STEELE COUNTY. 401 



Wellt.] 



The largest boulders seen in this county are one about twelve feet in 

 diameter at the Rock school-house in the southwest corner of section 8, 

 Merton, and a second of about the same size beside the road in the north- 

 east part of Summit. 



The western or inner moraine lies in eastern Waseca county and in 

 the southwest edge of Steele county, and extends from north to south in 

 Freeborn county by Albert Lea, having a width that varies from three to 

 ten or twelve miles. In Steele county this morainic belt occupies the 

 southwest part of Meriden and the western two-thirds of Lemond and Ber- 

 lin townships, being made up of massive swells of smooth contour, twenty 

 to forty feet above the frequent depressions, many of which contain sloughs. 

 The east portion of this prominently rolling land is three or four miles 

 west of Straight river. 



Wells in Steele county. 



The records of the materials met in digging wells, examples of which are here given, fur- 

 ther illustrate the character of the drift deposits. 



Blooming Prairie. At the village the wells are 8 to 14 feet deep, averaging 10 feet. They 

 go through till to the top of a stratum of quicksand, which has a considerable extent. The well 

 at the south elevator was dark soil. 3 feet; hard, yellow till, 7 feet; and quicksand, 3 feet, pene- 

 trated with difficulty because of the large supply of water, which rises two to five feet above the 

 top of this bed; to coarse gravel at 13 feet. This well and the similar railroad well, 14 feet deep* 

 some twenty-five rods farther north, are the deepest here, no others having a depth of more than 

 twelve feet. In wet seasons the cellars of this village are filled with water. 



C. B. Pettie; sec. 24: well, 16 feet; soil, 2 feet; till, 14; quicksand at bottom. Wells in the 

 vicinity are 15 to 25 feet deep, mostly less than 20; they obtain a large supply of excellent water. 



C. J. King; N. E. } of sec. 8: well, 15 feet; soil, 2 feet; clayey sand, 12; quicksand, 1 foot and 

 extending below; water abundant. 



Peter Thimson; also, N. E. J, sec. 8: well, 26 feet; soil, 2; sand to water at the bottom, 24 feet . 



S. Peterson; N. W. j, sec. 9: well, 40 feet; soil, 2; gravel and sand, 8; yellow and blue till, 30; 

 water rose 30 feet from sand and gravel at the bottom. 



The three wells last described, and the next following, situated near the margin of the east- 

 ern terminal moraine, just outside the area that was overspread by ice, are in the modified drift 

 which was deposited by water flowing from the wasting surface of the ice-sheet. These beds of 

 stratified sand and gravel often reach a half mile to one mile away from the moraine upon its east 

 side, varying in depth from 10 to 25 feet or more, with a smooth contour inclined slightly eastward 



Aurora. John Bixby; N. E. J of sec. 33, about thirty rods southeast from the boundary of 

 the moraine: well, 29 feet deep; soil, 3 feet: coarse gravel, 2 feet; sand, 20 feet; blue till, 4 feet, and 

 continuing lower; water comes in sandy veins in the till, not rising. Another well close south- 

 east, and a third, one mile east, are likewise in gravel and sand, which here extend fully a mile 

 from the edge of the morainic belt. 



Havana. Wells at Havana station are shallow. J. S. Austin here went to a depth of 17 feet; 

 the order being soil, 2 feet; sand, 4 feet; yellow till, 8 feet; and sand, 3 feet, not penetrated. 



George L. Chambers; S. W. J of sec. 20: well, 42 feet; soil, 2 feet; yellow till, 8; blue till, 32, 

 water rose from quicksand at the bottom to a permanent level five feet below the surface in three 

 hours. A few wells near the foregoing, about half a mile south of Havana station, find water at 

 a depth of 40 feet that is offensive to smell and taste; but, excepting these, the water of wells 

 and springs through all this region is good, 



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