Cass County, Missouri - Chapter 5: Topography, 1917

"The surface configuration of the county is dominantly undulating to gently rolling, with occasional ridges and hills, with broad, flat bot¬ toms along the larger streams. The features of the region clearly indi¬ cate the geological structure and relative resistance to erosion of the interbedded shales, limestones and sandstones composing the basal rock of the region. The latter are nearly horizontal, yet dip gently north¬ westward, without pronounced folding or faulting. Higher rocks out¬ crop successively in the direction of the bedding slope. The strike of the strata is about due northeast and southwest, except for an occa¬ sional limestone knoll or low ridge the extensive shale horizons are char¬ acterized by level or undulating topography, which gives way to a more rolling relief where the underlying limestone has been exposed. Only along the streams in the limestone region is the topography broken and rough." The effect of erosion on the rock strata has resulted in the formation of three rather indistinct terrace-like topographic divisions or platforms within the county. The lower platform or division in¬ cludes all of the southeastern half of the county and has an average altitude of 900 feet.

The intermediate division includes all the remainder of the survey except the northwestern corner of the county, which includes the highest platform. The average elevation of the middle platform is about 1,000 feet and the highest about 1,100 feet above sea level. The lower and intermediate divisions are about equal in extent and represent about ninety-nine per cent, of the total area of the county. The border between these divisions extends from a point three miles west of the northeast corner of the county, southwest to Pleasant Hill, thence slightly south¬ west to Harrison ville and then six miles west, where it turns abruptly toward the south, leaving the county south of Main City. The border varies from a rather wide gentle slope to a narrow steep slope, almost bluff-like in places. Northeast from Harrisonville it is marked by a distinct setoff, but in the southern part of the county, where erosion is active, the escarpment is ragged and faintly developed. It is not reg¬ ular, but makes deep embankments wherever cut by streams.

The eastern border of the higher platform extends from a point on the county line north of Raymore southward to that town, thence southwestward to the western boundary of the county near Jaudon. It cor¬ responds topographically with the border separating the lower and in¬ termediate platforms. The lower platform is a flat to very gently rolling plain sloping southeastward. South and southwest of Creighton the surface is slightly broken, with occasional hills above the surrounding country, are other features of this plain. The intermediate division is gently rolling, but along its eastern border is dissected by deep valleys of streams flowing from it into a lower division. Westward and north¬ westward from the eastern border the valleys become more shallow, until along the northern border of the platform the surface is gently undulating.

Nearly all the drainage of Cass County is carried by the Grand River, which rises near Belton (in northwest corner of county) and flows southeastward, leaving the county in the southeast corner. Lick Branch, Sugar, Eight Mile, Tennessee and Black Creeks, south and east forks of Grand River, tributaries of Grand River, rise in the county. The northeastern part of the county is drained by Big Creek and Craw¬ ford Branch, which enter the county from the north and cross the eastern boundary near Gunn City." (From Government Soil Surveys, etc.)