WELLS OF MORGAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS. 723 



INDIVIDUAL WELLS. 



In the extreme northwest part of the county, on the Illinois bottoms, 

 wells are obtained in sand at 30 to 50 feet, or at about the level of the 

 Illinois River. On the bluffs they are sunk through 20 feet or more of loess 

 before entering glacial drift. Rock is occasionally struck in that part of the 

 county at about 40 feet, but wells usually obtain water above the rock. 



At Chapin the shafts or borings for coal pass through about 12 feet of 

 loess, beneath which is a sheet of till extending to the rock, which is entered 

 at 40 to 50 feet. Wells in several instances have been sunk entirely 

 through the drift, but they usually obtain water at about 20 feet. 



At Jacksonville wells are usually obtained at 20 to 40 feet, but the 

 public water supply is from two deep artesian wells, one of which is 2,373 

 and the .other 3,028 feet in depth. The wells are situated on low ground, 

 about 30 feet below the level of the Chicago and Alton depot, and water 

 will rise a few feet above the surface. In the shallower well it is stated to 

 rise 15 feet and in the deeper one 30 feet above the well mouth. Attention 

 is here called to an error which appears in the present author's paper in the 

 Seventeenth Annual Report, the head at the deep well being given as 30 

 feet below the surface, instead of 30 feet above. The drift at the artesian 

 wells is about 140 feet in thickness and consists mainly of till. A boring 

 for coal east of the city penetrated 154 feet of drift, mainly till, except 

 about 10 feet of sand at the bottom. 



There is a series of drift knolls leading from Jacksonville southwest- 

 ward 3 or 4 miles on which several wells have been obtained at depths of 

 40 to 50 feet. They are almost entirely through till, the lower half being 

 a blue till. 



At Prentice a coal shaft penetrates 85 feet of drift, the greater part of 

 which is a blue till. In the lower ten feet a sandy clay containing a log 

 was passed through. 



At Alexander wells are usually obtained at depths of 20 to 40 feet, but 

 one at the elevator reached a depth of 95 feet and did not enter rock. Its 

 section is as follows: 



Section of well at elevator in Alexander, Illinois. 



Feet. 



Loess 10 



Yellow till 10 



Blue till with thin saud lieds 75 



