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NEBRASKA BLUE BOOK, 1930

NEBRASKA'S NATURAL RESOURCES
By G. E. Condra, Dean and Director, Conservation and Survey Division,
The University of Nebraska

Adams	Cass	Dodge
Antelope	Chase	Douglas
Banner	Cheyenne	Fillmore
Boone	Coming	Gage
Box Butte	Dakota	Garden
Buffalo	Dawes	Hall
Burt	Dawson	Howard
Butler	Deuel	Jefferson

Johnson	Nuckolls	Scotts Bluff
Kearney	Otoe	Sheridan
Keith	Pawnee	Seward
Kimball	Phelps	Sioux
Lincoln	Perkins	Thurston
Madison	Platte	Washington
Merrick	Polk	Wayne
Morrill	Red Willow	Webster
Nance	Richardson
Nemaha	Saunders

     The following counties have been surveyed and are to be published.

Cedar	Furnas	Lancaster
Clay	Garden	Pierce
Colfax	Hamilton	Saline
Custer	Harlan	Stanton
Dixon	Hitchcock	Thayer
Franklin	Knox	York

     Nebraska is not well endowed with certain mineral resources. No gold, silver, lead or. zinc of value has been found. Precious stones and rare minerals re .f uncommon occurrence. Yet the state has some useful mineral materials, S stone, clay, sand, gravel, volcanic ash and potash. There are five seams or beds of coal from which there has been some production and there is thought to be some chance for the discovery of oil and gas in paying quantities.

     Eleven deep wells are now drilling in Nebraska to test for oil and gas. They are at or near Nehawka, Falls City, Red Cloud, Holdrege,
     Grand Island, east and south of Beaver City, and near Imperial, Crawford and Newport. The Geological Survey is keeping the record of the progress at each well and is preserving specimens from the formations penetrated.

     Forty-three beds of limestone, a thick formation of chalk rock, and several beds of sandstone, from which there is considerable stone production, are exposed in Nebraska. These beds have been described in various reports of the State Geological Survey of the Conservation and Survey Division.
     Quite large stone quarries operate at or near Weeping Water, Louisville, Meadow and South Bend. Much of the stone produced at these places is crushed and used in concrete and for other building purposes.. Smaller quarries operate at a number of places in the state, but for local use. An increasing amount of the middle part of the Ervine limestone, which runs high in calcium carbonate, as at the Meyers quarries near Weeping Water, is being ground and shipped to Chicago

and other places for use as filler in putty, paint, paper, and in asphalt pavement. The demand for this nearly pure limestone in the ground form is increasing.

     Though the state has stone in formations quite well distributed, much of it is not well-suited for use in concrete. The dimension stone cannot compete successfully with the well-known building stone shipped in from Indiana, Ohio and other states.
     The general use of gravel aggregate in concrete has lessened the demand in the state for limestone aggregate, hence there is relatively less need for crushed stone than formerly. There are adequate stone resources to supply the sub-grade of permanent highways and a considerable amount is suitable for concrete. Nebraska stone is shipped to south-western Iowa for use in road building.
     Unfortunately much of our stone is thickly covered with heavy overburden, making quarrying difficult and the cost of production quite high. These and other conditions have led to the, abandonment of many small quarries the past few years.
     A rather novel method of quarrying, recommended by the Geological Survey several years ago, is now used at the largest quarries along the Platte. It is mining by tunnelling (sic) on a thick bed lying below a heavy cap rock which has strength to support the roof to a width of about 20 feet between the pillars of stone not removed. This leaves a net work of large rooms and pillars. Mining here can be carried on without much regard for the weather or the season of the year.
     The commercial quarries of Nebraska are as follows:
     1. National Stone Company quarries, two miles northeast of Louisville, work by tunnelling (sic) on the Plattsburg limestone;
     2. Murphy quarry, at Louisville, recently consolidated with the National; operated by tunnelling (sic).
     3. National Stone Company quarry west of Meadow; worked by tunnelling (sic) on the Plattsburg limestone.
     4. Burlington quarry, two miles northwest of South Bend, works the Louisville, South Bend and Iatan limestones, producing rip-rap which is used on the Burlington Railroad in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas.
     5. Meyers quarry, three-fourths mile east of Weeping Water, works the upper-middle part of the Ervine Creek limestone. This stone is ground and shipped out of the state.
     6. Weeping Water Stone Company quarry, (formerly the Commercial Land Company quarry), located one and one-fourth miles southeast of Weeping Water; operates on the Ervine Creek limestone. The stone is ground and shipped out of the state.
     It seems that the limestones and the Niobrara chalk should be used in the future as sources of finely crushed rock for liming sour, soils which occur in the southeastern counties. Some of the limestone of

the Ervine Creek bed, when ground, are well suited for incorporation in hog feeds and for the chicken yard.

