The Cooperative Soil Survey

SOIL SURVEY OF BARTON COUNTY MISSOURI

5. Mine pits and dumps association
Large trenchlike pits and irregularly shaped dumps consisting of a mixture of shale, sandstone, and soil stripped from coalbeds

    This association consists of Mine pits and dumps that are in two large areas in a nearly continuous strip along the Kansas State line. The association occupies about 3 percent of the county.
    Mine pits and dumps make up 82 percent of the association, and soils of the Parsons, Barden, Liberal, Collinsville, and Barco series make up most of the remaining 18 percent.
    Mine pits and dumps appear to have been plowed with a gigantic plow; the dumps resemble furrow slices, and the elongated pits are like dead furrows. The steep, irregularly shaped dumps are a mixture of shale, sandstone, and the original mantle of soil that was stripped from the coalbeds. In some places large sandstone rocks litter the surface. Surface runoff is rapid. The plant cover is poor and provides little protection from erosion. Consequently, erosion continues at a very rapid rate. Low areas are ponded or seepy.
    Each of the minor soils in the association is described in at least one other association in this soil survey. In most places the dumps are scantily covered with brush, weeds, and undesirable grasses. Only a small part of their acreage is in native or improved tame grasses. Most of these areas are suitable for grazing, wildlife food and cover, and recreation, and they are used for these purposes. Susceptibility to erosion and a lack of easy access are major factors that limit the use of these areas.
    Clearing brush, smoothing the dumps, and seeding them to adapted grasses, trees, and shrubs improve the suitability of the dumps for wildlife, recreation, grazing, and woodland and for growing Christmas trees.

Hughes, H.E. 1974. Soil Survey of Barton County, Missouri. USDA-SCS. U.S. Gov. Print. Office, Washington, DC.