458 THE WKOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Bed-rock in welli. 



Water was struck in the two feet of thinly bedded rock next above the sandstone, and rose to 

 seven feet below the surface, but no considerable supply of water was found in the drift, and 

 none additional in the sandstone. 



Chauncy Barber; Minnesota Lake; at hight of about 1,040 feet: well, 140 feet deep; yellow 

 till, 10; soft blue till. 80, to top of rock at approximately 950 feet above the sea; then, whitish 

 limestone, 3 feet; thin-layered rock, probably limestone, 2 feet; soft, green shale, 2 feet; and gray 

 sandstone, 43 feet, and extending lower. Xo water was found in the rocks below the drift. 



C.W.Thompson; one mile west of Wells; about 1,140 feet above the sea: well, 153 feet 

 deep; yellow and blue till, 117 feet; then, gray sandstone, 34 feet; softer, whitish shale, 2 feet; 

 supply of water, insufficient. The top of this sandrock is approximately 1,025 feet above the sea. 

 Another well, near by on the same farm, is 118 feet deep, and found soil, 2 feet; yellow till, 10; 

 blue till, soft and sticky, 106 feet, excepting three feet of quicksand, with a little water, at about 

 seventy-five feet from the surface; from sand or sandstone at the bottom water rose in this well 

 to fifteen feet below its top. 



In the twenty or more flowing wells, or fountains, at Wells, bed-rock is struck at 110 to 120 

 feet below the surface, or about 1,040 to 1,050 feet above the sea; and as soon as the thin stratum 

 of the rock is pierced, water rises to the surface and five feet to fifteen feet above it. The sec- 

 tion here is till, holding occasional layers of sand one to four feet thick, to a depth of 110 to 118 

 feet; then a stratum of yellowish or straw-colored rock is encountered, and after drilling into this 

 a few inches or one or two feet, it appears that a vein of water one. to six inches in thickness is 

 found, not in gravel and sand but filling a cavity of the rock, from which the artesian flow comes. 

 If the pipe is driven farther after reaching the water, it directly strikes upon rock below and the 

 flow of water is shut off. No specimens of the stratum next above the water were obtained, but 

 from the descriptions of well-makers and others it appears to be a limestone or a hard, sandy 

 shale. It lies above the sandstone of Mr. Thompson's well, and the water probably lies at the 

 junction of these beds, being held down by the impervious upper rock. The greatest thickness 

 of the rock was at the vinegar factory, about one and a half miles south of Wells station, and 

 probably ten feet higher, where a thickness of five feet of the yellowish limestone or shale were 

 passed through at the depth of 110 to 115 feet. Water was found immediately under this, and 

 rose to three feet below fhe surface. In rare cases this rock is not found before reaching the 

 water supply, as in W. W. Woodard's well, in the south part of Wells, and on the highest land 

 within the limits of this corporation, where the section was soil, 2 feet; yellow sand and clay, 6 

 feet; fine sand, 2 feet; yellow till, 10; blue till. 97, containing occasional beds of sand from two 

 inches to two feet in thickness, yielding no water, till reaching the bottom at 117 feet, whence, 

 without striking the usual layer of rock, an artesian flow of water rose to five feet above the 

 surface. The beds of sand found in the till here are not persistent, as shown by two wells at A. 

 L. Taylor's stable, one of which went through some four feet of sand at the depth of about sixty 

 feet, while another boring twenty feet distant encountered only till or boulder-clay in this portion 

 of its depth. In two instances, at Mr. Taylor's stable and at the Wells House, the bark of trees 

 was found near the base of the drift deposits, 112 to 115 feet below the surface, but no shells nor 

 other organic remains have been reported from these wells, which are usually bored two inches 

 in diameter. Rarely these borings at Wells fail to secure an artesian flow, and in one of this 

 kind Mr. P. Morse, well-maker, informs me that he went to a depth of 148 feet, the section being 

 till 115 feet, and then sand, probably soft sandstone, for the remaining 33 feet, not passed through 

 at this depth. 



The only other point at which the bed-rock has been reached in this county is A. 13. Brant's 

 well, in the S. W. J of section 4, Seely, close to Clayton post-office, which was bored 123 feet deep 

 in hope of an artesian flow of water. This was soil, 2 feet; yellow till, 10; softer, moist, blue till, 

 80; harder blue till, 3 feet; bluish gray limestone, 28 feet, changing to lighter gray below, not 

 penetrated. The top of this rock is estimated to be about 1025 feet above the sea. The only 

 water obtained is from thin veins of sand which occur at various depths in the till, and it rises to 

 four feet below the surface. 



From the strike, dip, and hight of the rocky strata which outcrop in 

 Blue Earth county and farther to the northeast and east, we may decide 



