510 THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Wells 



granite and syenite, schists, white quartz, the red quartzyte, etc. One peb- 

 ble, two inches long, of pipestone, one of conglomerate, and seven or eight 

 of the ordinary quartzyte, doubtless all derived from the Potsdam forma- 

 tion in Cottonwood county, were included in this number. Among the 

 large boulders, over one foot in diameter, in these counties, it may be that 

 a twentieth part are limestone. At Windom limestone containing Eeceptac- 

 ulites was found in the drift by Mr. Savidge, in digging his cellar. 



Modified drift. The only noteworthy deposits of modified drift ob- 

 served are the terraces in the Des Moines valley at Jackson, which have 

 been already described on page 496. 



Wells in Cottonwood county. 



Kecords of the deposits of drift dug through for wells in Cottonwood county are as follows: 

 . Selma. C. J. Gabrielson; sec. 10: well, 18 feet; soil, 2; yellow till,14; blue till, harder, 

 but spaded, 2 feet; water seeps. 



Silas Blackmun; sec. 10: well, 22 feet; soil, 2; yellow till, 16; harder blue til), 4; water 

 rose two and a half feet, in very large supply, from a compact and hard gravelly layer at the, 

 bottom. 



Mountain Lake. Eailroad well : dug 67 feet, and bored 5 feet more, stopped by a boulder ; 

 obtaining a fair supply of water, but probably all from the upper part of the well. 



Lake hotel; Frank Shaubut, proprietor: well, 64 feet; soil, 2; yellow till, 24; blue till, very 

 hard and compact, 38 feet ; water rose from the bottom to stand eight feet below the top in 

 twelve hours. This water was good the first year, but afterward gradually became very.offen- 

 sive to smell and taste, so that the well is no longer used. It has wooden curbing, the decay of 

 which was probably the source of its contamination. Another well, four rods east from the last, 

 found soil 2 feet, and yellow till, 24 feet, from which water seeps in good supply and of excellent 

 quality. 



Most of the wells at Mountain Lake village are 15 to 35 feet deep. The yellow till varies in 

 thickness from 15 to 30 feet, succeeded by blue till. 



A. L. Warren; sec. 34, about a mile east of the depot: well, 45 feet; soil 2 ; yellow till, 28; 

 yellowish gray quicksand, 15 feet, not passed through; plenty of water. The only other well in 

 this region that finds this quicksand is a neighbor's, some ten rods south. 



Delton. S. M. Beaty; N. W. J of sec. 18: well, 28 feet; soil, 2; yellow till, spaded, 18; Pots- 

 dam quartzyte, 8; water came in slowly, and holds through the year ten to fifteen feet deep. 



This township has two flowing wells, the only ones learned of in Cottonwood county: Joseph 

 S. Naramore's, in sec. 12, 38 feet deep, which has overflowed six years ; and Richard Lahart's 

 well, about 16 feet deep, in sec. 34. 



Carson. Arthur Minion; sec. 4: well, 22 feet; soil, 2 feet; yellow till, shaded, 10; blue till, 

 much harder, picked, 10; water rose from sand and gravel fifteen feet in as many minutes Frag- 

 ments of lignite are often found in the wells of this region. 



Lakeside. Lakeside mill (steam flouring mill), at Bingham Lake: well, 100 feet deep; 

 dug 50 feet and bored below, all in till; has forty feet of water. Other wells at Bingham Lake 

 are 15 to 20 feet deep, with plenty of good water. Stoned wells in this township iivariably have 

 good water; but those curbed with wood all become poor because of its decay. 



Germantown. Colin Buchanan ; sec. 20: well, 23 feet; soil, 1 foot; yellow till, spaded. 20 

 feet, containing a sandy layer at ten feet, which was one and a half feet thick and dipped 45 to 

 the north; gravel and sand, 2 feet, from which water rose six feet in three hours. 



Amboy. Henry Stubb; sec. 24: well, 30 feet; soil, 2; yellow till, spaded, 13 feet, its last 

 five feet being most sandy and gravelly, but also the hardest; blue till, likewise spaded, 15 feet; 

 water rose ten feet in one day from gravel and sand. Several pieces of lignite, up to six inches 

 in length, were found in this well. All the wells in Amboy and Delton have good water. 



