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 89
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2. Water: As already explained, the Mississippian formation extends east and occupies the surface throughout the highlands of south central Missouri around Springfield where a copious rainfall supplies an abund- ance of water, portions of which become lodged between the rock layers and gradually work down the dip plains westward. In this way large quantities of water are obtained by deep drilling in many places in south- eastern Kansas, and different municipalities obtain a satisfactory supply of good water in this manner.
3. Ores of Lead and Zinc: By far the most important product obtained from the Mississippian formations in southeastern Kansas and southwestern Missouri are the ores of lead and zinc which occur here in such large quantities. The principal ore of lead is galena, a sulphide of lead (PbS), although small amounts of the carbonate and sulphate are found, named cerussite and anglesite respectively. The principal zinc ore is sphalerite, or zinc blende, also a sulphide (ZnS), often called "jack" locally, zinc carbonate Smithsonite, and zinc silicate calamine occur sparingly. The productive area in Kansas has a much smaller acreage than is found across the state line in Missouri, but no richer lead and zinc mines have ever been developed in the world than in some portions of Kansas. One piece belonging to the South Side Mining and Smelting company, containing only 80 acres, has already produced ore with a market value of more than $4,000,000, with scarcely a shaft as much as 200 feet deep. The entire yield from Kansas has reached as high as $2,000,000 a year in ore values, which would be more than $3,000,000 if the value of the metal were counted.
How long these rich mines will continue to be profitable no one can foretell, but when we consider that the mining thus far is all in shallow
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ground, and that elsewhere as great or greater values continue down- wards for 1,000 feet or more, it seems probable that this area also will be productive for many scores of years yet to come.
COAL MEASURES.
Stratigraphy .- The Coal Measures of Kansas occupy about 20,000 square miles in the eastern end of the state. They immediately overlie the Mississippian, and in turn are overlaid by the Permian. The eastern limit of their area is the line trending northeast and southwest previously described as the western limit of the Mississippian. Along this boundary the Coal Measure rocks are very thin. Their base plane dips gently westward about 25 feet to the mile on the south line, while the surface gradually rises, so that the Coal Measures formation constitutes a wedge pointing eastward.
The lowermost formation of the Coal Measures is a shale bed, some- what variable in thickness in different parts of the state, but which averages about 450 feet. These have been called the Cherokee shales, on account of their extensive surface exposure in Cherokee county. Im- mediately above the Cherokee shales are two limestone formations separated by 7 to 8 feet of black shale which together are called the Fort Scott limestone. These in turn are overlaid by 40 feet of shale known as the Labette shales, followed by 22 feet of the Pawnee limestone, above which are alternating beds of limestones and shales, the latter often carrying large bodies of sandstone, from the bottom to the top of the Coal Measures. Each of these individual limestone and shale beds has been studied in detail by the Kansas Geological Survey, has been named and the line of outcroppings of all the principal formations traced on the various maps in Volume IX of the State Geological Survey, to which the reader, if interested, is referred for a detailed discussion. These several individual horizons have been grouped together into stages named as follows, beginning at the base: Cherokee, Marmaton, Pottawa- tomie, Douglas, Shawnee and Wabaunsee. The scheme at the end of this article illustrates these details and generalities better than can be described in ordinary sentences.
All of these several formations overlie each other in regular order, as shown in the above mentioned scheme. In every instance each individ- ual formation outcrops to the east and lies buried to the west beneath the overlying formations. Throughout the entire Coal Measures area from top to bottom, the strata dip westward, while the surface is inclined to the east. Traveling westward, therefore, one is constantly passing from the lower formations to the higher, or from the older to the younger. A drill hole put down to the west, consequently, will pass through the succeeding formations downward in regular order.
Beyond the limits of Kansas the Coal Measures extend east and north into Missouri and Nebraska and from there northeast into Iowa, making the Kansas coal fields continuous stratigraphically with the coal fields (I-47)
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of Missouri and Iowa. On the south they extend far into Oklahoma, from which place they veer eastward and constitute the coal fields of Arkansas. The Kansas coal fields, therefore, lie midway between those of Arkansas and Oklahoma on the south, and Missouri and Iowa on the north.