     The sand resources have been investigated by the Conservation and Survey Division. Bulletins, one f 200 pages, the other of 60 pages, were published a few years past. They are now out of print.
     The state's sand is widely distributed. Large alluvial sand deposits occur along the Platte. They are worked in open pits or by dredging and pumping. Sand and gravel of good quality are produced here on a commercial scale and shipped throughout Nebraska and to other states. There are more than 25 large producing plants, located at Scottsbluff, Gering, North Platte, Kearney, Grand Island, Central City, Columbus, Schuyler, Fremont, Valley, Ashland, South Bend, Meadow, Louisville, and Oreapolis. The pit-run of material is screened or sized for the various uses. The fine sand is used as engine sand and in plaster and the coarser grades are used for concrete, gravelling (sic) roads and for other purposes.
     Bank sand is worked at many places, about 1,000 pits producing from this source. Among the leading centers of such production are Bayard, Long Pine, Norfolk, Tekamah, Wahoo, Fairbury and Cowles. Much of the bank sand is used locally; some is shipped.
     Much of the state's sand is of good quality for building purposes, because it is formed of hard, resistant minerals, such as quartz and feldspar.

     These are sand, gravel, subsoil, stone and brick, all of which have been surveyed and described by the Conservation and Survey Division.
     Extensive road building in Nebraska calls for large quantities of sand and gravel for surfacing earth roads, and for the manufacture of concrete and brick. Fortunately, there are adequate resources with which to meet the demand. The problem, however, is to locate the materials close enough to the construction to prevent long hauls.
Perhaps the main road material at this time is the subsoil, which varies greatly in different parts of the state, and which has been graded into roads too generally without much regard for quality, mixing, or the results. Persons in charge of earth road construction should acquaint themselves with the soil and subsoil profiles described in our county soil survey reports, which show not only the soil profile but the texture of the sub-soil as well, making it possible to select heavy or light surfacing materials, as required, if they are accessible.
     Stone, produced from various ledges in the state, is used in roads, for subgrade, and in making concrete.

     The state has several deposits of clay, shale and silt, some of them suitable for brick and tile manufacture. Unfortunately, however, much of the best clay occurs interstratified with limestone and can

not be worked unless both clay and stone are produced, i. e., without operating both a clay pit and a stone quarry.
     Clays occur, exposed in the Pennsylvanian, Permian, Cretaceous, Tertiary and Pleistocene formations. Most of the silt is of recent origin. Clays and shales, interbedded with limestones and exposed in the southeastern counties, are of Pennsylvanian and Permian ages. Some of these beds have been worked, as at Nebraska City, Auburn, Humboldt, and Table Rock. The clays produced at Lincoln, Beatrice, Fairbury, Endicott, Tekamah and Steele City occur in the Dakota formation which is of Cretaceous age. The extensive clays of the Benton and Pierre formations, exposed along the Republican, along the Missouri in the northeastern counties, and in the northwestern part of the state, though suitable for brick making when mixed with silt deposits, have not been utilized very extensively. The Brule clay has been used for brick in a limited way at Chadron, and might be worked at various points in the North Platte, and Lodgepole Valleys.
     The silty loess deposits, carrying some clay, occur quite widely and J favorably for working in the southern, southeastern and eastern counties. The heavier glacial or drift deposits of the eastern counties, also the loses deposits distributed so generally over the southeastern half of the state are used in brick making, but to best advantage when mixed with clay. Glacial drift and the loess run high in silt but contain some clay and fine sand. Brick plants operate on the loess at Hastings, York and Omaha, but they mix with it some clay shipped from the Pennsylvanian and Dakota formations. Some of the alluvial or bottom land deposits could be used in making low grade brick.
      The clay deposits of the state are being studied in detail by the Geological Survey in order to further brick and tile manufacture.

     During the World War there were 36 brick plants in successful operation in Nebraska. The production in 1918 was 127,000,000 brick and tile (brick measure). There was a decrease to 122,000,000 in 1919, after which some plants closed and the output was further curtailed. The plants just about held their normal output from 1922-4925. reached a high level in 1926 and decreased some since 1927.
     The presence of clay resources and the sure demand for clay products seem to warrant the further expansion of brick and tile manufacture in Nebraska. Hastings leads in brick manufacture. There are quite large brick and tile plants at Lincoln, Nebraska City, Beatrice, Tekamah, Endicott, and other places.

