WELLS OF PEORIA COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 675 



Dickison has a well on the crest of the Shelbyville moraine, 2i miles west 

 of Alta, which was dug to a depth of 156 feet. It entered blue till at less 

 than 10 feet and continued in it to a depth of 117 feet, when a thin bed of 

 very bowldeiy clay was encountered, which apparently marks the base of 

 the Wisconsin drift. Beneath this clay is a deposit of loess several feet in 

 depth which connects with the surface loess of the districts to the west out- 

 side the limits of the Wisconsin drift. Beneath the loess is a hard till 

 (lllinoian) alternating with beds of sand. Water is obtained in gravel near 

 the bottom of the well and rises only to 20 feet. Mr. John Miller made a 

 well 4 miles north of Dunlap which obtained water from sand and orgrvel 

 at a depth of 218 feet. The upper 68 feet is evidently Wisconsin drift, 

 while the remainder is lllinoian. The drift is almost entirely till. A well 

 was made for Mr. Patrick Hogan about 4 miles south of Alta which reached 

 a depth of 330 feet. Whether it entered rock was not ascertained. The 

 well is on the crest of the Shelbyville moraine, at an altitude about 375 

 feet above the Illinois River. 



In Elmwood and vicinity, in the west part of the count}', wells are 

 usually obtained at 25 to 40 feet. The drift in that vicinity is about 60 

 feet in depth. The Manual of American Waterworks reports that the public 

 water supply is from an artesian well, depth not given. 



At Peoria the public water supply is obtained from a large well 32 feet 

 in diameter and 50 feet in depth, sunk in the low bottom of the Illinois 

 River just above the city. The well passes through a bed of blue till and 

 obtains water from gravel near the bottom. The city engineer, Mr. J. A. 

 Harman, reports that the well will supply 8,000,000 gallons per day, even 

 in dry seasons. It is thought that the bed of blue till overlving the' water- 

 bearing gravel protects the water from contamination by access of Illinois 

 River water, or at least there is a probability that any water entering this 

 gravel from the Illinois River passes through a sufficient amount of sand and 

 gravel before reaching the well to insure the absorption of much of the 

 impurities. Mr. Harman states that this water is preferable to water obtained 

 from the underlying rock strata, for the latter water iu this vicinity is brack- 

 ish. Several deep wells have been sunk in the city at the distilleries, stock 

 yards, and by private parties. One of these wells, controlled by D. L. Big- 

 ham, is used to supply the bath house on Adams street, between Hamilton 

 and Fayette. This well penetrated 151 feet of glacial drift, and similar 



