Stoux City Academy of Science and Letters. 165 
vein was becoming thicker and of a better and more uni- 
form quality as they drifted under the bluff. At the 
time of these investigations, this shaft was nearly full 
of water. The dump still contained much of the lignite 
which was identical with that farther south. 
Notwithstanding these unsuccessful investigations, 
and the unfavorable predictions of scientific men, a 
movement of some magnitude was started in the fall of 
1901 by business men of Sioux City. Numerous reports 
had reached the public of the discovery of “coal” in drill- 
ing wells on the farms among the hills of Dakota County, 
Nebraska. This induced these capitalists to lease sev- 
eral hundred acres of land in Dakota County for the pur- 
pose of prospecting for and mining of coal, and drilling 
was begun on the farm of Mr. C. H. Goodfellow in secs. 
22 and 23, T. 29 N., R. 7 E., in March, 1902. At least 8 
drill holes were sunk on the Goodfellow tract, ranging 
in depth from 85 to 400 feet. Many of the drillings were 
apparently random shots, and no very careful record of 
the holes was kept at first, and had a line of levels been 
run to determine the relative elevations of the tops of 
the holes, considerable fruitless work might have been 
avoided on the part of the prospectors. The drill was 
at first operated by means of horses, later by gas-engine 
power. 
Sections of the last five drill holes were recorded by 
the writer, two from personal observation, the others 
from an examination of the drillings and notes of Mr. 
Goodfellow. They are graphically represented in figs. 
7 and 8. (See also map, fig. 2.) These records indicate 
the presence of lignite at three horizons: 
(1) A fragmentary bed, 6 to 10 inches thick exists 
in places and is absent in others. With reference to the 
mean level of Missouri River as a datum plane, this bed 
lies at +25 to +50 feet, the difference in elevation being 
due to the broad undulations of the strata. 
(2) A bed of lignite at a depth corresponding to 
that found at 91 feet in the well underlies several square 
miles, with a thickness of 14 to 2 feet. Referred to datum 
this hes at —20 to +10 feet. 
