THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Wells. 



seems not to uniformly hold sticks and leaves, but to be rather a fine sand of a dark color. The 

 well-diggers call it quicksand. Dr. Wedge, of Albert Lea, thinks the site of the city was once 

 covered by a lake, and that this slush was its sediment; and that the overlying gravel, which is 

 about thirty-eight feet thick, has since been thrown onto it by a later force, perhaps by currents. 

 There is no doubt that the overlying gravel was thus deposited, those currents being derived 

 from the ice of a retiring glacier. 



Wells at Geneva are generally not over twenty feet in depth. They also pass through a 

 gravel that overlies a quicksand. This village is situated with reference to Geneva lake as Al- 

 bert Lea is with reference to Albert Lea lake, both being at the northern extremities of those 

 lakes. The phenomena of wells at the two places are noticeably similar and in the same way dif- 

 feient from the usual phenomena of wells throughout the county. 



At Albert Lea. 



Gravel, about thirty feet. 



Quicksand, with water, sometimes black and mucky. 

 At Oenern. 



Gravel, twelve to fifteen feet. 

 Quicksand with water. 



It would seem that the history of the drift at Albert Lea was repeated at Geneva. These 

 villages being both situated at the northern end of lake basins, are probably located where pre- 

 glacial lakes existed. On all sides, both about Albert Lea and Geneva, the usual drift clay, 

 hard and blue, is met in wells, and has a thickness of about one hundred feet. 



Vegetation in the drift deposits of Freebom county. On sec, 34, Moscow, sticks, which were 

 apparently of tamarack, were found "in gravel and clay," from thirty-live to fifty feet beneath 

 the surface. They were from three to eight inches in diameter, and were associated with re- 

 mains of crawfish and gasteropod shells. Several other wells in this vicinity have also contained 

 wood. On sec. 22, Moscow, Mr. D. M. Farr found a log of tamarack (V) a foot in diameter, at 

 twenty feet below the surface, which was said to have had the appearance of having been chop- 

 i>i 1 1. off at the ends [probably gnawed by beavers]. It was accompanied by peat-moss and sticks 

 a few inches in diameter. 



In Shell Rock, S. E. } sec. 2, Mr. G. D. Barren's well contained a small stick of wood eight- 

 een inches long at about thirty-five feet from the surface, and a single fragment of lignite. On 

 sec. 28 the well of Mr. W. H. II. Gordon contained wood at about twenty-five feet beneath the 

 surface, with fragments of bark ; also that of E. Barber, on sec. 29, at about the same depth. 



In Manchester, sec. 15, Ole Peterson encountered a bed of muck in his well at seventy feet 

 below the surface. It was a foot thick and injured the water. 



As already stated, considerable soft muck is found in many wells at Albert Lea. 



Boulders. A few years ago a boulder was found on the border of a marslt about twelve 

 miles south of Albert Lea, in Shell Eock, near the state line, which was supposed to be of mete- 

 oric origin, and was carried to Albert Lea for preservation. It was owned by Mr. G. D. Parker. 

 Of this stone no further note would be made, were it not that it has been regarded by many who 

 have seen it as a true meteorite, and that such opinion has been published. When found it was 

 at first nearly covered by earth. On excavation it proved to be dark colored. It was among 

 other drift boulders scattered promiscuously about. It is roughly pitted and has fragments ami 

 pebbles of quartzyte standing out all over it. It is rudely pyramidal in form and contains soim - 

 thing more than three cubic feet, weighing about five hundred pounds. A couple of thin quart/, 

 veins cross it from one end to the other, one of them, however, running off the surface before 

 reaching the end, being nearly parallel with the sides of the mass. It also contains hornblende. 

 and perhaps other minerals. The quartzyte is pinkish and compact, grayish. The mass contain. 

 no iron that can be seen. The regular quartz seams are evidence of its having been embraced 

 once in the rocky crust of the earth. The rough exterior is due to the we ithering out of some of 

 the softer materials. It seems to have come from the great Ogishke Muncie conglomerate: but 

 it is a rare thing to see a fragment from that formation in the drift in the central and southern 

 parts of the state. 



A large boulder exactly like the above, but one-third larger, was found about the same time 

 in Murray county, and was offered for sale in St. Paul, with the belief that it was a meteorite. 



