60S THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Wells. 



cavated for a cellar, is found to be sand, but its surface bears occasional boulders up to four or 

 five feet in diameter. 



In the central part of Yellow Medicine county most of the wells are shallow, being from 10 to 

 30 feet deep, in till, which is yellowish near the surface, but dark bluish and harder below. 



Burton. P. G. Wells; sec. 6: well, 18 feet; soil, 3; yellow till, spaded, 12; much harder 

 blue till, 3 feet and extending lower; water seeps. 



P. C. Bayard; sec. 22: well, 54 feet; soil and yellow till, 20; blue till, 34; this was bored 

 three feet in diameter to the depth of 48 feet, and two inches in diameter for the remaining 6 

 feet; water rose from sand and gravel at the bottom so rapidly that in half an hour it reached its 

 permanent level, 22 feet below the surface, filling 26 feet of the portion bored three feet in diam- 

 eter. 



Victor A. Anderson; N. E. J of sec. 30: well, 34 feet; soil. 2; yellow till, 12; blue till, easier 

 to bore, 20; water rose from sand at the bottom nine feet in twenty minutes. Several fragments 

 of lignite up to two or three inches in length were found in this well. 



Oshkosh. Mr. R. M. Strong, well-borer, reports the following section of a well, 27 feet deep 

 in sec. 28: black soil, 1J feet; yellow clayey loam, 3 feet; gravel, 2 inches; yellow clay, with 

 rusty lumps and concretions, but thought to contain no stones, 17 feet; blue clay, 5 feet; both 

 the last are said to be in layers; next was quicksand, containing water, which was impregnated 

 with iron and soon became offensive to taste, though not contaminated with wooden curbing, 

 none of any kind being used in the lower fourteen feet. 



Norman. A. G. Gulmoti; sec. 32: well, 72 feet; yellow and blue till, 56; sand, 16; water 

 came in a large supply, but is only one or two feet deep at the bottom of the well. 



Canby. Wells at Canby, in the S. W. J of sec. 3, Norman, are from 15 to 22 feet deep, 

 passing through yellow till, to quicksand and coarse gravel at the bottom, from which water rises 

 only one or two feet. Several wells here are said to have found bivalve shells in this water-bear- 

 ing layer. 



Gary. Wells at this town, in the edge of Dakota, near the west line of Yellow Medicine 

 county, are in till and 15 to 30 feet deep. 



Wells in Lyon county. 



Stanley. N. F. Frary; sec. 34: well, 33 feet; soil, 2; yellow till, 15; blue till, 16; water rose 

 fifteen feet from sand at the bottom. This well is curbed with wood, and in some parts of the 

 year has a bad taste. 



George Bissett; sec. 26: well, 26J feet; soil, 2; yellow till, picked, 22, containing no fossils; 

 sand and gravel, 2} feet, enclosing numerous gasteropod and bivalve shells; water, not rising, 

 plenty and good. Another well, twelve rods farther south, on land three feet lower, found black 

 soil, 3 feet; yellow sand and gravel, 3 feet, with water, a flowing spring, at the bottom of this 

 layer; below was 20 feet of blue till, containing no water; gasteropod shells, derived from Creta- 

 ceous strata, were found in this blue till. 



Amiret. The town-well, 27 feet deep, is all yellow till; water rose ten feet from sand at the 

 bottom. 



IVocj/, in the east part of see. 23. Monroe. Wells are in till, mostly only 12 to 20 feet deep, 

 finding plenty of water. The railroad well at this place, dug under the superintendence of Mr. 

 John McAllister, of Winona, is reported by him as follows: depth, 119 feet; dark soil, 2 feet; 

 yellow clay [till], 15 feet; tough, blue clay, mixed with pebbles [till], 80 feet; hardpan [a harder 

 layer of till], 16 feet; [in this hardpan was found a fragment of Eaculites, five inches long and 

 three-fourths of an inch in diameter;] quicksand, 3 feet; underlain by blue clay, which was bored 

 into 3 feet; the water then rose so fast, probably from the quicksand, that the work could not be 

 continued; it gradually rose during thirty hours, attaining a depth of sixty-five feet. This sup- 

 ply, however, partially failed after a month, and is insufficient for the needs of the railroad en- 

 gines. 



The water in many of the wells about Tracy, Marshall and Canby, is offensive to taste and 

 smell. Most of these wells apparently become so because curbed with wood and left stagnant. 

 Nearly all the wells in this district which are curbed with stone or iron pipe or cement pipe, 

 especially when frequently drawn from, have good water. 



Lake Marshall. Wells at Marshall and in its vicinity are mostly between 10 and 30 feet 



