38 University of Kansas Geological Survey. 
immediately east of Kanopolis for a distance of twelve or fifteen 
miles. The general conditions of the country imply that for some 
reason the sandstone was less resistant to erosion southward than 
in the vicinity of Terra Cotta, and that consequently the river 
worked its way eastward where the resistance was less marked. 
Reaching the vicinity of Lindsborg we find Dakota sandstone im- 
mediately east of the direction of the river. As the whole of the 
Dakota is swept away from the broad valley between Lindsborg 
and Salina, it is impossible to conjecture what the character of it 
was. Possibly here it was less resistant than farther to the east. 
This explanation is assuming unusual variations in a mass of sand- 
stone covering the country from twenty to thirty miles. Still it 
is possible. Aside from this possibility at the present time no 
observations have been made which throw any light on the question 
of the peculiar direction of the Smoky Hill river between Ellsworth 
and Salina. | 
Later in this report is a discussion by Mr. Beede of the old river 
channel now occupied by the McPherson Equus beds. In that con- 
nection will be found a discussion of the probability of the Smoky 
Hill river formerly having flowed southward from near Lindsborg 
connecting with the Arkansas rather than to have flowed north- 
ward and ultimately become a part of the Kansas river. It is there 
shown that great obstacles are encountered on such a supposition, 
but that the true explanation of the existence of the Equus beds 
has not yet been discovered. | 
From Salina to Junction City the direction of the Smoky Hill is 
apparently normal. The valley from Salina to Solomon is from 
three to four miles wide. Beyond Salina the bluffs are relatively 
unimportant to below Abilene, from which point they begin to ap- 
pear on either side of the stream, and are quite prominent down- 
ward to Junction City. The probable cause of the absence of pro- 
nounced bluff lines from Salina to below Abilene is the particular 
character of the material into which the channel is cut. Here we 
have the last remnants of the Permian exposed to the surface at the 
eastern part of the lowermost portions of the Dakota, a kind of 
material which is relatively soft and comparatively uniform through- 
out, so that the conditions are most favorable for the rapid erosion 
