Hawortu. | Detailed Geology. 101 
local rainfall, the other of which was so greatly affected that 
it made a vast difference in the amount of water pumped 
It would seem that no one could examine the entire territory 
carefully and observe the vast amount of surface water which 
reaches the ground through shafts and various kinds of artifi- 
cial openings, natural ‘‘sink holes’’ particularly, and add to 
this the much greater amount which must necessarily work 
its way downward through the soil into the rocks so greatly 
fissured everywhere in the mining district, without admitting 
that a large proportion of the water now found in the mining 
district below permanent water level originates directly from 
local rainfall. It is equally probable that a portion of this 
same ground water is migrating westward down the slope of 
the Ozark area. This migratory water, therefore, comes in 
part from the catchment areas at or near the summit of the 
Ozark hills, and in part from additions constantly made to 
it throughout the entire distance. ‘The eastern catchment 
area is entirely too small to provide it all. 
The artesian effect sometimes referred to is not very great. 
The elevation of the Mastin land is about 900 feet above sea 
level, and the general level of the summit of the Ozark dome 
is 1500 feet or more. If there was not some vent which 
would give relief to water starting westward from the vicin- 
ity of Cedar Gap, then the artesian effect necessarily would 
be much greater than itis. But at Joplin and Empire City 
and Columbus and Cherryvale and Weir City and Pitts- 
burg, where we have an aggregate of many wells drilled 
down into the Silurian sandstone, the artesian effect is not 
sufficient to bring water to the surface. At Fort Scott there 
is a strong flow, which rises only a few feet above the flood 
plain of the Marmaton river. But other similar wells on 
the uplands rarely have an actual flow. This lack of arte- 
sian effect certainly shows that the eastern waters have 
their pressure partly relieved in one way and another by 
vents in rock masses, which in turn means that surface wa- 
ter throughout this entire area likewise may work its way 
downward and join the permanent water supply. For, un- 
less the rock to the water in Silurian sandstone is water-tight, 
then local water certainly will leak downward into it. 