Economic Products .- Kansas Coal Measures are noted for being rich in five particular kinds of products, namely: I. Coal; 2. Oil and Gas; 3. Clays-Shales ; 4. Cement material; and 5. Building Stone.
I. Coal: About the middle of the Cherokee shales three distinct beds of coal are found and are mined very extensively, particularly in Cher- okee and Crawford counties, while coal seams occupying the same strati- graphic levels are known to exist in many other places in the state, particularly in the vicinity of Kansas City, Leavenworth and Atchison. In some places but one of these veins seems to have been developed to a considerable extent, while elsewhere all three of them are of com- mercial importance. At present (1911) more than 90 per cent. of all the coal being mined in the state is obtained from the Cherokee shales.
Well up in the Marmaton stage is another bed of coal known to be extensively developed in the vicinity of Pleasanton and La Cygne, and probably future prospecting will find the seam in many more places. This is usually known as the Pleasanton coal and has been mined in many places in the valley lying between Pleasanton and La Cygne, and for miles to the east. No one knows the size of this coal area, but prob- ably it is much more extensive than is known at present.
Other lesser beds of coal are found irregularly here and there through- out the Pottawatomie stage, but none of considerable importance as we pass upwards until the Douglas stage is reached. Here, from 50 to 100 feet below the Oread limestone, a bed of coal occurs irregularly entirely across the state. It is developed in the bluffs along the Missouri river near Atchison, lying about 100 feet below the Oread limestone, where it was mined to a considerable extent in time past. Southward, in Douglas county, in early days of Kansas history, it was mined at prob- ably fifty different places. Still further southward, in Franklin county, it was mined in many places around Pomona, Ransomville and Williams- burg. From here to the southwest a line of early day mines can be traced entirely across the state, where local mines were operated in the winter season for wagon trade.
Passing up the geological column to near the top of the Shawnee stage another vein of coal is found marking a line here and there entirely across the state from northeast to southwest. The coal here is confined principally to the Severy Scranton shales, with the mines most abundant all the way from a few miles west and southwest of Topeka, to the vicinity of Osage City, where mining is still prosecuted on a commercial scale.
2. Oil and Gas: Almost all the oil and gas thus far developed in Kansas has been obtained from the Cherokee and Marmaton stages, with more than nine-tenths of it coming from the Cherokee shales. The
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principal productive fields, of course, lie to the west of the outcropping areas, so that wells are drilled from 500 to 1,600 feet in depth before reaching the productive zones. Oil and gas are found almost universally in sandstone, probably because the pores serve as receptacles for them, and these sandstones lie interbedded in the Cherokee shales and some of the shales higher up the geologic column. Farther to the west in the vicinity of Elmdale, Augusta and Arkansas City small developments of gas have been made in wells of varying depth where the Permian rocks are exposed at the surface. In all cases probably the drill went entirely through the Permian and into some of the upper Coal Measure formations, but by no means deep enough to reach the formations which produce oil and gas in such large quantities farther east.
3. Clay-Shales: The Coal Measure shales, in general, are excellent clays for making a great variety of brick, tile and other clay products. The clay industry to date has been developed principally in the south- eastern part of the state where fuel is abundant and cheap, either in the coal fields of Cherokee and Crawford counties, or in the gas fields a little farther west. Shales belonging to different stratigraphic horizons have been used in different places and have been found to be exceedingly valuable for making all kinds of street-paving brick, common building brick, dry-pressed, fancy red brick, side-walk brick, hollow clay building tile, drainage and sewer tile. At Pittsburg and vicinity the Cherokee shales have produced a desirable material for this purpose. At Coffey- ville the Coffeyville shales produce excellent brick. About Cherryvale the Cherryvale shales are equally desirable, and so on almost to the top of the Coal Measures formations, with practically all the intervening shales producing very satisfactory material, as is witnessed by the high quality of brick produced from the Chanute shales at Chanute, the Lane shales at Table Mound west of Independence, the Lawrence shales at Lawrence, the Calhoun shales at Topeka, etc.
