth of Blue river and Chapman’s creek. Conse¬ 
quently, the limestones of the succeeding beds above being thinner and less durable than 
those below, and separated by heavy beds of clay, wc find, as might be expected, that the 
country here in the region of the mouth of Chapman’s creek, is much lower than at Fort 
Riley and below. 
On reaching the mouth of Solomon’s fork, we found the face of the country characterized 
by long gentle grassy slopes, no part of it near the river being apparently elevated more 
than about 60 or 70 feet above its surface. A short distance beyond this, we caught the 
first glimpse of the Smoky hills, which were seen in a direction a little south of west from 
us, rising above the surrounding low country like dark blue clouds above the horizon. 
On approaching these, we found them always situated several miles back from the river, 
and rising some three hundred and fifty feet above it. The immediate bluffs of the river 
here, are generally composed of divisions No. 4 and 5 of the foregoing general section, and 
that portion of these hills above the level of the summits of the bluffs along the river, is 
made up of division Nos. 3, 2, 1, of the same section. On the south side of the river these 
hills have but a comparatively thin capping of the sandstone No. 1, but on the north side 
we saw it showing a thickening on some of them of sixty feet. 
From some of these hills on the north side of Smoky Hill river, between it and the 
Grand Saline, we had an extensive and beautiful view of the surrounding country. In 
the north and northwest, many similar hills were in sight, and as the dip of the strata here 
is in that direction, it is probable some of them are not only chiefly made up of the sand¬ 
stone No. 1, but surmounted by the other Cretaceous beds Nos. 2 and 3 of the Nebraska 
Cretaceous series; indeed, Mr. Engleman found all these formations occupying this relation 
on Republican river, not more than seventy miles north of this.* 
Although this paper is merely designed to give a brief sketch of the leading geological 
features of those portions of Northeastern Kansas visited by us, we cannot close it without 
alluding to the truly great agricultural and other natural resources of this new and inte¬ 
resting territory. We mean no disparagement to other portions of the Mississippi valley, 
when we state, that after having travelled extensively in the Great West, and after having 
* See Report of Secretary of War, Dec. 5tli, 1857, page 497. 
