USA > Kansas > Kansas; a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence, Voilume I > Part 88
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"I-All persons living in Jackson, Cass and Bates counties, Missouri, and in that part of. Vernon included in this district, except those living within one mile of the limits of Independence, Hickman's Mills, Pleas- ant Hill and Harrisonville, and except those in that part of Kaw town- ship, Jackson county, north of Brush creek and west of the Big Blue, are hereby ordered to remove from their present places of residence within fifteen days from the date hereof.
"Those who, within that time, establish their loyalty to the satisfaction of the commanding officer of the military station nearest their present places of residence, will receive from him certificates stating the fact of their loyalty and the names of the witnesses by whom it can be shown. All who receive such certificates will be permitted to remove to any military station in this district, or to any part of the State of Kansas, except the counties on the eastern border of the state. All others shall remove out of this district. Officers commanding companies and detachments in the counties named, will see this paragraph is promptly obeyed.
"II-All grain and hay in the field or under shelter, in the districts from which the inhabitants are required to remove, within reach of military stations, after the 9th day of September next, will be taken to such stations, and turned over to the proper officers there; and report of the amount so turned over made to district headquarters, specifying the names of all loyal owners, and the amount of such produce taken from them. All grain and hay found in such district after the 9th day of September next, not convenient to such stations, will be destroyed.
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"III-The provisions of General Orders No. Io from these head- quarters will be at once vigorously executed by officers commanding in the parts of districts, and at the stations, not subject to the operation of Paragraph I of this order-and especially in the towns of Inde- pendence, Westport and Kansas City.
"IV-Paragraph 3, General Orders No. 10, is revoked as to all who have borne arms against the government since the 20th day of August, 1863."
General Order No. 10, above referred to, provided for an escort to all loyal persons desiring to remove to a military post in the district ; ordered the arrest of all persons, except women, who as heads of fam- ilies gave aid to guerrillas; wives and children of known guerrillas, women, who as heads of families wilfully engaged in assisting guerrillas, were to remove out of the district unmolested, and if they refused to remove they were to be taken to Kansas City for shipment to some point within the Confederate lines. The clause rescinded by Paragraph 4 of General Order No. II provided that persons who laid down their arms and surrendered themselves, to be banished with their families, were to be sent to such point as the commanding officer might direct.
The purpose of General Order No. II was to prevent guerrillas, par- ticularly Quantrill's gang, from finding a lodgment among the Con- federate sympathizers in western Missouri. It was what physicians would term "heroic treatment," but with the raid upon Lawrence it became painfully obvious that the disease had assumed such a malignant form that heroic treatment was absolutely necessary. At any rate, the order served a good purpose in breaking up the rendezvous of the guer- rillas and checking their forays into Kansas, and loyal men in both states applauded Gen. Ewing for his courage and foresight in issuing it. Some months later Ewing issued his General Order No. 20, permitting loyal citizens to return to their homes, the men to organize companies for defense.
Caroline Abbot Stanley made the order the subject of a novel, and Martin Rice, of Lone Jack, Mo., wrote two poems relating to it, viz: "The Exodus of 1863," and "The Exile's Lament."
Geneseo, the fourth largest town in Rice county, is located at the junction of three lines of railroad. One line of the Missouri Pacific passes through it running east and west, another line of the same road runs north and south, and a branch of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe passes this point. Geneseo is 14 miles north of Lyons, the county seat. Its railroad facilities make it an important shipping point for grain, live stock and other farm products, as well as an important transfer point for travelers. It has 3 hotels, a weekly newspaper (the Journal), a creamery, 2 banks, telegraphic communications, an express office and an international money order postoffice with three rural routes. The popu- lation according to the census of 1910 was 566.
Geneva, a post-village of Allen county, is a station on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad in the northwest corner of the county, about
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KANSAS HISTORY
Io miles from Iola, the county seat. It has an express office, a money order postoffice with one rural route, and is a trading center and ship- ping point for that section of the county. The population in 1910 was IO0.
