42 University Geological Survey of Kansas. 
Reports of Cragin. 
Professor Cragin devoted considerable time to a study of the 
gypsum deposits in the southern part of the state, and in 1885” 
gave the following description : 
‘* Heretofore the expression, gypsiferous horizon of Kansas, has been applied to 
the horizon of Permo-Carboniferous deposits, but Kansas has two important dis- 
tinct gypsiferous formations, one Paleozoic and the other Mesozoic. The latter is 
represented in Barber and southeastern Comanche counties by a stratum of gyp- 
sum 12 to 20 feet thick, and practically continuous over an area of about 500 
square miles.”’ 
The age is given as Benton, and the deposit was regarded as 
due to the evaporation of a large saline lake without an outlet. 
Later Cragin” from further study concluded that this gypsum 
deposit resulted from evaporation in a great gulf or ‘‘ Mediter- 
ranean Sea,’ and the age was given as Dakota. 
Reports of Hay. 
The late Robert Hav * in 1890 investigated the geology of the 
Gypsum Hills of Barber county. After describing the sand- 
stone and shales at the base, he states that 
‘‘Tn ascending, we see the red rock gives way frequently to seams of selenite 
and laminated layers of greenish sandstone. But the sandstone and satin spar 
are ripple marked. The top reached, we find all these pinnacles and buttes are 
remains of another plateau, whose floor was solid gypsum, which stretches away 
to south and west, broken by broad valleys and deep canyons, reappearing be- 
yond the Cimarron on Canadian and Red rivers and on edges of the Staked 
Plains.”’ 
He gives the following section : 
Upper red rock above gypsum plateau...................; 100 feet. 
Gypsum series (massive gypsum and selenite seams)....... PAOD) 
Lower red rock (mainly without selenite and gypsum)..... 20 eae 
TO Gey is is ears alte tte Ue AL stag niece SEN ae ag ee 500 feet. 
The age is given as Triassic, and the salt deposits of the 
Cimarron valley are regarded as above the Triassic. 
In his paper entitled ‘‘ Geology of the Kansas Salt,’’*’ Hay states 
20. ‘‘Notes on the Geology of Southern Kansas,’ Bull. Washburn College Lab. of Nat. 
Hist., Vol I, No. 3, p. &5 and ff., 1865. 
21. ‘‘ Further Notes on the Dakota Gypsum of Kansas,’’ Bull. Washburn College Lab. of Nat. 
Hist., Vol. I, No. 5, pp. 166-8, 1886. 
22. ‘‘A Geological Reconnaissance in Southwestern Kansas,’’ Bull. U.S. Geol. Survey, No. 57, 
pp. 22-25, 1890. - 
23. Seventh Biennial Report of State Board of Agriculture, p. 83 and ff., 1§&9-’90. 
