BY A. GIBB MAITLAND, C.E., F.G.S. 2T 



The rocks of the Staked Plains are as porous as a sponge, 

 and nearly every drop of rain that falls is absorbed and percolates 

 downwards, until it reaches an impervious stratum. No artesian 

 water occurs in these beds, for the reason that there is no 

 continuous impervious cover above them. There is an 

 abundance of water at the base of the formation, and the 

 elevation is sufficient to force it to the top of the plains, along 

 the eastern or lower edge, if there were an impervious cover- 

 above, and a similar floor below. Over 1,000 wells have been 

 drilled in the beds of the Llano Estacado, and in every one an 

 adequate supply of sub-artesian water has been obtained. 



In the south-eastern area of the Llano Estacado the 

 Tertiary strata rest directly upon the Trinity and Paluxy Sands, 

 along the old north-western shore-line of the Cretaceous, and 

 nearly all the water that is in the Lower Tertiary is at once 

 absorded by the Trinity Sands, and carried by them to the 

 lower level. The wells of Marienfeld and Big Springs draw 

 their supplies from this source. Nowhere in the Llano beds 

 does the water rise much in the bores, but where those wells 

 have been continued down to the Cretaceous sands, the water 

 often rises to considerable altitudes above the level of the 

 water-bearing stratum. 



In addition to the supplies of artesian water obtained by 

 boring in the catchment area of the sandy strata, wells have 

 been bored in the Tertiary beds of the Great Coastal Plain. 

 One of the great groups of the Tertiary beds is known as the 

 Fayette Sands, whose outcrop extends as a broad band south- 

 westward from the Mississippi to the Rio Grande. The Fayette 

 Sands present a remarkable resemblance to those of the Llano 

 Estacado, of which there are good grounds for believing them to 

 be the representatives. As will be seen by an inspection of a 

 geological map of the comity, the Fayette Sands have now no 

 physical connection with the tableland of the Staked Plains. 



Several coastal places derive their water from these beds, 

 viz., the towns of Gonzales, Houston, &c. Perhaps the most 

 notable of these is the deep well on the Island of Galveston, 

 situated at a very short distance from the coast of the Gulf of 

 Mexico. Galveston is supplied with water derived from thirteen 

 wells, which vary from 810ft. to 1,346ft. in depth. These draw 