Geodetic Survey .- A geodetic survey is the application of Geodesy, that higher science of surveying in which the form and magnitude of the earth must be considered. It has for its object the exact location of points and lines with reference to the true shape of the earth, the vari- ations of terrestrial gravity, etc. In the United States coast and geodetic survey, attention has also been given to changes in temperature, mag- netic currents, etc. The first magnetic observatory with self-recording instruments was established at Key West, Fla., in 1860 and 'maintained until 1866. From 1876 to 1880 observations were taken at Madison. Wis., and in 1882 an observatory was established at Los Angeles, where it was kept in operation for about seven years. The instruments used at Key West and Madison were the Brooke magnetograph, and at Los Angeles the Adie magnetograph was used.
In 1899 Congress made a more liberal appropriation for a systematic magnetic survey, and observations were made at various points during the next five years. In June, 1901, an Eschenhagen magnetograph was mounted at Baldwin, Kan. It was placed in a building not specially erected for such purposes and great difficulty was experienced in keep- ing it properly adjusted. W. C. Bauer was in charge of the station until June, 1902, when he was succeeded by W. F. Wallis, who served until July, 1903. L. B. Smith then occupied the position until the following October, when Mr. Bauer returned and conducted the observations until April, 1904. L. B. Smith then had charge of the station until it was discontinued the following December. During this entire period the government observers were assisted by students of Baker University.
The results at the various observatories were transmitted to the head- quarters of the coast and geodetic survey at Washington, D. C., and turned over to the division of terrestrial magnetism. In 1909 the results of the observations at Baldwin were published in a bulletin of the depart- ment of commerce and labor, edited by Daniel T. Hazard. The bulletin shows the daily and monthly range in temperature; the diurnal vari- ation of declination; the daily and hourly range of declination, the diurnal variation and hourly values of intensity, and many other facts of interest to scientists, but most of which are beyond the understanding of the layman.
Geological Surveys .- Kansas has had three different geological sur- veys. The first two were short and accomplished but little. The last, or present, survey has been in operation a much longer time and has accomplished correspondingly greater results.
The first geological survey of Kansas was authorized by an act of the state legislature in 1864. Section I of the act provided that the governor, with the consent of the senate, should appoint a state geologist, whose term of office should begin on March 1, 1864, and end on March 1, 1865.
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Section 2 provided that the state geologist should equip a proper labora- tory, procure necessary assistants, and proceed to classify the rocks and soils of each county in the state; that he should visit and analyze the salt springs already discovered, and use due diligence in discovering others ; and that he should investigate the coal formations and the other mineral deposits of the state by the various appliances known to the science of geology and mineralogy. Other provisions were made regard- ing submitting and publication of reports. Section 4 provided an appro- priation of $3,500 for all the expenses and salaries, and the auditor of state was given authority to withhold such portions of this as in his judgment need not be spent. Section 5 provided that the state geologist should give a bond of $5,000 for the faithful and proper discharge of his office, a sum much larger than the entire amount appropriated. Sec- tion 6 provided that the governor might remove the state geologist for cause.
The governor appointed Prof. B. F. Mudge state geologist; Maj. Frederick Hawn, assistant geologist ; Prof. G. C. Swallow, paleontologist ; Tiffin Sink, chemist and meteorologist, and C. A. Logan, botanist. The first annual report of the survey appeared in 1866 and consisted of a pamphlet of 56 pages.
In 1865 the legislature passed a new act regarding the geological survey. It provided that the governor should appoint a state geologist whose term of office should begin on March 1, 1865, appropriated $7,500, and made provisions for reports. The governor appointed Prof. G. C. Swallow state geologist, and all the old assistants were reappointed. Prof. Mudge, however, was left off the survey entirely. The state geologist made a report that was published in pamphlet form (162 pages) in 1866.
Succeeding legislatures for a number of years failed to make appro- priations for a geological survey, so that the state was without one from 1866 to 1895.
The third, or present geological survey, was organized as a branch of the State University in 1895 by the board of regents in accordance with provisions of law passed in 1889. It was first called the University Geologic Survey of Kansas, and was organized with Prof. Erasmus Haworth geologist; Prof. S. W. Williston, paleontologist ; Prof. F. H. S. Bailey, chemist. A large number of students were employed as field assistants and much good work was done. The first large report, a volume of over 400 pages, was issued in 1897. This was followed by other reports, until at the present time (1911) a total of nine large volumes and a number of smaller ones have been issued.
