The general surface of the county is undulating, the highest hills being situated in the northwest part and being about 200 feet above the level of the Marmaton. The bottom lands average about one mile in width, and comprise seventeen per cent of the area of the county, the upland comprising eighty-three per cent. The timber belts average one-half mile in width, and contain, as principal varieties, hackberry, hickory, oak, pecan, and walnut. But little attention has as yet been paid to forestry, but the disposition to plant trees is being manifested. The varieties planted are the ash, catalpa, cottonwood, elm, hickory, hard and soft maple, poplar, walnut, and willow, all of which do well.
Bourbon is also an excellent county for the different varieties of grasses.
The soil is deep and fertile, and is underlaid by limestone and sandstone at various depths all over the county. Fire clay abounds and pottery clay is occcasionally found, also hydraulic cement, yellow ocher and other mineral paints, which however exist only in limited quantities. An extensive quarry of fine flagging stone is found about five miles west of Fort Scott. This stone exists in layers from two to five inches in thickness, is known as the Fort Scott stone, and is shipped in all directions and as far eastward as St. Louis. Two qualities of bituminous coal are found, a red quality and a black or gas coal.