The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-12-31
SHIFTING SANDS IN KANSAS.
Once the Bed of an Ocean. Now
Feature of the Prairies.

The broad expanse of level prairie
which makes up the greater proportion
of central Kansas is broken in one place
by a range of hills whose origin is d
question that has puzzled scientists, says
the New York Tribune. The prairies are
easily explained; they are simply the bed
of vast ocean. The surface contains
usually a limited amount of sand evenly
distributed. This also is to be expected,
for the action of waves would spread
uniformly over the sea bed the sand
washed down from the bordering mount
aims But here in the middle of this
vast ocean. is a miniature mountain
chain. as distinct from the surrounding
land as if it had dropped from the
skies.
The hills stretch from near Lyons.
Kan. to Hutchinson, a distance of about
q miles They form the arc of a circle
and are on the average about tour miles
in width. The curious feature about them
is that they are made up wholly of sand,
without the slightest intermiXture of any
foreign element. The sand is composed of
fine, diamond-like particles, so light that
they seek new position at every breeze,
and breezes in Kansas are too common to
be noticeable
These beds of sand are much given to
shifting. A heavy wind will move whole
acres of Them Hills so feet in height
will be transferred little by little a dis
lance of 100 yards, and a road between
two mounds will be found next day en-
tering the very bowels of single hill.
eddying storms will play with the sand.
The effect can be compared only to that
produced by a high wind on very line
snow.
of quiet weather has permitted turf
to form that can Withstand the action
of the elements. In these spots much
fruit is raised. the best OF when is WIG
plum renowned throughout the whole
state But if one digs through this turf
the sand is found beneath, and extends
downward to the old prairie level AT
this point begins the soil, limestone
strata and congromerates, exactly the
same as in all the rest of the region
This fact proves that the hills were
placed here after the surface formation
had been completed. and further corrob-
Grafton is found in the substances buried
beneath the hills Behring'S have uncov-
cred great cottonwood trees with the
branches all intact. and bones of antelope
and sandhill crane-two animals which
still hnger in this unfrequented region.
though otherwise almost driven from the
state. Even human bones have been dug
elers caught in the dangerous sands dur
ing some unrecOrded storm. Under these
conditions. especially if the storm is ro-
tary like the famous tornado. this re-
sion forms q natural death-trap.
TO satisfactory explanation of the hills
has ever been advanced. Early and less
well informed Investigators thought they
might be the remnant of some heavenly
body which by chance had encountered
the earth after the surface formation was
practically finished. Some even went so
far as to declare them to be the REM
nant of the nucleus of a comet. Later
on. when the cataclysmic school of geolo-
gists was in the ascendant they sug-
gested that some mighty prehistoric cy
clone. as it swept through the country.
had collected the sand and had deposited
it here. where the force of the storm was
expended.
Scientists of the present day are dis
posed to find a more simple explanation.
They say that as the inland sea subsidized
this stretch of land may have been up
lifted somewhat, so that it formed an
island, and the action of the waves coll
lected and deposited the sand about its
borders Then after the water had dis
appeared. the land sunk to a level with
the surrounding country, thus leaving be-
hind it the heaps of sand in the form of
hills This theory. although IL docs NOT
account for an the phenomena. is per-
hans the most rational yet proposed, and
it VIII probably be found TO have con-
siderable truth. when the complete his
tory Of these hills shall be discovered.