MINERAL RESOURCES OF KANSAS. 39

above Junction City —how many miles I cannot say—an enormous
and solid stratum of this rock extends, in some places over six feet
thick, and so soft that they cut it with axes in the quarry, and saw it
into any forms they please with toothed saws, just as timber is sawed.
Yet when exposed to the atmosphere for a while, it becomes almost as
hard as marble and quite as indestructible. As to this last and most
important fact I might have hesitated to take the words of the people
there, who are very enthusiastic on the subject, and who think that
they have an inexhaustible mine of wealth in that rock, had I not
seen the angles of the stratum, as its face protruded from the face of
the bluff, as sharp as ever, although they had withstood the beatings
of the elements for centuries

A company, with a capital of $40,000, has just been organized at
Junction City to saw up this stone, and otherwise work it into any
and every form which the market may call for. The President of the
Company told me that they proposed to saw it into slabs for flooring,
one and a half inches thick, and into tiles for roofing, three quarters
thick, and that they would turn it into any form which a lathe could
give to wood or metal. I believe this enterprise will be a success. I
saw some very large blocks of this stone at Topeka, on the ground
where they are just beginning to erect the State Capitol. It will
probably be one of the most beautiful structures in the country, but by
no means the mostexpensive. ‘This stone is practically inexhaustible,
and will furnish a large item of transportation to the U. P. Railway.

While at Junction City two tall, slender chimney-tops were pointed
out tome. They were built of thin blocks or slabs, set on edge —four
making a round—cut out, as I was told, with a common hand-saw.
They fitted so nicely that the joints were scarcely perceptible at the
distance I stood, and the whole had the appearance of slender marble
shafts. Mr. Martin, editor of “The Junction City Daily Union,” (an
energetic and enterprising Pennsylvanian, a good man, and one whose
life is likely to be a success,) had a block of this stone in his office
on which he showed me, by practical test, how a hand-saw operated.
It cut into it rapidly and smoothly, although the block had become
somewhat hardened by exposure to the atmosphere. Most of the
buildings in Junction City are of this stone, which gives to that new
place a very substantial and handsome appearance. For size and
finish some of the stores would appear well in any city.

Some miles above Junction City —how far exactly I cannot say—
the stone of the valley changes from lime to sand, and there is also a
perceptible change in the soil, although it continues to be equally rich.
At Salina, fifty miles above Junction City, they have abundance of