Economic Geology of the Independence Quadrangle, Kansas (2024)

Economic Geology of the Independence Quadrangle, Kansas

By Frank C. Schrader and Erasmus Haworth
_______

Introduction.

Location of the Quadrangle.

The Independence quadrangle is a rectangular area of about 950 square miles, situated in southeastern Kansas, adjacent to Indian Territory (fig. 1), its eastern limit being about 47 miles west of the Kansas-Missouri line. It forms an important part of the well-known Kansas-Indian Territory oil and gas fields, which have an area of nearly 11,000 square miles, extending from Paola, in eastern Kansas, southwestward a distance of 200 miles to Muscogee, Ind. T., and Cleveland, Okla. (fig. 1). The quadrangle is bounded by meridians 95° 30' and 96° west longitude and parallels 37° and 37° 30' north latitude. It includes Montgomery County, the southern third of Wilson County, and portions of other counties adjoining these two on the east and the west. The chief towns are Independence, Coffeyville, Cherryvale, Neodesha, Caney, and Elk. The growth of these towns has been greatly stimulated during the last few years by the finding of oil and gas.

General Statement.

The aim of this paper is to present the substance of what is known concerning the distribution, occurrence, and development of the oil and gas of the quadrangle, and to note briefly the more important industries growing out of these natural resources or depending on them within the territory considered.

The geologic field work on which the paper is based was done during the summer of 1904 and is essentially a continuation of that begun by the Survey in 1903 on the diagonally adjacent Iola quadrangle. Charge of the work was intrusted to Mr. F. C. Schrader, who was assisted by Prof. Erasmus Haworth and Messrs. Otto Veatch and George L. Metcalf.

Acknowledgments for additional assistance, courtesies, and information are due to the Prairie Oil and Gas Company, to the Edgear and the Granby zinc-smelting companies, and to the University Geological Survey of Kansas and several of its members, who, under the direction of Professor Haworth, have in previous years made a study of this and adjacent parts of the field, and whose labors constitute the basis of much of the geology of the eastern part of the area shown on the map forming Pl. II. Prof. E. C. Murphy, of the United States Geological Survey, has contributed valuable information on the hydrography of the region.

Geology.

Surface Features.

The surface features of the quadrangle are essentially those of the prairie-plains region, of which the eastern third of Kansas forms a part.

Except for fringes of forest that line the larger streams and portions of the sandstone hills occupied by black-jack oak, the region is essentially treeless. The topography is of the indistinct terrace and escarpment type and the surface varies from nearly flat to hilly or even rugged along the western or dip sides of the main valleys, where many of the hills present steep scarps 200 feet or more in height. The hills are nearly flat-topped and are locally known as mounds, especially where they occur as outliers separated from the main wall of the valley.

The vertical range between the tops of the highest hills and the floors of the lowest valleys is about 440 feet. The lowest point in the quadrangle, 690 feet in altitude, is in the southeast corner, where Verdigris River crosses the Kansas-Indian Territory line; this is also the lowest point in the State. The highest point is in the northwest corner, on the Dunham ranch, where the altitude is 1,130 feet. The average altitude somewhat exceeds 900 feet.

The master stream is Verdigris River, to which all the drainage of the quadrangle is tributary. The Verdigris and its principal tributaries, Fall and Elk rivers, meander through flat-bottomed infilled valleys from 1 mile to 2 miles in width.

The surface relief has been developed by erosion acting on alternating hard and soft beds of limestone, sandstone, and shale, which dip, in general, a little north of west at the average rate of about 15 feet per mile. In passing diagonally across the quadrangle from southeast to northwest-from Coffeyville to Buxton, for example-one not only reaches higher altitudes, but also crosses successively higher geologic horizons.

In this paper the rocks of the quadrangle have been grouped into seven formations. They constitute about one-third of the Coal Measures of Kansas and aggregate about 1,000 feet in thickness, of which considerably more than three-fourths is shale and sandstone and less than one-fourth limestone. The limestones strongly resemble one another and can be differentiated only by a close study of their detailed characteristics. They are mostly fine grained, crystalline, or semicrystalline. The shales vary from argillaceous to arenaceous and are usually bituminous. Some of them, and particularly the nodules which they contain, give off a pronounced odor that suggests oil.

