WELLS OF RANDOLPH (JOUNTY, ILLINOIS. 76" 



RANDOLPH COUNTY. 

 GENERAL STATEMENT. 



Randolph County is situated on the east border of the Mississippi 

 River, immediately below Monroe County, and has an area of 560 square 

 miles, with Chester as the county seat. The Kaskaskia River leads south- 

 ward through its western portion and drains the western half of the county. 

 The eastern part of the county is tributary to Marys River, which enters 

 the Mississippi just below Chester. 



The portion of the county on the immediate border of the Mississippi 

 Valley stands higher than the more remote portions of the county, there 

 being a gradual descent from the Chester to the Coal Measures formations, 

 notwithstanding the fact that the former passes beneath the latter. The 

 elevated tracts near the Mississippi are capped with a porous loess, but the 

 lower tracts to the north have a silt nearly as compact as the white clay 

 into which it graduates toward the north. The belt of ridged drift which 

 has been traced southward through St. Clair and eastern Monroe counties 

 crosses the Kaskaskia in northern Randolph County and passes southeast- 

 ward through the central portion of the county just south of the villages of 

 Sparta and Steeleville. The belt in this county has a width of scarcely a 

 mile and has less relief than in the districts farther north, its crest being 

 seldom more than 50 feet, and usually but 25 or 30 feet above the border 

 tracts. 



On the elevated portion of the county outside the drift ridge just men- 

 tioned there is less drift than in the lower districts to the north, and typical 

 till is seldom found. The valleys are filled with a clayey deposit, in which 

 there are a few pebbles and an occasional bowlder. The uplands have 

 scarcely a trace of drift. Along the belt of ridged drift and in the district 

 to the north typical till is quite prevalent. The thickness of drift in the 

 northern portion of the county varies greatly because of inequalities of the 

 underlying rock. Within the limits of the village of Sparta the thickness 

 varies fully 100 feet. Wells frequently obtain water without entering rock 

 at depths of 15 to 30 feet. In the elevated portion of the county the resi- 

 dents depend largely upon cistern water, though it appears that wells may 

 be obtained at depths of only 50 to 75 feet. 