     Cement-making materials, such as limestones, shales and chalk occur at places in the state. Several of the Pennsylvanian limestones and shales of the southeastern counties have been tested and found to be

suitable for cement making. The Niobrara chalk, and the shales immediately below and above it are cement resources. The chalk is widely exposed along the Missouri between Knox and Cedar counties and in the Republican valley westward to Cambridge. It is overlain by the Pierre shale and underlain by Carlile shale.
     Cement Plant at Superior. Though lime was made at several places in the state several years ago, the manufacture of Portland Cement in a large way was delayed until a plant was built at Superior. The plant was operated for a while, abandoned one year, then rebuilt and enlarged.
     This plant is just west of Superior. The quarry is two miles south of the mill, i. e., in Kansas. The materials, Niobrara chalk and Carlile shale, are quarried without the hindrance of much overburden and transported to the mill by cars drawn by small locomotives.
     The cement materials are crushed, round, brought together in right proportions, mixed to a slurry and burned at a temperature of about 2800 degrees F., producing black nodules cabled "clinker." The burning is done with powdered coal fed through the kilns by currents of air. From the kilns the clinker is carried to rotary coolers and then to storage or directly to the grinding machinery. Before being round the clinker is weighed and about 2% per cent of gypsum is added to act as a retard for the set of the cement. The final process is grinding the clinker to cement.
     Cement Plant at Louisville. This large cement plant owned by the Ashgrove company is just northeast of Louisville. It started production in January, 1929. Most of the cement-making material here is mined from a heavy limestone running high in calcium carbonate in its upper portion and with considerable clay shale in the lower portion. There is material enough available for many years production.
     Materials occur favorably for the establishment of cement plants along the Republican; at or near St. Helena, Cedar county; near Niobrara, Knox county, and at a few places in the southeastern counties.

     This, popularly known as silica, is widely distributed in Nebraska and adjacent states. It is a light to dark gray, powdery material or loosely cemented. Its particles are fine, hard and sharp, making the material suitable for abrasive purposes.
For several years much commercial volcanic ash was produced from deposits in the Republican valley, from near Stamford where a good quality of material occurs beneath a thin overburden. The overburden was removed with team and scraper and the ash was loaded into cars for shipment to Omaha and other centers. There is little production of ash here or elsewhere in the state at this time except by the Axtell plant near Eustis. The big consumers of the ash, i. e., the meat packing companies of Omaha have located their sources of supply in

other states. However, the Division receives many inquiries regarding the ash deposits of Nebraska and has planned to publish a report on the ash deposits, probably within a year.
     Volcanic ash is used principally by the large packing plants in the manufacture of Old Dutch Cleanser, Sapolio, and similar products.

     Nebraska was the leading state in the production of potash during the World War.
     About 300 lakes in the western part of the sandhill region contain considerable potash and there is a larger amount of brine in the sands below the lakes. Roughly speaking, Nebraska potash has been produced by the following process: pumping from open lakes and lakebed sands, transportation to reduction plants, evaporation of the brines to a density beyond the point at which crystallization begins, drying in large rotary Kilns and grinding and sacking for shipment.
     Extent. The potash industry of Nebraska grew up during the war. About $10,000,000 was invested in plants and pipe lines. There were 300 miles of pipe lines, 9 large potash plants operating, and 18 small plants operating or building when the armistice was signed. Their daily production was about 500 tons of crude potash. The industry advanced in three years to a point where the state produced about 60 per cent of the potash output of the United States.
     Depression. After the war, the market for domestic potash declined from about $5.00 per unit to less than $2.50 per unit. The plants continued to operate for several months, but the market failed. The amount of production held in storage increased and soon, in view of the low prices and the lack of sales, all plants closed.
     The fertilizer companies that had afforded a market for the output then refused to buy the Nebraska product because cheap foreign potash was available. The domestic potash companies sought relief through Federal legislation but were denied.
     Notwithstanding the fact that potash is not now produced in Nebraska, there seems to be a renewal of interest in this resource of the state and it is possible that it may be a source of development some time in the future.

Salt was produced at an early date in the Lincoln Basin from strong brine which comes to the surface from rock formations. The brine might be made the basis of production with processes like those employed in Kansas, New York and other states.