With one exception the rocks of the quadrangle belong to the Pennsylvanian series, commonly known as the Coal Measures, and extend downward about 1,000 feet below the lowest formation exposed at the surface. The formations contained in the lower part of the section outcrop east of the quadrangle, the lowest appearing about 30 miles distant, as is shown in the accompanying map (Pl. II). This lower portion of the section, though not exposed at the surface within the limits of the quadrangle, is of prime importance, since it is the source whence the oil and gas are derived. It contains the Bandera shale, Pawnee limestone, Labette shale, Fort Scott limestone, and Cherokee shale, named in order from the top down. Of these the Cherokee shale, at the base of the series, is the most important with reference to oil and gas. The others are in general similar formations outcropping in the quadrangle.

The Pennsylvanian series rests upon the Boone limestone, which belongs to the Mississippian series and is exposed only in the southeast corner of Kansas and in adjacent parts of Missouri, Arkansas, and Indian Territory.

Correlations and Corrections.

Since formation names have been given to the various rocks in the Iola quadrangle, where the first detailed work undertaken by the Survey in the region was done, and since most of these formations extend southwestward into the Independence quadrangle, these names are, so far as practicable, here retained. New names are introduced only where required in grouping together previously named formations on account of the dying out of intermediate limestones. The southwestward extension of the formations from the Iola quadrangle and the disappearance of some of them are shown diagrammatically in fig. 2 (p. 13).

A columnar section of the formations and their subdivisions, as used in this paper and illustrated in Pl. III, is given below, the Parsons being the lowest outcropping formation:

Plate III. General columnar section of rocks
exposed and encountered in drilling.

Rocks.

Alluvium.

The alluvium consists of the recent stream-laid deposits of soil, clay, sand, and gravel that form the lowlands in the partly infilled valleys along Verdigris river and its larger tributaries. This is commonly known by drillers as "oil" or "made ground." In some localities it has a thickness of 35 or 40 feet. Along the Verdigris it forms a belt about 2 miles in width, and its surface deposit consists of a layer of black, heavy soil, which forms rich agricultural land.

Pennsylvanian Series.

Elgin Sandstone.

The uppermost consolidated formation occurring in the Independence quadrangle is a brown medium-grained sandstone, tentatively correlated with the Elgin sandstone,¹ included by Haworth in the Kanwaka shales. Merely the edges of this sandstone, reduced by erosion to a thickness of only 10 feet, occur in this quadrangle, at the extreme northwest corner, where they constitute its highest ground. The sandstone overlies the Painterhood limestone and thickens materially to the northwest beyond the quadrangle boundary.

Painterhood Limestone.

Like the sandstone just described, the Painterhood limestone, which probably represents the Oread limestone of Haworth,² occurs only in the northwest corner of the quadrangle, where it overlies the Buxton formation and occupies an area of less than a square mile. It forms a scarp of considerable prominence along its line of outcrop. It has a thickness of about 12 feet. It is reddish gray, semicrystalline, fine grained, and fossiliferous. It has supplied much of the building stone used in the construction of the Kansas State University and other buildings.

Buxton Formation.

The Buxton formation probably represents both the Lawrence and Leroy shales of Haworth.³ It lies along the western edge of the quadrangle, where its breadth of outcrop narrows from about 8 miles at the north to about 2 miles at the south. In the northern part of the quadrangle it is limited on the east by a well-defined eastward-facing scarp, 100 feet high. It has a thickness of about 320 feet and contains a large amount of sandstone, to which is due the rugged hilly topography in the western part of the quadrangle. It contains economic deposits in the form of coal seams, brick shale, building sandstone, and some sandstone which is being exploited for the manufacture of glass. The shale pits of the brick plants at Caney and just north of the quadrangle, at Fredonia, are excavated in its lower part. It contains also some thin beds and lenses of limestone, of which those outcropping on Willow Creek and about Elk are the most important.

Wilson Formation.

