GRIMSLEY. | Historical Resume. 41 
Solomon, and Smoky rivers. He also discusses the uses of this 
mineral, especially as a fertilizer, and writes: 
‘¢While it is excellent for crops in various ways, its great worth to the Kansas 
soil consists in its hygrometric quality or virtue as an absorbent and fixer of cer- 
tain volatile matters which are useful in plants,-and particularly in retaining 
moisture in a condition that renders it available to the roots of plants and thus ~ 
counteracting the drying and evaporating effect of wind andsun. ‘This is an im- 
portant quality which our farmers will readily appreciate, especially in portions 
of the state liable to drought. It retains the moisture to such a degree that a crop, 
particularly of roots, manured with it will sometimes be saved when an adjoining 
field will be dried up. Even a single bushel of the powder on a quarter acre of 
land will show a decided improvement in the crop. Its effect can usually be 
seen for several years after it is used.”’ 
Mudge’s reports on gypsum, in the Third and Fourth Annual 
Agricultural Reports and in the First Biennial Report, 1877-’78, 
are mainly restatements of the description given in the First 
Annual. 
Reports of St. John. 
In the Fourth Biennial Report of the Board of Agriculture, 
1885," the gypsum deposits are described by St. John as follows: 
‘¢Tntimately associated with the Saline horizon, in the uppermost measures of 
the Carboniferous series, immense deposits of gypsum are met with. These occur 
over a belt many miles in width, and which extends entirely across the eastern- 
central portion of the state. 
‘‘The deposits, which consist of gray and snowy-white varieties of great purity, 
form regular and lenticular layers interbedded with the shales and calcareous 
strata of the formation, often several feet in thickness. In the northern portion 
of the district, in the Kansas basin, beds of massive gypsum above 15 feet in 
thickness occur, and at many localities, at intervals, extending across the country 
to the Arkansas valley, on the southern border of the state, regular massive beds 
of various thicknesses are found. In the northern district, at Blue Rapids, ex- 
tensive mills have been erected for the grinding of plaster for agriculture, and the 
preparation of plaster of Paris employed in the arts. At many places, also, the 
deposits are sufficiently compact and durable to answer the purposes of a build- 
ing stone, for which it is employed.”’ 
In the Fifth Biennial Report of the Board of Agriculture, for 
1885-86, St. John discusses the geology of southwestern Kan- 
sas, and describes the gypsiferous Red Beds as probably Triassic. 
The formation is stated to be 300 feet thick, with a layer of 
massive gypsum near the top 15 feet thick, and the rocks dip 
slightly to the southwest. 
19. Page 501. 
