470 THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Pet. Fountains. 

 I. 9. 3. 4. 



Hygroscopic water 13.04 10.99 20.64 16.75 



Organic matter .. 48.64 44.56 53.60 47.03 



Ash 38.32 44.45 25.76 36.28 



Analyses of the ashes yielded: 



Silica (SiO-.) 83.13 83.35 72.79 80.55 



Carbon (C) 86 .03 .95 .75 



Iron oxide(Fe 2 O 3 ) and iron phosphate (Fe 2 P a O 8 ) 7.99 5.29 9.46 10.23 



Lime(CaO) 5.44 7.39 5.92 5.61 



Magnesia (MgO) 1.75 .97 6.13 .76 



Sulphuric acid (SO 3 ) 78 2.57 trace 1.34 



Undetermined 05 .40 6.25 .76" 



Of these specimens the first was taken from a bog at eighteen inches below the surface; the 

 second, from the same bog at three feet below the surface; while the third and fourth are from 

 another bog near, respectively at the same depths of eighteen inches and three feet. Their values 

 for heating, compared with that of an equal weight of dry oak wood, called 100, were found to be 

 in the foregoing order, 64.0, 58.6, 70.5, and 61.7. 



Artesian fountains. The remarkable flowing wells, or fountains, which 

 are found at Wells, were discovered after the village had received this 

 name in honor of a distinguished citizen. The section of the drift pene- 

 trated here, and the character of the bed-rock found at the bottom of these 

 wells, from which their water rises immediately 110 to 120 feet to the sur- 

 face and five to fifteen feet higher, have been sufficiently treated of under 

 the head of the geological structure of the county. Most of these wells 

 have been bored two inches in diameter, and reduced to a half inch or less 

 at the top. The pipe is often prolonged above the surface, conveying the 

 water into tanks. About twenty of these wells have been obtained within 

 a radius of one mile. Their supply is large, but not inexhaustible; for, 

 when Hon. M. S. Wilkinson's well was bored, a half mile north of the vil- 

 lage and on land ten or fifteen feet lower, its two-inch stream, very copi- 

 ous, lowered the wells in the village so that their water no longer reached 

 the surface. After this new well was reduced to a small flow, yet afford- 

 ing an abundance for all the requirements of house and farm, the water of 

 all the other wells rose very nearly as high as before. If, therefore, the 

 proposition which was once suggested, to tap this stratum of water by a 

 large well for water-power to a grist-mill, had been adopted, the flow 

 would have been found inadequate, while the water of the small wells 

 would have failed to rise to the surface. This water is of excellent quality, 

 very clear and cool; it is somewhat chalybeate, so that it gives a slight 

 coating of iron-rust to wooden gutters and troughs. 