The name Wilson formation, after Wilson County, is the southeast corner of which the rocks are widely exposed, is here adopted for all of the geologic section included between the base of the Buxton and the top of the Drum. It comprises six subdivisions, which to the northeast, in the Iola quadrangle, have received formation names.⁴ These, in descending order, are the Piqua limestone, Vilas shale, Allen limestone, Concreto shale, Iola limestone, and Chanute shale (in part). In the Independence quadrangle some of these are discontinuous and others, particularly the limestones (Pl. I and fig. 2), die out, so that the six are here grouped into the Wilson, which is, in this quadrangle, essentially a shale-sandstone formation. It has a thickness of 280 feet (Pl. III), and outcrops in a belt about 16 miles wide, extending diagonally across the quadrangle in a northeast-southwest direction.

Piqua limestone.-The Piqua is one of the most important and prominent limestones of the quadrangle. It varies in thickness from 50 feet at the north edge to 1 or 2 feet at the south edge, where it extends into Indian Territory. In places it thickens materially, as at Elk, where the log of the well drilled on the bank of Duck Creek gives its thickness as 112 feet. It outcrops in a belt from 1 to 8 miles wide extending across the quadrangle from north to south. It caps the scarps and mounds on the west side of Fall and Verdigris rivers in the northern part of the quadrangle, whence its eroded surface forms a dip plain sloping gently westward from Neodesha and Sycamore to the foot of the Buxton scarp, beyond Lafontaine and Elk. Here it consists of a single massive terrane, which weathers in coarse, rough blocks. It is whitish or light gray in color and is medium to coarse grained, pure, and the most completely crystalline of all the limestones encountered. Probably more than half its mass consists of coarsely crystalline calcite. It is believed that it will prove exceptionally valuable in the manufacture of Portland cement, for which purpose it is to be used in a plant at Table Mound, on Elk River. To the south it loses its purity, becomes oolitic, arenaceous and finally conglomeratic, and consists of two or more thin beds of limestone with some intercalated shale.

Fig. 2. Diagram of formations exposed
in the Independence and adjacent quadrangles,
showing limestonesdying out to southwest.

Vilas shale.-This rock is exposed mainly in the scarps and bluffs west of Fall and Verdigris rivers. It is compact, usually light or yellowish, and thickens from 20 feet at the north edge of the quadrangle to 80 feet at Table Mound.

Allen limestone.-The Allen limestone is present in that part of the section which forms the Fall and Verdigris rivers scarps and extends from the north edge of the quadrangle southward to Table Mound. It varies from 5 to 70 feet or more in thickness and thins to the south, its southernmost recognized outcrop being at Crane. Its average thickness is about 30 feet. It is massive, semicrystalline, compact to coarse grained, fossiliferous, and at many places dark blue in color. A plant is being erected at Little Bear Mound, Neodesha, at which it will be used in the manufacture of Portland cement.

Concreto shale.-The Concreto is essentially a clay shale, having a thickness of about 60 feet. It also contains many heavy-bedded brown and greenish sandstone, which at various localities furnishes handsome building, paving, and curb stone, and which is extensively quarried near Independence and Neodesha. At Neodesha the shale is also to be used, with the overlying Allen limestone, for Portland cement.

Iola limestone.-Thin limestone beds and lentils, rarely exceeding 2 or 3 feet in thickness, are exposed at Independence and on Verdigris on the east. These beds, from their lithologic character and their occurrence near the horizon of the Iola limestone, are believed to be the southwestward extension of this formation.

Chanute shale (in part).-The Chanute shale occupies a belt having an average width of about 5 miles, extending from the northeast corner of the quadrangle southwestward into Indian Territory. It is about 75 feet thick, and consists of shale and sandstone in nearly equal proportions. On the north it forms the broad upland that slopes gently westward from Thayer to Neodesha and Verdigris River. In its upper part it contains the Chetopa Creek, Thayer, and other coal beds; toward the south it contains much sandstone, which is used locally for building purposes.

Drum Formation.

The Drum formation in the vicinity of Independence consists of a single bed of limestone. Farther south it comprises three members-a lower, heavy-bedded, massive limestone 12 feet thick; an upper, thin-bedded, hard, blue, often flinty and flaggy member 2 to 10 feet thick; and an intervening shale member 10 to 25 feet thick. In some localities, particularly in the northwestern part of Parker Township and the southwest corner of Liberty Township, where it caps the bluffs that overlook the Verdigris, the thin-bedded, flaggy member is overlain by a coarse-grained, heavy-bedded, stony limestone, about 5 feet in thickness, which weathers very rough and is deeply pitted.

Coffeyville Formation.