     Nebraska has fossil beds of economic value. Some of the richest deposits of the United States are on the Cook ranch at Agate Springs, Sioux county. Individual specimens secured from this place and mounted in museums are valued at thousands of dollars. The "Giant

Hog," secured from this source and now in the museum of the University of Nebraska, is listed by the curator, Professor Barbour, at $50,000.
     Some of the largest eastern museums have fossil quarries on the Cook ranch from which specimens are secured for display. The University of Nebraska, through lack of funds, has not been able to maintain the lead in developing this resource.
     Many people, including some of the world's best known scientists, visit the Cook ranch in order to see and study the fossil beds and collections.
     There are valuable fossil beds or deposits at several places in the state, as along the lower course of the Niobrara.

     These resources are ground water, springs, lakes and streams. Most of the water is in the ground, not on the surface of the land.
     Soil Moisture. The upper part of the soil contains capillary ground water or soil moisture from which crops are supplied. This moisture, derived principally from rainfall, is a valuable resource, and its conservation has importance in agricultural development.
     Ground Water. Below the capillary water much of the mantle rock and bedrock are saturated, i. e., filled with water. The amount of water in this zone would be enough, if at the surface, to cover the land many feet deep. This water is of good quality as a rule. It is the source of well water and springs.
     Vast quantities of flood water of the rivers, of the Platte especially, go into underground storage. This supply has importance in subirrigation and for well irrigation.
     Well Water. Good well water extends under most of the state at comparatively shallow depths. That most accessible occurs principally in beds of sand, in more than one bed at most localities, making it possible to tap a first, second, or yet lower source of supply.
     Shallow wells are obtained on most bottom lands and sandhill valleys at a depth of thirty to forty feet. Much of the alluvial land water is of good' quality, in the deeper sands especially. Though the sandhill water is good generally, that at shallow depth in the potash region, may contain alkali. Deeper wells at such places afford an abundance of good water.
The water of the Brule and Pierre shale lands in White River and Hat Creek basins is scant and of poor quality. The table land wells of the western part of the state are 80 to 300 feet deep. They supply large quantities of unusually good water from the Tertiary sands and gravels.
     At places on some of the valley-slopes along the Republican, and in the southeastern counties, it is not possible to secure sufficient well water: They are where the ground water has drained away from above the clay or shale beds, leaving what are called dry belts. These belts are narrow, and fortunately on most farms water can be obtained

by sinking wells farther back on the uplands or on the valley floors
below.
     As a whole Nebraska has an excellent and abundant supply of well water. The Conservation and Survey Division assists the citizens of the state in locating rural and urban water supplies, and co-operates with the State Bacteriologist and the State Engineer in improving and correcting water supplies.

     Ground water under pressure enough to cause it to rise to the surface and flow, when tapped, is artesian.
The state has several hundred flowing wells. Shallow flowing wells, depth 60 to 400 feet, occur in some of the western and north-central counties. Most of them are in western Dandy, western Chase, Sheridan, Cherry, Brown, Rock, Holt and Wheeler counties. The water comes from deposits of Tertiary age. Some wells north of Hyannis are 200 to 500 feet in depth but most of those elsewhere in the sandhill area are shallower. Artesian wells occur in the valleys at or near Cook, Tecumseh, Dorchester, and Beaver Crossing.
     Artesian water of the Dakota formation is reached in Boyd, Knox, Cedar, Dixon, Seward, Lancaster and Gage counties. The depth ranges from 90 to 1,000 feet. Much of the water, though somewhat mineralized, is suitable for drinking purposes. The survey has records of about 300 of these wells, many of which occur in Cedar and Dixon counties.
     The deep wells in Lincoln, Beatrice, Omaha and Nebraska City extend to formations of Pennsylvanian and older age. Most of them yield salt water, some of which is used for sanitarium purposes.
     Though practically all of the state is underlain with artesian water, there is relatively little demand for this supply, because of the prevalence of good shallow water.

     Most of Nebraska's lakes are in the Sandhill Regions, located in southwestern Holt county and adjacent areas, south of Bassett and Ainsworth, northwestern Cherry county, east-central Cherry county, southeast of Alliance and north of Antioch. Among the best known of the more than 1,000 sandhill lakes that have been mapped by our surveys are Goose, Dora, Willow, Cottonwood, George, Enders, Hagan, Dad's, Dewey, Hackberry, Marsh, Big Alkali. Pelican, Beaver, Rat, Jesse, Snow, Crescent and Blue. Some of these are fresh; others contain some alkali. Most sandhill lakes are shallow. They re used for stock water, fish culture, fur farming, and hunting and some have supplied potash.
     Wet Weather Lakes occur on the Loess plains, Cheyenne table, and Box Butte table. The total area of their beds is about 225 square miles. These intermittent lakes have some importance in hunting. Their beds, usually dry, are used chiefly as grazing land and for native hay production. Some of them have been drained.

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