4. Cement Material : The limestone of the Coal Measures formations of Kansas, while in general not absolutely pure, is excellent material for the production of Portland cement, when properly mixed with Coal Measure shales. Fortunately, the impurities present in the limestone are identical with the materials of the shales, and therefore are in no way objectionable. The shales also, interbedded with the limestones, seldom contain any impurities which are detrimental to the manufacture of high-grade Portland cement. This fact in connection with the abundance of fuel coal, natural gas, and fuel oil, has resulted in the erection of numerous Portland cement plants in the southeastern part of the state, each of which draws its raw materials from the Coal Meas- ures limestones and shales. It is fortunate that such valuable ma- terials exist in such large quantities because the Portland cement indus- try has now become one of the leading manufacturing industries of the state and the supply of material is sufficiently abundant to last literally millions of years.
5. Building Stone: Many of the limestone horizons in the Kansas
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Coal Measures produce excellent building stone and the broad prairies are dotted here and there with scores of stone quarries, some of which already have reached a considerable magnitude of production. The sandstone beds here and there interbedded with the shales likewise pro- duce good flagging stones for making walks and for other constructional purposes. Should the time ever come when a larger amount of high- grade building stone is required, either limestone or sandstone, the Coal Measures of Kansas may be called upon to increase the present pro- duction many hundred fold.
PERMIAN.
Stratigraphy .- The Permian formations of Kansas are composed almost entirely of alternating beds of limestone and shales with much less sandstone in the shale than is found below in the Coal Measures. The Permian rocks overlie the Coal Measures conformably ; that is, their bedding planes are approximately parallel with the bedding planes of the Coal Measures. In general physical and chemical properties also, the Coal Measures rocks grade into Permian so that the only definite criterion for separating them is the character of the animal and plant life as represented by the fossils found in them. The line of demarcation between the west limit of the Coal Measures and the eastern limit of the Permian is an irregular one trending, in general, north and south from near the northeast corner of Marshall county to the southeast corner of Cowley county. On the high ridges the Permian extends farther east. because it overlies the Coal Measures, while in the valleys, such as the Kansas river valley, erosion has worn away the overlying Permian expos- ing the underlying Coal Measures much farther to the west. In this way the line of demarcation is more or less tortuous, varying in extreme cases as much as 35 miles in an east and west direction.
Naturally, the Permian is divided into two great divisions, the lower and the upper, the lower Permian being composed of light colored lime- stones and light or dark green colored shales, while the upper Permian is composed of red colored shales and imperfect sandstones, commonly known as the Red-Beds. All the Permian formations dip gently to the west, so that here, the same as with the Coal Measures, one traveling westward is continuously passing from the lower to the higher strata- from the older to the younger. Drill holes put down at any point at the western limit of the Permian, therefore, will penetrate the several sub- divisions in succession, and should they be carried far enough, would penetrate the Coal Measures likewise, which underlie the Permian.
In a north and south line the rock strata are continuous and almost level, so that the outcropping of any one formation may be traced north and south entirely across the state. It appears that the Permian is much less in thickness at the north than at the south. All the upper Permian here is wanting, so that the overlying Dakota Cretaceous rests immedi- ately on the Permian, while in the south, the thick red-beds intervene between the lower Permian and the Cretaceous. Beyond the limits of
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Kansas, the Permian extends both north and south. On the north it reaches only about 30 miles into Nebraska until it becomes entirely covered by the Dakota Cretaceous which laps eastward and rests on the Coal Measures formations. From the south side of the state it extends southward through Oklahoma and Texas.
Economic Products .- The Permian of Kansas is particularly noted for its large quantities of salt, but, in addition, it also supplies unlimited quantities of clay-shale and building stone.