The name Coffeyville formation, after the town of Coffeyville, is here adopted for the portion of the geologic section included between the base of the Drum and the top of the Parsons. It comprises six or more members, which to the northeast, in the Iola quadrangle, have received formation names.⁵ These members, in descending order, are the Cherryvale shale, Dennis limestone, Galesburg shale, Mound Valley limestone, Ladore shale, Hertha limestone, and Dudley shale. On the south the Coffeyville consists wholly of alternating beds of shale and sandstone, while toward the northeast occur lentils of the Dennis and Mound Valley limestones, representing the dying out of these terranes. The formation has a thickness of 250 feet and outcrops in a broad northeast-southwest belt.

Cherryvale shale.-This member has a thickness of about 100 feet. It is light colored and in the main is an excellent brick shale, but it contains some sandstone and also seams of coal, one of which on Onion Creek, 4 miles west of Coffeyville, is 18 inches thick. This shale is usually fragile and easily disintegrated, which accounts for the steep slopes which occur in it.

Dennis limestone.-The Dennis limestone has a thickness of about 10 feet. It is medium grained, hard, bluish gray, semicrystalline, and fossiliferous; but owning to the hardness of the underlying shale it does not form prominent scarps. Its southernmost recognized outcrop is on Drum Creek, about 4 miles north of Liberty and 5 miles east of Independence.

Galesburg shale.-This shale, underlying the Dennis limestone, is about 40 feet thick. It consists in the main of red, arenaceous shale, but contains also some heavy beds of micaceous sandstone and thin seams of coal. Much of it weathers a pronounced rusty brown, denoting the presence of considerable iron. It thins rapidly to the north, and at Porterville, in the Iola quadrangle, is merely a member of the Bronson limestone.

Mound Valley limestone.-This limestone is known to be present in the Independence quadrangle on in that part of the area lying northeast of Liberty. It dies out west of Big Hill Creek, about a mile north of Liberty. It has an average thickness of 10 feet, and is fine grained, semicrystalline, and fossiliferous. Owing to its hardness and softness of the underlying shale, it forms prominent scarps where incised by the streams.

Ladore-Dudley shale.⁶-This lower member of the Coffeyville formation has a thickness of about 90 feet, and consists essentially of soft, compact, argillaceous or arenaceous, thin-layered shale, with but little interstratified sandstone. It is a good brick shale, and is used in making brick and tile at Coffeyville and brick at Mound Valley. To the northeast, in the Iola quadrangle, it contains nonworkable beds of coal 6 inches in maximum thickness.

Parsons Formation.

Counted from the base upward, the Parsons is the third limestone-bearing formation in the Coal Measures. It is the lowest formation exposed at the surface in the Independence quadrangle and outcrops in a belt about 8 miles wide, trending across the southeast corner and extending laterally from Coffeyville southeastward to beyond Snow Creek. It is exposed in the banks of the Verdigris and its tributaries, and in the surrounding hills. In the Independence quadrangle it has a thickness of about 80 feet, but to the northeast, in the Parsons and Iola quadrangles, it gradually thins to 10 or 15 feet. In the Independence quadrangle it consists of three members-a lower limestone 15 feet thick, an upper one about 20 feet thick, and an intervening shale member about 45 feet thick.

The lower limestone member is compact, bluish gray, and semicrystalline, contains considerable chert, and consists of two limestone beds, separated by a 2- to 3-foot interval of dark slaty shale. The lower bed is the harder and more crystalline of the two, and is easily identified by the massive and persistent deposits of large corals (Favosites) which it contains.

The upper limestone of the Parsons formation is more crystalline and less compactly bedded than the lower. Its basal portion is shaly and nodular. The upper part is heavy bedded and forms prominent scarps where incised by streams; but usually weathers into gentle slopes and furnishes a dark fertile soil.

Bandera Shale.

At Bandera, its typical locality, the Bandera shale has a thickness of about 100 feet and contains considerable thin-bedded sandstone. Beneath the Independence quadrangle it has a thickness of about 140 feet.

Pawnee Limestone.

The Pawnee is a massive limestone formation that has a thickness of 30 feet (Pl. III) beneath the Independence quadrangle.

Labette Shale.

