NOTES OF AETESIAN AND COMMON WELLS. 559 



and sand. The last 5 or G feet were quicksand, extending also deeper, from wliicli tbe 

 water came. One and a half miles south of this a well 225 feet deep has water rising 

 to 3 or 4 feet below the surface; and a half mile farther south a well with similar 

 water supply is 209 feet deep. Most of the flowing or very deep wells in this town- 

 ship and northward are slightly saline, but Mr. Nilson's has no such taste, and is well 

 adapted for washing with soap, being said to be "as soft as rain water." 



The common wells of this region (a belt of morainic till crossing the Eed River 

 Valley from east to west) are 10 to 25 feet deep, obtaining water which seeps from the 

 upper part of the till. The water, though hard and slightly alkaline, is not generally 

 unhealthful for farm and house use, excepting in wells that are contaminated by the 

 decay of wooden curbing. When these wells are allowed to remain stagnant, without 

 being frequently drawn from in large amount, the water becomes very oflensive iu 

 odor and taste. 



POLK COUNTY. 



Liberty.— Jacob Stambaugh, northeast quarter of section .33: Well, 52 feet; soil, 

 2 feet; gravel and sand of the McGauleyville beach, 10 feet; bluish-gray till, very 

 hard, 34 feet, to quicksand, from which water, of good quality but hard, rose 24 feet 

 in ten minutes, to its permanent level. Several pieces of wood were found in the till 

 of this well. Another well here, only 17 feet deep, finds an ample supply of water at 

 the base of the beach gravel and sand. 



Beis. — At Beltrami station the Red River Valley Elevator Company has an 

 artesian well 140 feet deep, from which water rises 12 feet above the surface. It 

 has no saline nor alkaline taste, and is less hard than the water of the neighboring 

 shallow wells. 



George G. Reis, northeast quarter of section 32: Artesian well, 147 feet deep; 

 soil, 2 feet; yellow till, partly so hard as to need to be dug with a pick, 8 feet; and dark- 

 bluish till, also very hard, 137 feet, containing occasional layers of sand and gravel up 

 to G inches in thickness. Water, of the same excellent quality as at Beltrami, rises 

 12 feet above the surface. This well is 5 inches in diameter, reduced at the top to a 

 1-inch pipe, fi-om which the flow amounts to about 3 gallons per minute, or 150 barrels 

 in twenty-four hours. 



Bussia.—'Eiic Bjerk, northeast quarter of section 2: Well, GO feet deep; soil, 2 

 feet; till, dark bluish, excepting near the surface, so soft that it could be all spaded, 

 58 feet, to dark sand which extends at least 2 feet. At this depth the well was left 

 dry by the workmen at the end of their day's labor, but in the morning it was filled 

 with water and overflowing. 



L. T. Soule, the Russia Farm, section 19: Well, 124 feet; soil, 2 feet; yellow 

 alluvial clay, 3 feet; quicksand, 1 foot; dark bluish till, 104 feet, with no layers of 

 sand or gravel; sand, fine above and growing coarser downward, 13 feet; and gravel, 



