WILL COUNTY. 223 



the coal mines at Morris, is a species of fire clay, but we did not think much of what we tested. 

 On the line of the Alton and St. Louis railroad, between Willow Springs and Athens, you will 

 find white fire sand. There are no valuable clays within sixty miles of Chicago, and not extra 



brick clays. Yours truly, and in haste. 



GEO. D. GOODRICH. 



Peat has been found in small patches, in some of the swampy land near the 

 east line of the county, but no beds of any importance have yet been reported. 



Copper. Nuggets of native copper have been found in the Drift of this 

 county, and have 'caused occasional excitements over the prospect of finding a 

 copper mine. One was picked up at Lineburger's quarry, near Wilmington, 

 where it had fallen upon and partially sunk into the decomposed green, shaly 

 clay of the bottom of the quarry, and "boring for copper" was seriously talked 

 of, but better counsels prevailed. 



Iron Ore nodules accompany the shales overlying the coal, but no considera- 

 ble quantities are accessible. A small bed of bog iron ore was noticed, near 

 the saw mill, near the center of the west line of section 13, town 35 north, range 

 11 east, but no exploration has been made to ascertain its depth or exact extent. 

 Considerable beds are known to exist in the adjoining parts of Indiana, and all 

 extensive deposits will ultimately become valuable for use, in connection with 

 the more compact and richer ores of Marquette and Missouri. 



Water. Through the eastern part of the county, a constant supply of water 

 is not readily accessible, in consequence of the thickness of the deposits of sand 

 and gravel which overlie the boulder clay and form the high, rolling surface 

 characteristic of this region. A few springs reach the surface in the timber, 

 and some of the prairie ponds retain their water through the year ; but, in a dry 

 season, there is often much suffering among cattle. So far as I could learn, no 

 wells have been driven through the boulder clay ; below it, an unfailing supply 

 could be reached, though, in some places, the depth would forbid attempts to 

 raise it. The three river valleys are mostly well watered by springs flowing 

 from the outcropping edges of the rock strata. All over the DesPlaines bot- 

 toms, wells are readily obtained at a small depth in the rock, the water of the 

 river finding ready passage through the numerous crevices and worn passages 

 which are so characteristic of limestones exposed, in any degree, to water action. 

 The triangle between the DesPlaines and the Kankakee, below the bluffs of 

 the second terrace, which run from opposite Channahon directly toward Wil- 

 mington, has comparatively little soil upon the rock, and much of it is entirely 

 destitute of surface water. By penetrating, however, the heavy beds of green, 

 shaly clay, which underlies it, and is here from forty-five to fifty feet thick, 

 an abundant and never-failing supply can be obtained, from the surface of the 

 underlying shaly limestone. 



The high ridge of boulder clay and gravel along the western line of the coun- 