The Labette shale averages about 110 feet in thickness beneath the Independence quadrangle, contains but little sandstone, and is without character to distinguish it from other shales of the series.

Fort Scott Limestone.

The Fort Scott is the lowest Coal Measures limestone encountered in this area. It has a thickness of about 40 feet and comprises three members-an upper limestone 10 feet thick, a lower limestone 15 feet thick, and an intervening shale 15 feet thick.

Cherokee Shale.

The Cherokee shale is the principal oil and gas reservoir of the Kansas-Indian Territory field, and hence is economically the most important formation in the Pennsylvanian series. It also contains the largest beds of the workable Kansas coals. It is a compact shale, containing at various horizons much sandstone. It varies from 300 to 700 feet in thickness and outcrops in a belt about 38 miles wide, extending from Missouri across the southeast corner of Kansas into Indian Territory.⁷ In the Independence area it is deeply buried by the overlying formations, whose aggregate thickness, varying from 320 feet in the southeast to nearly 1,000 feet in the northwest, practically determines the depth at which the Cherokee is found, and consequently also the depth at which the oil and gas contained in it are reached by the drill. To the presence of this overlying impervious blanket of rocks is due the preservation of the oil and gas in economic quantities. East of the quadrangle, where the blanket thins, or in the exposed areas of this shale is absent, the oil and gas have escaped or are escaping by seepage into the outer air and are no longer present in commercial amounts. A study of the outcrops of the Cherokee and its drill records in the Independence and intervening fields shows that it contains considerable sandstone, mainly in the form of discontinuous beds or lentils, in which the oil and gas occur. In the Independence quadrangle, as shown in Pl. III, the top of the formation is approximately at sea level. It has an average thickness of about 450 feet, and gradually thickens to the southwest from less than 400 feet in the Cherryvale-Neodesha region to nearly 500 feet at Caney.

Mississippian Series.

Boone Formation.

The Boone formation is often referred to as the Boone limestone, and is commonly known to drillers and oil men as the "Mississippi lime." Its upper surface is eroded and presents locally a more or less uneven limestone floor (Pl. II), upon which the Cherokee shale rests. It consists of a number of chert and flint-bearing limestone beds, and contains the noted Galena and Joplin zinc and lead deposits in southeastern Kansas and southwestern Missouri.

In the oil and gas fields the Boone has been penetrated by the drill in a number of localities, usually at considerable depths, and in some cases it has been drilled through. Within the Independence quadrangle (Pl. III) it is encountered at about 450 feet below tide level. In the eastern part of the quadrangle, at Coffeyville and Cherryvale, it is found at a depth of about 1,050 feet, at Neodesha at 1,130 feet, and in the southwestern part of the quadrangle at Caney, at 1,560 feet. From these and other drill records, the presence of the Boone formation throughout the Kansas-Indian Territory oil and gas field and its general northwesterly dip have been determined. From the few drillings that have passed through it the average thickness in the Independence quadrangle is computed to be about 250 feet.

The Boone is not an oil- and gas-bearing formation, nor have oil and gas been found below it in commercial quantities in the Independence quadrangle.

General Structure.

The geologic strata of southeastern Kansas as a whole have a north-northeast and south-southwest strike and a northwesterly to westerly dip of about 20 or 25 feet per mile. For the Independence quadrangle also this statement is true, with certain modifications. The geologic map (Pl. I) shows the strike and outcrop belts of the various formations trending in a north-northeast and south-southwest direction, and the horizontal section A-B accompanying Pl. II, taken at a right angle to the strike, shows the dip of the rocks to be northwestward at the rate of about 20 feet per mile in the eastern part of the quadrangle, gradually decreasing to about 10 to 15 feet per mile in the western part. The general northwesterly dip is interrupted near the middle of the quadrangle by an uplift that has formed a low, broad east-west arch which may be termed the Cherryvale anticline.

The portion of the quadrangle lying north of this anticline has been more extensively elevated than that lying south, and its geologic structure agrees more closely with that of southeastern Kansas as a whole, as given in the preceding paragraph.

In the southern half of the quadrangle, as shown on Pl. I, the general strike veers from north-northeast and south-southwest to more nearly north-south, and the dip becomes nearly due west, the rate varying from 16 feet per mile in the southeastern part of the area, as shown by the Parsons limestone, to about 10 feet per mile in the western part. Other local variations in structure occur; for example, below Independence, at the mouth of Rock Creek on the Verdigris, the Drum limestone dips to the southwest at the rate of about 70 feet per mile, and 2 miles north of Liberty it dips to the southwest at an angle of 20° or more.

