296 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



hence the name by which it is known through Mexico of El Llano 

 Estacado, or The Staked Plain. 



The geological features of the valley of the upper Red river are 



Generally characterized by rocks of the secondary formation. The 

 V^achita mountains, however, are composed of granite, with veins of 

 quartz running through them as in the gold regions of California. 

 The party discovered copper ores of a rich quality in many portions 

 of the valley, and found, also, a few small particles of gold in the 

 detritus from the mountains. 



THE ARTESIAN WELL, CHARLESTON, S. C. 



The following account of the celebrated artesian well of Charleston, 

 S. C., was given to the American Association by Rev. Mr. Lynch, of 

 that city : 



This well, commenced in 1848, under the authority of the city 

 council, is the fifth effort in Charleston to procure good water by 

 means of an artesian well. In 1824, one was undertaken under the 

 same authority, and sunk to the depth of 335 feet, when the iron rods 

 twisted off in the well and could not be extracted. In 1826, a second 

 effort was made by private enterprise, and soon abandoned for want 

 of means. In 1846, Captain Bowman undertook one at fort Sumter, 

 in the harbor, under the authority of the general government. The 

 appropriation giving out, this work was suspended after attaining the 

 depth of 360 feet. In 1847, another one was commenced in the city, 

 and was sunk 280 feet. The following year the city council engaged 

 the services of Mr. Welton, who had bored many wells in Alabama, 

 and other States, with great success. He preferred to commence 

 anew. From that time the work has been perseveringly followed up, 

 with only such delays as were necessary for obtaining tubes ; and the 

 well has obtained a depth of 1,145 feet. Few wells have presented so 

 many difficulties, or called for greater skill in the engineer. The su- 

 perficial soil of Charleston is a loose alluvial sand, about twenty feet 

 thick, the lower half of which is saturated with water. Beneath this 

 lies a stiff, compact clay (postpleiocene), gradually passing into a sand 

 likewise water-bearing, and about forty feet thick. At sixty feet be- 

 low the surface, the firm eocene marl is encountered, the various strata 

 of which are, in the aggregate, six hundred and fifty feet thick. Be- 

 neath these, and differing but little from them in mineralogicai char- 

 acter, lie the cretaceous strata of as yet unknown thickness. 



Mr. Walton has had to chisel his way through not less than fifty-four 

 rocks, varying from ten to two feet in thickness, and amounting in the 

 aggregate to about 250 feet. Cast iron tubes, of six inches internal 

 diameter, were at first sunk eighty feet to exclude the superficial and 

 the postpleiocene sands. But as these succeeded in gradually workino- 

 their way downwards, passing under the mouth of the tube and into 

 the well the tubes were sunk deeper at various times until finally they 

 rested firmly on a thick rock 230* feet deep. Below this point the al- 

 ternations continued and generally underneath a large and hard rock, 



