The “Waconda” or Great Spirit Spring, which is situated in Mitchell
County, Kansas, about two miles east of Cawker City, has been described
in detail by G. E. Patrick in vol. vii, p. 22, Transactions of the
Kansas Academy of Science. An analysis of the water, and of the rock
forming the mound on which the spring is located, is also given.
The spring is upon a conical, limestone mound 42 feet in height, and
150 feet in diameter at the top. The pool itself is a nearly circular
lake about 50 feet in diameter, 35 feet deep, and the water rises to
within a few inches of the top of the basin. There is a level space on
all sides of the spring so wide that a carriage can be readily driven
around it.
There is but little indication of organic matter in the water of the
large spring, though there is a slimy white deposit adhering to the
bottom and sides, but the water is colorless, clear, and transparent.
The excess of water, instead of overflowing the bank, escapes by
numerous small fissures, from 10 to 20 feet down on the sides,
especially on the side away from the bluff. In these lateral springs
there is an abundance of green algæ, and a whitish scum, which seems
to be detached from the bottom and to float to the surface. This has
a slimy, granular feeling suggesting in a very marked manner hydrated
silica.
The mound is situated within about 200 feet of a limestone bluff,
which rises perhaps 20 feet above the level of the spring. The natural
inference would be that the harder material of the mound protected
it from the erosion which carried away the rock in the valley of the
Solomon on the south, and the rock between the spring and the bluff.
Is it not possible however that the mound has been really made by the
successive deposits from the spring? Although the mound is plainly
stratified, this need not interfere with the theory, for the water
may have been intermittent in its flow. The rock is very porous, and
on being ground to a thin section is shown to be concretionary in
structure.
An analysis of the water of the spring (loc. cit.) showed that it
contained over 1120 grains of mineral matter per gallon, of which 775
grains were sodium chloride and 206 grains sodium sulphate, with 66
grains of magnesium sulphate, 41 grains of magnesium carbonate, and 31
grains of calcium carbonate. An analysis by the author shows that there
are 0.874 grains of silica.
Samples of the rock composing the mound, and of the adjoining bluff
were secured, and comparative analyses made, with the following results:
GREAT
COUNTRY SPIRIT
ROCK. MOUND.
Silica and insoluble residue 2.14 4.10
Oxides of Iron and Alumina 3.22 [5]2.66
Sulphuric Anhydride .00 0.34
Carbon Dioxide 40.90 39.10
Calcium Oxide 51.90 49.28
Magnesium Oxide 0.63 1.15
Water and organic matter, undetermined 1.21 [6]3.37
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