CHAPTER X. 



ARTESIAN AND COMMON WELLS OF THE RED RIVER 



VALLEY. 



On the broad, fertile plain called the Red River Valley, which was the 

 central and deepest portion of the bed of the glacial Lake Agassiz, many 

 artesian wells have been obtained within the thick drift sheet, deriving their 

 supply of water from porous beds or veins of sand and gravel beneath, and 

 frequently between, deposits of bowlder-clay or till. The depths of these 

 wells vary from 40 feet, or rarely less, to about 250 feet, or rarely 300 feet, 

 while a few others penetrate deeper, passing into the underlying Cretaceous 

 beds, or northward into Silurian strata. The height to which the water is 

 capable of rising above the surface of the ground is often only a few feet 

 and seldom more than 25 to 50 feet. Hundreds of these flowing wells, 

 commonly 1 to 2 inches in diameter of pipe, are in use on fanns, at grain 

 elevators, and for the supply of towns, on both the Minnesota and North 

 Dakota sides of the Red River. Their distribution and range of depth, 

 both in the United States and in Manitoba, are shown in PI. XXXVII. 

 Some tracts of considerable area within this valley, however, fail to find 

 artesian water, but even these generally encounter water-bearing layers at 

 depths corresponding with those of the artesian wells, from which water 

 rises nearly to the surface. 



Common wells throughout the whole area of Lake Agassiz and upon 

 the adjoining country usually obtain a supply of water sufficient for ordi- 

 nary farm and domestic uses within depths ranging from 10 feet to 50 feet 

 or occasionally more. But the quality of their water, as also of the 

 artesian wells, is often disagreeable. The fame of the Red River Valley 

 for its large harvests of "No. 1 hard" wheat, averaging 20 bushels to the 

 acre, is nearly equaled by the unenviable reputation of the water sup- 

 plied by its wells. The drift here contains much of the carbonates and 

 sulphates of lime and magnesia, derived from the Cretaceous strata which 