In 1907 a new bill passed the legislature providing for the permanency of the survey, making the chancellor of the university ex officio director of the survey and providing that he shall appoint a state geologist who shall be a member of the department of geology of the university and who shall have direction of the immediate work of the survey. Section 3 of this bill provides that the state geologist shall prepare for publi-
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KANSAS HISTORY
cation and submit to the chancellor from time to time such reports on the geology of the state as he and the chancellor may consider advisable. Section 4 provides that the state printing board shall have printed 5,000 copies of each of the reports provided for in section 3.
At present all the clerical work of the survey is done by the regular clerical staff of the university, except that a special stenographer is pro- vided. The number of assistant geologists varies greatly from year to year. They are chosen principally, but not entirely, from advanced stu- dents in the university and are given university credit for work done in the field.
It is the policy of the present survey to study the geology of the state by topics, rather than by counties or districts. It has already reported upon coal, oil and gas, lead and zinc, gypsum, and has made a number of short reports on other subjects. It has made an exhaustive study of mine explosions and is now (19II) erecting and equipping a large lab- oratory for testing the clays of the state.
Geology .- Kansas is a part of the Great Plains area stretching from the Mississippi river on the east to the Rocky mountains on the west, and from Mexico on the south to Canada on the north. The 37th parallel north latitude constitutes the southern boundary and the 40th parallel the northern; the eastern boundary is approximately 94 degrees 40 minutes west from Greenwich, and the western boundary is a few miles beyond the 102d meridian, making the state approximately 207 miles north and south, and 405 miles east and west, containing about 82,500 square miles. Kansas, therefore, is an important and essential part of the Great Plains area and does not differ very materially from other portions of the same great area lying on all sides of it.
In general, the surface of the entire state slopes from the west towards the east, with an elevation on the west varying from 3,500 to 4,000 feet above sea level, while on the eastern boundary the elevation varies from about 730 to 1,025 feet. The drainage of the state, therefore, is from west towards the east. The largest stream in the state, the Kansas river, flows approximately straight east the entire length of the state. Here and there at various places surface levels in a north and south direc- tion vary sufficiently to modify the local drainage. This is particularly true in the northwest corner of the state where various tributaries of the Republican river flow northeast, and all the way along the southern boundary where the streams flow to the southeast. The lowest place in the state is claimed by two points, one at Kansas City, the mouth of the Kansas river, and one near Coffeyville where the Verdigris river crosses the southern boundary, each with an elevation of approximately 700 feet above sea level. The general physiographic conditions of the state, therefore, are quite regular and when properly interpreted will throw light on the physiography of the entire plains. However, the other- wise monotonously smooth surface area hundreds of miles in extent has been relieved by nature carving relatively deep channels for her nu- merous streams, with broad rolling prairie uplands on the divides, which
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also are frequently varied by the presence here and there of individual mounds, and long stretches of steep escarpments sometimes hundreds of feet in height. Profound lithologic variations have necessitated these varying results of erosion, so that instead of a landscape tiresome in its regularity and lack of individuality usually attributed to the Great Plains of Kansas by the uninformed, one finds in reality a surface with ever changing details and unusually pleasing effects.
The geologic structure of Kansas, when considered on a grand scale, is simple, but in detail often becomes complex and difficult. In the extreme southeastern part of the state, covering an area not exceeding 30 square miles in extent, dense limestones and interbedded chert rocks of Mississippian age occupy the surface. They are the oldest rocks in the state and constitute a floor upon which succeeding formations repose.
Immediately above the Mississippian limestones and cherts lie the Coal Measures sandstones, limestones and shales, occupying a zone of about 20,000 square miles across the entire east end of the state. They reach an average thickness of 3,000 feet, with a maximum, perhaps, close to 4,000 feet.
Above and immediately overlying the Coal Measures, we find the Permian occupying a wedge shaped area about 35 miles wide on the north, covering the western part of Marshall county, and the eastern part of Washington county, and fully 185 miles wide on the south side of the state, reaching from the east side of Cowley county westward to the east side of Meade county. The uppermost part of the Permian, and hence the western part, is composed of red colored clay shales and im- perfect sandstones usually designated as the Red-Beds.
The Permian rocks are immediately overlaid by the Cretaceous. Along the southern boundary we find a small fringe of Comanchic Cre- taceous just above the Red Beds throughout Clark, Comanche and Barber counties. Apparently the Red Beds disappear northward, although the salt mines at Ellsworth pass through what seems to be their northern extension. If so, quite possibly the Comanche likewise extends that far north, although at present there is no positive infor- mation on this subject.