I .. Salt: Kansas has enough salt, sodium chloride (NaCl), to supply the world for many thousands of years. It is regularly interbedded with the Permian shales. The eastern limit of the salt beds is a few miles west of Wichita, McPherson and Salina, while the western limit has not been determined, neither has the northern nor the southern limits. At Hutchinson the salt is known to be 415 feet thick. 'Northward it appears gradually to grow thinner and is about 200 feet thick at Kanapolis and Ellsworth, and 150 feet thick at Lincoln, where a deep well drilled early in 1911 proved its presence and quality. At Kingman and Hutchison it is about 600 feet below the surface, at Lyons 800 feet below the sur- face and at Ellsworth and Kanapolis 600 feet. A deep well at Anthony also showed an abundance of salt. From here southward it extends far across into Oklahoma.
Salt is mined by two distinct processes. Rock salt is obtained by sinking a shaft to the salt and mining it much as coal is mined. It is then hand sorted, crushed and passed over sieves of different grades and sent into the market in desirable forms. The other grade of salt is obtained by first drilling a hole, like an oil well hole, down to the rock salt and inserting a pipe which fits lightly into the well and extends down to the top of the salt. A smaller pipe is now put inside the first one and carried down to the bottom of the well. A pump is then attached to the larger, or outside, pipe and water is forced down into the well. In time it dissolves all the salt it can dissolve, about one pound of salt to 36 pounds of water, and is forced up through the inner pipe. A new well furnishes but little brine, because the surface area is so small it requires so long a time for the water to become saturated. But as solu- tion continues the surface becomes larger, so that within a year or so the pump can be kept running constantly and a good strong brine is constantly delivered by the smaller pipe. The brine is then evaporated by artificial heat and "evaporated" salt is obtained.
3. Gypsum: Gypsum is the foundation for one of the great indus- tries of Kansas. Rock gypsum is found in many places in the Permian. Extensive factories are now in operation in the vicinity of Blue Rapids, in Marshall county, in southern Dickinson county, and in Barber county, all of which use rock gypsum. A few years ago a number of plants were operating on gypsum or on gypsite, beds of which are found here and there throughout the Permian area. Rock gypsum occurs in a well stratified form interbedded with other Permian formations. About Blue Rapids and Hope it lies beneath the surface, but in Barber county, and
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stretching away southward into Oklahoma, it caps the hills similar to the way limestone does so frequently throughout the Coal Measures area. It occurs in a well stratified form, can be quarried the same as stone and is sufficiently pure to meet all the requirements for the manu- facture of high-grade plaster and other goods made from gypsum. Gypsum is used for making different grades of hard wall plaster. In its present form it is a hydrated calcium sulphate (CaSO4 + 2H2O). When ground to powder and heated it gives up a portion of the water of crystallization and takes on a property by which it may again absorb water and harden, or "set." Different grades of plaster are made by driving off different proportions of water. Also by certain secret treat- ments a superior grade is made known as Keen's cement, which is used extensively for interior decorations of costly buildings.
3. Clay-Shale: But little development work has been done on the clay-shales of the Permian. It is known, however, that many of them will prove exceedingly valuable. Chemical analysis shows that they con- tain less iron than the Coal Measure shales to the east, and, therefore, it may reasonably be expected that a great variety of light colored brick and terracotta may be made from them. A rich harvest awaits the development of the Permian clay industry.
4. Building Stone: The Permian affords some of the best building stone in the state, principally limestone. Here and there throughout the entire area from the north side of the state to the south good build- ing stone is available.
CRETACEOUS.
According to the general geological section previously given the great Cretaceous complex is divided first into the lower and upper, and the upper again subdived into a number of individual stages and formations. For a proper study of Kansas Cretaceous, one should begin at the bot- tom of the Cretaceous column, which would carry him far to the south beyond the limits of the state to the vicinity, we will say, of El Paso. It seems that the great mid-continental sea which existed to the west of the Coal Measures and Permian areas of Kansas had more favorable conditions for the production of thick heavy beds southward than to the northward throughout the earlier part of Cretaceous time, and fur- ther, that a gradual uprising to the south drove the ocean waters north- ward into the Arctic Ocean where they now are. In this way a great mid-continental area was covered thousands of feet in depth with Cre- taceous rocks, the lower and older ones towards the south and the younger and upper ones towards the north.
