COUXTY. 147 



close i>roxiiniry to ir, several Sterling capitalists own land, and have 

 opened drifts into the hill. Still lower down, at Cleveland, coal is ex- 

 tensively mined: and lower down. Coal valley is pouring its black trea- 

 sures into IJ > -k Island, and from thence is distributing in every direc- 

 tion the old imprisoned heat and blaze of the Carboniferous ages, to 

 warm our prairie homes through the bleak winters. My field-work, 

 however, did not extend into these rich coal regions, and I refrain from 

 further description of them. 



These coal bluffs extend for a few miles into Whiteside county. But 

 no productive coal seam has yet been found in them, within its limits. 

 The blurt's ran too low, by the time the county line is reached, to indi- 

 cate a workable coal vein. A thin seam and light outcrops may 

 be di>t Mvered. but so far as the economical geology of this county is 

 conrerned. the Coal Measures may be set down as unproductive. Xj 

 workable beds extend within its boundaries. 



T'lu- r/u'onriUe Sandstones. In the northern part of the township of 

 Hopkins. I unexpectedly found a low outcrop of sandstone in a ravine. 

 The stone was soft and friable ; in color it varied from a dirty- white to 

 a clouded or yellowish-red : it easily crumbled beneath a blow of the 

 hammer, and could be cut or hewn readily with a common ax. It re- 

 iles i he Sr. Peter's sandstone, and at first surprised me not a little. 

 Other outcrops, however, indicated its true geological horizon. The out- 

 crop may ;,- found on the land of a Mr. Johnson, on section thirteen, if I 

 mistake not. A well, sunk higher up on the side of the ravine, or near its 

 bead, penetrated the sandstone about thirty-three feet, when the bottom 

 of the bed v. ':>ly reached. This locality is about eight miles east 



and a little south of Morrison. A line drawn from Johnson's nearly 

 west to Uniouville. and thence south-west to Mineral Springs, in the 

 south western part of the county, would pass through six or seven locali- 

 ties where this sandstone outcrops, or has been dug into. About three 

 miles west of our first outcrop, and not far north of the village of Round 

 (rrove, is the locality of the famous walled well of Whiteside county. 

 Si niie ten years ago an article went the rounds of the papers, stating 

 that in digging a well at this locality, after a depth of twenty-five feet 

 was reached, the top of an old walled well was discovered, which showed 

 unmistakably that it was the work of human hands. The old well was 

 tilled with debris. After removing this to a depth of several feet, sweet 

 waters rose, until the wall of the old well was covered. 



The supposed discovery, at the time, excited general and even scien- 

 tific interest. I sought out the old well, and tried to learn its history. 

 It is now filled up. The porch of a farmhouse extends over it. Its 

 wonderful story was freshly told to me. in the truth of which the narra- 

 tor seemed to have full faith. 



