Wells , 



OLMSTED COUNTY. 



340 



Wells in Olmsted county. 



Cedar logs at considerable depths in the drift are found but rarely. 

 Mr. Sprague says they are always under the blue clay. Rotten wood is 

 occasionally found in the blue clay. 



It is a striking fact, often mentioned, that water is often found on the 

 bluffs at a much less depth than at their base. The geological formation 

 satisfactorily accounts for this. 



MATERIAL RESOURCES. 



The soil of Olmsted county is and will always remain its chief source 

 of material wealth. It has great variety. It is arenaceous in some of the 

 valleys, and produces and ripens crops quickly, but it is more clayey on 

 the uplands, and generally blackened by charred grasses and other vege- 

 tation the residue of the prairie fires that formerly raged annually over 

 the most of the county. 



Brick of a red color are made at many places in the county, in all 

 cases from the washed clay, which is the same as the loess loam. It is in 



