Underground Kansas
What we value
Salt. Oil. Natural gas. Even gypsum. Plenty of natural resources exist in Kansas, and folks bringing them to the surface are generating millions of dollars in revenue as work continues to stretch their investments into the future. Check out Underground Kansas’ most marketable materials.
Look inside: Hutchinson Salt Co.
Eight employees per shift operate custom equipment in subterranean comfort — 68 degrees, 40 percent humidity — to bring their version of sodium chloride to the surface. While some people manage to catch a glimpse of past operations inside an adjacent underground salt museum, we take you inside to where the action is, up close.
See for yourself: The face of salt mining
Visit the mine face at Hutchinson Salt Co., whose crews operate heavy equipment that's been brought underground — often in pieces — to blast, collect, grind and transport road salt back to the surface. This panorama allows you to look around for yourself.
Kansas Geological Survey: Lynn Watney
Lynn Watney, geologist at the Kansas Geological Survey, discusses natural resources in Kansas and the opportunities they provide.
Survey works to extract, exact resources
Meet Lynn Watney, a senior scientific fellow at the Kansas Geological Survey in Lawrence, discusses how the organization works to serve its customers.
Unseen economic resources make big impact on Kansas economy
Each day, workers blast, scoop up, crush and haul tons of salt to the surface — part of an underground operation that’s been mining away at a massive vein of sodium chloride that shows no signs of slowing down.
Oil and gas at Ted’s Z Bar Ranch
Ranch manager Keith Yearout sees value and opportunity in all the oil and natural gas buried beneath Ted Turner's Z Bar Ranch in Kansas.
Keith Yearout: ‘We're expected to make a profit’
Keith Yearout discusses how each of the wells on Ted Turner's 43,000-acre Z Bar Ranch may produce oil or natural gas for 30 or 40 years, but all such good things must someday come to an end.
Natural gas study
The Kansas Geological Survey, with industry partners, put together the Hugoton Asset Management Project, which models an area that includes the Hugoton gas field.
Each colorful line in this graph represents a different gas well in the Hugoton Asset Management Project study area. Shown are 1,600 of the wells in the study area, which includes a portion of Oklahoma.
Comments
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merrill (anonymous) says…
A trip through the Salt Mine Museum is awesome. Yep there is a gift shop way beneath the surface in this museum. This place is used to store films and "important" documents forever. An excellent field trip.
We and another family made a two day venture of this field trip which included the Kansas Cosmosphere & Space Center
and Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in the Flint Hills.
mmiller (anonymous) says…
This is so cool. I want to see this!!
jayhawklawrence (anonymous) says…
Great story!
Thinking_Out_Loud (anonymous) says…
I recommend the Underground Salt Mine Museum. It's fun, it's interesting, and it's worth every penny of admission.
lounger (anonymous) says…
Nice!
AnnaUndercover (Anna Undercover) says…
I just found this. I am so going.