The available well logs indicate that this half of the quadrangle also contains in the lower part of its section a northeast-southwest synclinal trough, whose axis passes through the vicinity of Tyro and Caney, pitching to the southwest at the rate of about 18 feet per mile. This trough has a width of about 15 miles. The Wayside-Bolton region lies apparently at its northwestern edge and the Coffeyville region at its southeastern edge. From both edges the strata incline toward the vicinity of Tyro at the rate of about 28 feet per mile. The oil and gas in the southern part of the quadrangle occur in connection with this synclinal trough. Possibly to it are due also similar occurrences farther west, in the eastern part of Chautauqua County.

Owing to the general westerly dip of the rocks the minimum depth at which the Cherokee shale is reached is in the southeastern part of the quadrangle.

It is a noticeable fact that as the several limestones in their southwestward extension gradually thin and die out in this quadrangle there is a more than corresponding increase in the thickness of the shale terranes. This thickening to the southwest is, according to deep-well records, shown also by the Cherokee shale, as has already been noted.

The accompanying sections (Pls. II, III), especially their lower portions, are based largely on records of deep wells that have passed through the Pennsylvanian series and penetrated or passed through the Boone limestone. The limestones are represented by conventional patterns and the shales by intermediate blank spaces. The rocks in the field vary slightly in degree of dip and in attitude from place to place, but this could not be shown on the small scale of the sections. As shown in the columnar sections, the well logs record more limestones than have been found exposed at the surface and more than are represented in the horizontal sections. These additional limestones doubtless owe their origin to varying sedimentation. In some cases they represent subterranean members due to the splitting up of surficially exposed limestones and in others they are probably lenses in the shale terranes. Both of these phenomena, as shown on Pl. I, are seen from surface observations to occur frequently.

Relations of the Oil- and Gas-Bearing Sandstones.

The reservoirs in which the oil and gas are found are beds or lenticular bodies of sandstone interbedded with the shales. These sandstones are irregular and local in character, varying greatly in their horizontal and vertical extent. They do not form definite horizons, but die out laterally or grade into shale. Their general occurrence may be illustrated by fig. 3, (p. 20)-an ideal sketch of the relation of sandstones contained in a shale formation. In (A) the sandstone is lenticular in shape; it thins out and disappears entirely from the section, and has no equivalent. In (B) the sandstone represents a period of sedimentation in which both sands and muds were being laid down, according to the local variation in the character of material supplied and the strength of the currents which assorted it. As regards these two classes of sandstones, observations have shown that the lens-like beds are apt to be more persistent and to extend for longer distances, while the sandstones which grade into shales vary from place to place in an exceedingly irregular way. The varying relations of the oil- and gas-bearing sandstones are shown in Pl. V (p. 24) which represents a group of wells east of Chanute.

Mineral Resources.

Stone.

Foundation and Building Stone.

The stone at present used for constructional purposes in this quadrangle is derived mostly from the sandstone occurring in the Chanute and Concreto members of the Wilson formation and in the Buxton formation and from the Drum limestone. Probably four-fifths of the quantity used is sandstone. As shown in Pl. I (pocket), quarries are opened near the cities and towns and at many intermediate points.

***

The building stone used at Independence and Neodesha is almost wholly sandstone. The West quarry, 2 miles north of Independence, has been in active operation for many years, has a large output, and supplies most of the stone for Independence and the surrounding country. The quarry is on the level prairie land near the Missouri Pacific Railway, and two other quarries are located near by. The main pit of the quarry is about 225 feet square and 15 feet deep, its faces exposing 10 to 12 feet of good rock beneath a covering of 3 to 4 feet of surface soil and thin shaly sandstone. The beds lie nearly horizontal, the dip being gently north, with slight warping indicated at one or two points. The section of useful stone now being worked consists of layers varying from 3 or 5 inches in thickness at the top to 2 ½ feet at the bottom of the quarry. The rock is remarkably fine and even grained, slightly micaceous, and of pale brownish-gray color with often a greenish tinge. A prospect hole sunk in the bottom of the quarry encountered a bluish sandstone in two layers of 10 inches and 5 feet in thickness, respectively, each giving promise of economic value. These data, in connection with the log of a near-by well, indicate for this locality a total thickness of about 50 feet of a good grade of workable stone. The stone is easily quarried and dressed and is taken out in all sizes, the thicker blocks being used for foundation and building purposes and the thinner for sills, caps, steps, curbing, and paving. A number of handsome residences and churches are built of it, and in some of these it has been ornamentally cut, but the cutters report that owing to the fact that it is "plucky" in spots extra care is required in trimming it for fine work. It sells for $2.65 and upward per perch.

