50 Kansas Academy of Science. 



DEEP WELLS AT ELMDALE. 



By .\i>VA J. Smith. 



TWO deep wells have recently been drilled at Elmdale, Chase 

 county, Kansas, one reaching a depth of 1228 feet and the 

 other 2501.5 feet. The first one was drilled within the town, 

 about three blocks east of the depot ; the other was on the north 

 bank of the Cottonwood river, on the county farm, about one- 

 half mile west and two miles south of Elmdale. 



The section presented herewith is of the well drilled on the 

 county farm. The ground at the top of the well is at an eleva- 

 tion of approximately 1200 feet above sea level and level with 

 the Americus limestone, which crops out on the opposite bank 

 of the river. 



The work was done with a Standard drilling rig and wire 

 cable. The fuel used was natural gas piped from an adjoining 

 well. 



In naming the formations of the section I have tried to 

 follow the nomenclature that had been approved by the Uni- 

 versity Geological Survey in preference to that used by the 

 United States Geological Survey. While the correlation of 

 the strata may not be, and probably is not, absolutely correct, 

 I have tried to make a reasonable interpretation of data at 

 hand. The logs are submitted as given by the drillers. The log 

 from which the section was made omits two limestones near 

 the top that are reported in the other well. 



Gas was found in five different sands, the first at a depth of 

 140 feet ; the strongest flow was at 615 feet, and the last at 

 about 2000 feet. No attempt was made to gauge the pressure 

 or measure the quantity of the gas in any case. 



The Cherokee shales are more than 800 feet thick, and some 

 of the sandstones included in it are very hard. In one place 

 the drillings contained quartz, mica and feldspar, and the 

 drillers contended that they were in granite, but later several 

 hundred feet of sand was penetrated beneath it. The contract 

 called for a depth of 2500 feet; accordingly, when the drill 

 reached a depth of 2501.5 feet the casing, of which there was 

 about 5000 feet, was drawn from the well. The last sample 

 washed from the drillings is a fine, sharp quartz and feldspar 



