PREFACE. 
IBY Cro) IP EARS ELI NC 
OnE of the main objects of the University Geological Survey 
of Kansas is the investigation of the mineral wealth within our 
borders. It is important not only that our own citizens should 
be informed about these resources, but also that people in other 
states should know that Kansas is a mining as well as an agri- 
cultural state. It is a matter of surprise to find how little is 
known by Kansas people about the state’s mining interests. 
The Survey has already done good work in calling attention to 
these various minerals, the value of whose aggregate product in 
1897 amounted to nearly $12,000,000. Gypsum was the fourth 
non-metallic mineral in value of product, being surpassed by 
coal, salt, and clay. Its value that year was over $252,000. 
The problem of mapping and investigating the gypsum or 
plaster deposits was assigned to the writer in the winter of 1896, 
by Professor Haworth, who has very materially assisted in the 
preparation of this Report. 
Two summers have been spent in actual field work. The first 
summer Mr. J. W. Beede, now a graduate student in Paleontol- 
ogy in the University, assisted in part of the work in southern 
Kansas. In the summer of 1897 I had the services of Mr. 
Henry Nelson, one of my students in Geology, as assistant. 
It has been deemed best to include a general discussion of the 
gypsum deposits of other states for comparison. An effort has 
been made to have the treatment of this subject as complete as 
possible and to bring together in compact shape all that is 
known about gypsum and its technology. 
This industry is in reality in a beginning stage of develop- 
ment. It is rapidly growing, and to-day Kansas stands first 
among the states of the Union in value of the gypsum product. 
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