At present the most important source of constructional limestone is in the upper member of the Drum formation, in a narrow belt 2 to 3 miles northwest and west of Coffeyville, extending from Reservoir Hill southwestward beyond Dearing, thence southeastward along Onion Creek to the State line. The rock is mostly hard blue limestone, at some places flinty. It is thinner bedded than the sandstone just described, but dresses well. As in the case of the sandstone at Independence and elsewhere the heavier pieces are used principally for footing, foundation, and building purposes, while the thinner pieces, 3 to 5 inches thick, make excellent flagging, paving, and curbstones. Some of the quarries, notably those of Albert Short, 3 ½ miles northwest of Coffeyville, also supply limestone for fluxing purposes to nearly all the glass factories of Coffeyville. The foundation and building stone sells for $1.25 per perch, or about $10 per cord, in competition with brick that can be used for the same purpose.

Of the five or six quarries in the district the Gorton quarry, on the south side of Onion Creek, 3 ½ miles west of Coffeyville, furnishes a fair average section of the useful rock. The rocks in all cases lie nearly flat.

There is reason to believe that other districts in the quadrangle may produce stone as good and as abundant as at Independence and Coffeyville. The sandstone deposits in the Liberty region east of Big Hill Creek have supplied practically all the building and paving stone for Liberty and have recently furnished the abutments for the new steel bridge built across Pumpkin Creek. The map (Pl. I, pocket) shows in a general way where the rocks have been most quarried and the distribution of the formations in which the quarries occur.

Flag, Curb, and Paving Stone.

Stone of good quality for flagging, curbing, and paving is abundantly supplied from the thinner layers, 3 to 10 inches thick, in the quarries at Independence, Coffeyville, and elsewhere. The large slab in front of the Commercial Bank at Independence, taken from the Went quarry, is approximately 16 feet wide, 24 feet long, and 9 inches thick, and weighs about 18 tons. For paving the Independence sandstone is reported by Mr. J. Phelan, city engineer of Independence, to be cheaper than concrete, but not so good, since it wears unevenly, for which reason, together with its porosity, the stone would probably not last long in a moist climate subject to frequent extremes in cold and heat.

Macadam and Ballast.

Though the industry of manufacturing lime is not now carried on within the limits of the quadrangle, the presence of numerous old kilns and statements from settlers show that all the more important limestones of the quadrangle have been utilized for burning lime. As shown in Pl. I (pocket), these are the Piqua limestone at and northwest of Table Mound, the Drum limestone east of Independence, and the Dennis limestone northeast of Cherryvale. The Allen limestone in the northern part of the quadrangle, on Fall River, would also probably prove suitable for the purpose.

1 Economic Geology of the Independence Quadrangle, Kansas, 1906, page 11 footnote 1: Univ. Geol. Surv. Kansas, vol. 3, 1898, p. 64.

2 Ibid., page 11 footnote 2: Kansas Univ. Quart., vol. 2, 1894, pp. 123-124.

3 Ibid., page 11 footnote 3: Ibid., p. 122.

4 Ibid., page 12 footnote: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 238, 1904, Pl. I.

5 Ibid., page 15 footnote 1: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 238, 1904, Pl. I.

6 Ibid., page 15 footnote 2: The term Ladore-Dudley is here used to designate the horizon that is the equivalent of the Ladore shale, the Hertha limestone, and the Dudley shale. The limestone dies out in the northern part of the Parsons quadrangle, as shown in fig. 2.

7 Ibid., page 17 footnote: Bull. U. S. Geol. Survey No. 238, 1904, p. 16.

Economic Geology of the Independence Quadrangle

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