164 Sioux City Academy of Science and Letters. 
Occurrenee.—Seams of lignite outcropping from the 
bluffs near Ponca, in the southeastern part of Dixon 
County, and near Homer, in the southeastern part of Da- 
kota County, have intermittently furnished a limited sup- 
ply of fuel to residents of those localities. The finding of 
a, seam at a depth of 91 feet while drilling a well on the 
farm of Mr. C. H. Goodfellow, in sec. 22, T. 29 N., R. 7 E., 
late in 1899, together with the careless report of the drill- 
ers that it had a thickness of 6 feet, led to the prospecting 
on this property. While this material was being brought 
up by the drill, samples of it were burned on a shovel, 
and some was sent to the University of Nebraska for 
analysis. Prof. Nicholson reported the following results: 
ANALYSIS OF LIGNITE FROM GOODFELLOW WELL, NEAR 
JACKSON, NEBR. 
Per Cent. 
MEO TS PUTER Ges ENE ATA ai es ML Lap HPN CUR Te NASA VBR Ae 4.57 
Volatile, Combustible Matter........... 0.0... ccc cece eee cece 31.97 
PIXE ds! CAPDOTI ie Cras eee coe Nahe ee eer ST See eee eee HEIDEN 40.24 
BANS Tas Sy Me STR SRE Oe NS UE Be Soa SL US De CUA APR eI Se e 23.22 
100.00 
Extent as evidenced by prospecting—The following 
summer some parties of Jackson, Nebraska, sunk a shaft 
in the bottom of a ravine in sec. 14, a few rods back from 
its mouth. The elevation of the top of this shaft was 
1,155 feet or 65 feet above the mean level of Missouri 
River. The shaft was 4 by 8 by 80 feet, and at 60 feet it 
passed through a bed of lignite reported to be nearly 3 
feet thick. Water entered the shaft in such a volume 
that a steam pump was necessary to keep the water low 
enough that the vein might be worked. The vein was 
roofed by several feet of light, sandy clay, and was un- 
derlain by 8 feet of good white fire clay. Lignite taken 
from the shaft was burned in the engine which operated 
the pump and the hoist. 
Unforeseen accidents and delays caused by careless 
methods of men inexperienced in mining, soon permitted 
the water to become too difficult to control, and this, 
together with a shortage of funds, finally caused the 
owners to abandon this shaft. They report that the 
