The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1897-06-18
CURIOUS ROCKS IN KANSAS.
Castle Rocks Stick Up One Hum
dred Feet in n Level FInin.

ShStRc lSOckS SUCK Up One HUn-
dred Feet in n Level PInin.
One of the curious things that i'm
press the traveller over the prairics OF
northwest Kansas is the prevalence of
strange rock formations that are as
wild and weird as any found in the
mountain regions. Separated, as they
nre, from the ranges of hills hundreds
of miles to the west, they are the more
surprising, and few are aware of their
existence. The state of Kansas, so far
from bGing Il plain, is really an inclined
parallelogram set on steep grade. The
western end is 5000 feet higher in the
hir than the eastern, and the traveller
finds that he is all the time, getting fur
ther from the vegetation of the lower
regions as he goes west, until he has
come to the foothills of the Rockies.
That this section was at one time the
bed of an ancient sea is probable; in
deed, it is manifest from the appearance
of great basins that are not connected
with any other dcpressions on the
plains. Scattered among these are the
rock formations that have been the
awe-inspiring features of the landscape
for the Indians and never-faiing
source of interest to the white man.
So strange are they that it almost seems
that they must have been the work
of the Titans of old, rather than the
forces of nature working in simple
and ordinary manner. Take Castle
Rock, out in Cove county, on the very
outskirts of the plains, where the rock
rises over 100 feet from the dead level
of the prairie and is a landmark for
miles. The settlers go there for miles
to spend the day climbing the smooth
sides.
st seems like being back in the old
mountain regions of the east" said one
of the residents of this strange section,
land like to go and look at it, just to
see something different from the ever
lasting level lands" The rock is the
only one for scores of miles, and is al
most the only portion of land in the
country that is above the level of the
plain. 1t Is said that the Indians had
it as council rock, and that many of
the desperate deeds done by the
Apacheswere planned under its shadow.
Biologists say that this is one of the
peaks of q mountain range that once
was in existence in this part of the
west.
But what shall they say of Rock City,
the edge of Ottawa county? This is
probably the most curious arrange
ment of stones to be found in the whole
prairie region. If one approaches it
in the evening he would feel sure that
it was the home of race of gnomcs
that had fashioned for themselves the
moundlike structures that are the
semblance of dwellings,. Set among
sloping hills, they are scattered in a
quaint disorder over several acres and
are in size from the small blocks the
shape of bushel measure to the round,
tentlike masses as large as the huts of
the Icelander, They are all water
washed and have the marks of waves on
their sides. One of the illusions of their
position Is the one that they have
dropped down from the sky and have
not been formed from the usual
course of events. Twenty miles south
east, in the edge of this county Dick
inson), are a similar series of rocks set
on the tops of hills. The hills are the
tallest in the vicinity, and after one
climbs them it is passing strange to
find on the tops the large rocks that
have no connection with the surround
ing sections landscape. Curious fea-
lures of these rocks are the depressions
that are found in them, as if great drops
of rain had fallen in the soft mass of
molten Stag and left their impress.-St.
Louis Globe-Democrat.