Above the Comanche in turn we find the Dakota Cretaceous occupy- ing an area trending northeast and southwest almost entirely across the state and varying from 10 miles wide on the north to a total of 100 miles wide east and west in the central part of the state where the river chan- nels have cut through the overlying formation and exposed the Dakota the maximum distance to the west. The Dakota in turn is overlaid by the Benton occupying a zone trending southeast and northwest approxi- mately parallel with the Dakota area just mentioned and a little greater in extent. Above the Benton is the Niobrara, followed by the Ft. Pierre, and possibly a little of the Fox Hill in the extreme northwest corner of the state.
The western end of the state is covered with a mantle of soil, sand and gravel, generally considered Tertiary in age, which has been carried
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KANSAS HISTORY
eastward by river action from the Rocky mountain region. It is spread out like a veneering which perhaps never quite reaches 300 feet in thick- ness in Kansas. Drainage channels are cut through it in places, exposing the underlying Cretaceous rocks, so that a correct geological map would represent the western extension of the Cretaceous formations following up the several drainage streams in long slender necks towards the west, with the Tertiary veneering on top extending eastward in long tongues, occupying the high divides between the streams.
4000
4000
PIERRE
3000
NIOBRARA
-3000
BEN TON
2000
DAKOTA
2000
COMANCHE
PERMIAN
1000 -
11000
Sea Level
MISSISSIPPIAN
GEOLOGICAL SECTION FROM SOUTHEAST TO NORTHWEST.
For convenient reference a diagramatic vertical geological section across the state from southeast to northwest is here given, and also a general geological column to represent the relative position of the Kansas section. It will be seen that our oldest rocks occupy the later Paleozoic, that the Triassic and Jurassic are absent in Kansas, so also are all the lower Cretaceous up to the Comanche, and that the Fox Hili and Laramie of the Upper Cretaceous are also wanting. For a good lithegraphic map showing the surface outcroppings of all Kansas forma- tions the reader is referred to Volume IX of the Geological Survey of Kansas.
GEOLOGICAL. COLUMN.
GENERAL COLUMN.
KANSAS COLUMN.
Pleistocene
(Irregularly stratified loess
Cenozoic
Tertiary
¿ Pliocene Miocene / Eocene
Tertiary Rocky Mountains
Mesozoic
Cretaceous Jurassic / Triassic
Cretaceous
Fox Hill Pierre Niobrara Benton Dakota Comanche
Carbonifer- ous
( Permian ) Coal Measures / Mississippian
Carboniferous
Permian Coal Measures ( Mississippian
Paleozoic
Devonian Silurian Ordovician Cambrian
Proterozoic
Algonkian
t Archaean
COAL ME ASURES
Pleistocene and carried eastward from
Having given a general review of the geology of Kansas in the pre- ceding paragraphs, it is now in order to take up the several subjects and treat them more in detail.
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CYCLOPEDIA OF
DETAILED KANSAS GEOLOGICAL SECTION.
Pleistocene and Tertiary
Not yet clearly divided into smaller divisions.
Cretaceous
Pierre Niobrara Benton Dakota -
Comanche
Jurassic Triassic
-
Wanting in Kansas
-
Red Beds
| Wellington Shales I Marion Formation
Permian
Sumner Stage, 510 feet
[ Winfield Formation
| Doyle Shales Ft. Riley L. S. Florence Flint
Matfield Shales
Wreford L. S.
- Garrison Formation
Cottonwood L. S. Eskridge Shales
Neva L. S.
Wabaunsee Stage, 655 feet
Elmdale Formation
Americus L. S.
Admire Formation
Emporia L. S.
Willard Shales
Burlingame L. S.
-
Scranton Shales
Howard L. S. Severy Shales Topeka L. S.
Shawnee Stage, 400 feet
Calhoun Shales
Deer Creek L. S. Tecumseh Shales Lecompton L. S. Kanwaka Shales
Douglas Stage, 340 feet
-
Oread L. S. Lawrence Shales Kickapoo L. S. LeRoy Shales
Stanton L. S. -
Vilas Shales Allen L. S. | Lane Shales .
