(30 THE ILLINOIS GLACIAL LOBE. 



Along the divide between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, from the 

 southeast corner of the county northwestward to the vicinity of Liberty, 

 there is a ridge made up in part of till and in part of sand and gravel. In 

 the vicinity of Kingston (Fairweather post-office) wells along the crest of 

 the ridge have reached a depth of 90 feet without entering rock. The 

 ravines near this village expose an ash-gray soil (Sangamon) below the 

 loess, and beneath this a brown gummy clay, slightly pebbly, with occa- 

 sional bowlders, which is probably of Illinoian age. This clay is seldom 

 more than 15 feet in depth, and is underlain by sand containing few 

 pebbles. In the vicinity of Beverly the sand is absent and a blue till 

 appears below the brown gummy clay. A well at J. Sykes's, about a half 

 mile east of Beverly, is thought to have entered preglacial sand in its lower 

 part. The well is an excavated one, 6 feet in diameter, and several wagon 

 loads of the sand were tin-own out on the dump, where excellent opportunity 

 for comparing it with the glacial deposits was afforded. An examination of 

 these deposits, supplemented by information furnished by Mr. Sykes, enables 

 the writer to present the following section: 



Section in tcell of J. Sykes, a half mile east of Beverly, Adams County, Illinois. 



Feet. 



Loess and gummy brown clay with few pebbles 35 



Gray sand 3 



Blue till, very stony, with large bowlders and fragments of wood 27 



Gray sand and gravel, calcareous - 5 



Orange-colored quartz sand, noncalcareous 14 



Total depth - 84 



This well is located in an elevated part of the county, about 350 feet 

 above the Mississippi River. A similar deposit of sand was found in a well 

 in the village of Beverly at a depth of 55 to 75 feet, or very nearly the 

 same elevation above tide as the well at Mr. Sykes's, the well mouth being 

 on ground 15 or 20 feet lower than the Sykes well. The numerous ravines 

 leading eastward from this ridge toward McKees Creek may afford expo- 

 sures of the sand, but none were noted by the writer. 



Along the portion of the Illinois-Mississippi divide between Liberty and 

 Fowler the drift is very thick and its lower part is of peculiar constitution. 

 Well drillers and several of the residents report that after a depth of about 

 30 feet is reached a blue-black clay, with sand partings and with much wood, 

 is entered, which extends down nearly or quite to the limestone underlying 



