The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-01-25
CURIOUS ROCKS IN KANSAS

One of the curious things that im- press the traveller over the priaries 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 are, 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 being plain, is really an h. clined parallelogram set on a steep grade. The western end is 5000 feet | higher in the air than the eastern, and the traveller finds that he Is all the time getting further from the ve- l getatton Of, the lower regions as he goes west, until he has come to the | foot hills of the Rockies. That this section was at one time the bed Of an ancient sea is probable; indeed it is manifest from the appearance of great basins that are not connected with any other depressions 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 falling 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 a simple and ordinary manner. Take Castle Rock out in Cove Coutny, on the very outskirts of the plains, where the rock rises over 100 feet from the dead level l of the prairie and is a landmark for miles. The settlers go tfere for miles to spend the day climbing the smooth sides. Tt seems like being back. in the old mountain regions of the East" said one of the residents of this strange i section, and I like to go and look at it, just to see something different from 1 the everlasting level lands" The rock l is the only one for scores of miles, and l is almost the only portion of land in the county that is above the level of | the plain. It is said that the Indians 1 had it as a council rock, and that many of the desperate deeds done by the Apaches were planned under its l shadow. Geologists say that this is one of the peaks of a mountain range that | once was in existence in this part of l the west
 1 But what shall they say of Rock City in the edge of Ottawa County? This l is probably the most curious arrange ment of stones to be found in the whole prairie region. If one approaches it in l the evening he would feel sure that | it was the home of a race of gnomes l that had fashioned for themselves the l mound-like structures that are the 1 semblance of dwellings. Set among gently sloping hills, they are scattered | in quaint disorder ever several acres, and are in size from the small blocks the shape of a bushel measure to the round tent-like 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 illusi-
 ons of their position is the one that they have dropped been formed from
 the usual course of events. Twenty
 miles southwest, in the edge of this
 county Dickinson1, are q similar
 series of rocks set on the tops of two I hills. The hills are the tallest in
 vicinity, and after one climbs them it
 is passing strange to find on the tor
 the large rocks that have no connec-
 ton with the surrounding sections
 landscape. Curious features of these
 rocks are the depEessions that are found
 in them, as if great drops of rain had
 fallen in the soft mass of molten slae
 and left their impress-St Louis
 Globe Democrat