Iola L. S.
Chanute Shales
Pottawatomie Stage, 580 feet
Drum L. S.
Cherryvale Shales
Dennis L. S.
Galesburg Shales
- Mound Valley L. S. Ladore Shales
l Bethany L. S.
Pleasanton Shales Coffeyville L. S. Walnut Shales Altamont L. S.
Marmaton Stage, 340 feet
Bandera Shales Pawnee L. S. Labette Shales . Ft. Scott L. S.
Cherokee Stage, 445 feet
j Cherokee Shales 1 Mississippian
('arhoniferous
Salt Fork and Kiger Stages, 1,200 feet
Chase Stage, 260 feet
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KANSAS HISTORY
MISSISSIPPIAN.
The Mississippian rocks occupy a surface area of about 30 square miles in the extreme southeast part of the state. It is triangular in out- line, about 6 miles wide on the south and 10 miles wide on the east. Spring river, almost determines the western boundary of the area, but here and there erosion has worn away the overlying Coal Measures, exposing the underlying Mississippian in patches of irregular outline a few miles farther west. Beyond the limits of Kansas the Mississippian formations extend eastward, southeastward and northeastward over a large part of Missouri, northeast Oklahoma, northwest Arkansas and stretches away beyond the limits of Missouri into Iowa, Illinois, Ken- tucky and Tennessee. They are from 200 to 300 feet in thickness, and have been drilled through in many places, such as Pittsburg, Girard, Columbus, Galena, Iola, Neodesha, Stone City, Caney. They rest imme- diately upon Silurian rocks, where exposed at the surface in Missouri and Arkansas and presumably also in Kansas.
The Mississippian rocks essentially are limestones, but here and there thin clay and shale partings are found, by drilling, although in general such partings are insignificant and unimportant. Throughout the lime- stone, also, are masses of flint rock, or chert, exceedingly variable in extent and outline. In the vicinity of Galena such chert masses are miles in surface extent and hundreds of feet in thickness. Eastward in Mis- souri they are very large and abundant. A peculiarly great interest attaches to them because they are the principal bearers of lead and zinc ores throughout the entire Joplin area, which is the greatest zinc pro- ducing area in the world.
The entire Mississippian limestone formation passes westward to an unknown distance, dipping about 25 feet to the mile along the south line of the state from Galena to Caney, which is the westernmost point at which its presence positively has been identified. In a north direction the dip of the surface is much less, reaching only about 41/2 feet to the mile for the entire distance from Galena to Kansas City. Many hundreds of oil and gas wells have been drilled through the overlying Coal Meas- ures, so that the upper surface of the Mississippian throughout the oil and gas fields in the southeastern part of the state has been very well located. It is also interesting to know that flint bodies occur irregularly throughout the area explored by deep wells the same as farther east where the rocks are exposed to the surface. Numerous wells in the oil and gas fields went down into the Mississippian to variable distances, and some of them entirely through it. In some instances large quantities of flint have been found by the drill, and in others none at all, precisely as would be the case were one to drill throughout the area where they are exposed to the surface.
Eastward from the limits of Kansas the Mississippian limestones gradually rise to Springfield, and beyond, covering a large catchment area. Here rainwater finds its way between the rock layers and slowly
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CYCLOPEDIA OF
works its way down the bedding plain slope westward and appears again in large quantities in the mines throughout the zinc mining area, and also farther west in deep wells where it is used for municipal supplies in such towns as Pittsburg, Weir City, Girard, Cherokee, Columbus, and a number of other smaller places.
Economic Products .- The Mississippian rocks carry values of great commercial importance of three distinct characters. Ist, Building stone and lime; 2nd, water; 3d, ores of lead and zinc.
I. Building Stone and Lime: The Mississippian limestones are usually solid and compact, and in many places are completely crystalline. These properties, added to a high degree of chemical purity, make an unusually valuable building stone which is almost white in color, and hence attractive for costly buildings. Extensive quarries are operated in the same rock masses in nearby localities near Carthage, Mo., from which vast quantities are shipped in many directions to be used in high grade buildings. Also, the same limestone around Ash Grove, Mo., is burned into a superior white lime which is shipped all over Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and elsewhere. Equally good building stone and lime may be had from the Mississippian rocks in Kansas and are now lying there awaiting the activity of operators.
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