Comanche: In Clark, Comanche, Kiowa and Barber counties we find a small mass of Comanche Cretaceous which is the uppermost sub- division of the Lower Cretaceous. This is wedge-shaped, tapering north- ward and thickening to the south in Oklahoma and Texas. It disappears under the Tertiary south of the Arkansas river and thus far no tracings of it have been found north of the counties named. Probably it under-
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lies the Tertiary for some distance north of where it is now observable, but where its true northern limit is can only be determined by proper explorations beneath the surface of the Tertiary in the area south of Great Bend.
Dakota: The lowermost member of the Cretaceous found in con- siderable quantities in Kansas is the Dakota. It has a large develop- ment in an area reaching northeast and southwest from Washington county to Edwards county, as already described in previous pages, with traces of it here and there in the southwest part of the state where the Cimarron and Bear rivers have cut through the Tertiary, veneering and exposed long narrow strips of Dakota rocks. Probably it underlies the entire southwest corner of Kansas including six or eight counties south of the Arkansas river, throughout which the Tertiary mantle obscures it from sight.
The Dakota rocks lie almost horizontally, but throughout their west- ernmost exposure dip gently to the east. For example, their elevation in Morton county is over 3,500 feet above tide, while their easternmost outcrop in the central part of the state is below 2,000 feet. This is in conformity with what one should expect when it is recalled that the same Dakota formation outcrops throughout a long zigzag area along the eastern foothills of the Rocky mountains, where they have a north and south extent of thousands of miles at an altitude of from 5,000 to 7,000 feet above tide. This easterly dip throughout eastern Colorado and western Kansas is common not only to the Dakota strata, but to all the rocks overlying them, due evidently to the uplifting of the Rocky mountains, by which process the old interior ocean was drained north- ward as above explained.
The Dakota Cretaceous consists of alternating beds of sandstone and shales aggregating a thickness of about 450 feet. Usually the sandstone is coarse and porous and has many springs bursting out along the eastern outcropping lines, the source of the water of which, of course, is the catchment area westward along the mountainous borders. The eastward migration of water throughout these many hundreds of miles is well proven from the various artesian wells available here and there over the Great Plains area. It seems strange to many that these springs should be on or near the hill-tops and on the high ground rather than in the valleys, where springs generally occur. When it is remembered, however, that the present eastern demarcation of the Dakota is largely controlled by erosion, and how, therefore, the easternmost limits neces- sarily will be on the high divides between the stream, one can readily understand how water traveling from the west towards the east finally will find outlets along the eastern border of the sandstone, and therefore, on the high ground. Another natural sequence follows from the con- ditions just named, namely, that these seeps and springs carrying traces of iron leached from the rocks will have the same iron deposited in the sandstones where the seeps are evaporated, so that, in general, the eastern limits of the Dakota sandstones have a reddish or dark iron-
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stained appearance, often refered to by local residents and generally explained by assuming that at some previous time the rocks have been burned to give them their peculiar colors.
The Dakota sandstone, therefore, in general is a coarse rock exceed- ingly pervious to water, colored yellow, reddish and brownish by iron rust stains, and suitable in every way for carrying large quantities of water, which is one of its most striking characteristics. Also, the Dakota shale beds of Kansas are particularly noted for the large amount of salt they contain. One result is, that the siliferous shale beds have been eroded away more rapidly than the rocks below and many peculiarly shaped depressions result, the most noted of which is the so-called "basin" just north of Great Bend. Here the siliferous shales have been washed away and a circular "fry-pan" shaped basin formed. North- ward, in many places salt marshes exist, such as the famous one near Concordia. These marshes become more or less filled with water throughout the winter and spring, which leaches large quantities of salt from the siliferous shales. During the dry weather of summer and early autumn the water becomes evaporated, leaving a variable amount of salt behind. In early days of occupation of the plains by white men, such salt marshes were visited by people for hundreds of miles around. the salt scooped up from the ground and hauled away by wagon loads. Recently, since our salt mines have been in operation in the central part of the state, no further attention is given the salt marshes in an indus- trial way.
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