_Minerals._--In the east portion of the state are immense beds of bituminous coal, often at shallow depths or cropping out on the surface. In 1907 more than 95% of the coal came from Crawford, Cherokee, Leavenworth and Osage counties, and about 91.5% from the first two. The total value of the production of coal in 1905 (6,423,979 tons) was $9,350,542, and in 1908 (6,245,508 tons) $9,292,222. In the central portion, which belongs to the Triassic formation, magnesian limestone, ferruginous sandstone and gypsum are representative rocks. Gypsum (in beautiful crystalline form) is found in an almost continuous bed across the state running north-east and south-west with three principal areas, the northern in Marshall county, the central in Dickinson and Saline counties, and the southern (the heaviest, being 3 to 40 ft. thick) in Barber and Comanche counties. The product in 1908 was valued at $281,339. Magnesian limestone, or dolomite, is especially plentiful along the Blue, Republican and Neosho rivers and their tributaries. This beautiful stone, resembling white, grey and cream-coloured marble, is exceedingly useful for building purposes. It crops out in the bluffs in endless quantities, and is easily worked. The stone resources of the state are largely, but by no means exclusively, confined to the central part. There are marbles in Osage and other counties, shell marble in Montgomery county, white limestone in Chase county, a valuable bandera flagstone and hydraulic cement rock near Fort Scott, &c. The limestones produced in 1908 were valued at $403,176 and the sandstones at $67,950. In the central region salt is produced in immense quantities, within a great north to south belt about Hutchinson. The beds, which are exploited by the brine method at Hutchinson, at Ellsworth (Ellsworth county), at Anthony (Harper county) and at Sterling (Rice county), lie from 400 to 1200 ft. underground, and are in places as much as 350 ft. thick and 99% pure. At Kanopolis in Ellsworth county, at Lyons in Rice county and at Kingman, Kingman county, the salt is mined and sold as rock-salt. In the south-west salt is found in beds and dry incrustations, varying in thickness from a few inches to 2 ft. The total product from 1880-1899 was valued at $5,538,855; the product of 1908 (when Kansas ranked fourth among the states producing salt) was valued at $882,984. The development has been mainly since 1887 at Hutchinson and since about 1890 in the rock-salt mines. In the west portion of the state, which belongs to the Cretaceous formation, chalks and a species of native quicklime are very prominent in the river bluffs. The white and cream-coloured chalks are much used for building purposes, but the blue is usually too soft for exposure to the weather. The quicklime as quarried from the bluffs slakes perfectly, and with sand makes a