ART. XII.-NOTES ON SOME ARTESIAN BORINGS ALONG THE 

 LINE OF THE UNION PACIFIC RAILOAD IN WYOMING TER- 

 RITORY. 



By F. V. Hayden. 



Plate 26. 



For some time after the completion of the Pacific Eailroad across 

 the continent, a " water-train" was employed by the road to transport 

 water for steam jjurposes between Eawlins's Springs and Green River. 

 For a distance of about 140 miles, the road passes through a region 

 barren, arid, with scarcely any water, and that so alkaline that it could 

 not be used for the purpose of steam, and therefore the " water-train" 

 was employed to transport water from Green Eiver at great expense 

 and labor. Acting on the suggestion of the writer, Mr. T. E. Sickles, 

 at that time the chief engineer and general superintendent of the road, 

 determined to sink a number of artesian wells at different stations 

 along this waterless interval. It was understood that the experiment 

 would be a costly one, but the basin-like character of the strata from 

 Separation to Eock Springs warranted a trial. Several points were 

 fixed upon for sinking the wells; as. Separation, Creston, Washakie, Eed 

 Desert, Bitter Creek, Point of Eocks, and Eock Springs. With what 

 measure of success the experiments were attended the accompanying 

 diagram shows quite clearly. 



Between Eawlins's Springs and Point of Eocks, the railroad may be said 

 to pass over a synclinal basin, the strata of the Lignitic or Laramie group 

 inclining in opposite directions at either end. From Creston to Bitter 

 Creek Station, a distance of about fifty miles, the Tertiary beds are 

 nearly or quite horizontal, so far as can be determined by the eye. The 

 entire distance is a level, arid sage-plain, and although forming the 

 " divide" of the continent, there is little or no water on the surface. 

 It may render the diagram more easily understood if we present the 

 prominent features of the geology from Eawlins's Springs to Green 

 Eiver. 



At Eawlins's Springs, on the north side of the railroad, there is a 

 group of low ridges of upheaval that extend to the northwest, in which 

 are exposed the Archaean rocks at the base, with a series of Silurian, 

 Carboniferous, Eed Beds, Jurassic, Cretaceous, &c., uplifted on either 

 side of the Archa3au nucleus. On the west side, the sedimentary strata 

 incline at various angles toward the west, the dip diminishing until 

 at Separation the inclination of the Lignitic beds is not over 10^. 



