HAYDEN ON ARTESIAN BORINGS IN WYOMING. 183 



years previously, the Uniou Pa.ciflc Railroad Company sunk a well to 

 the depth of 100 feet. At 83 feet the workmen passed through 4 feet of 

 coal and 4 feet of coaly shale. Just over the coal was a fine, bluish, 

 indurated clay, with very distinct impressions of deciduous leaves in 

 abundance, which Mr. Lesquereux refers to the genera Acorusaud Pali- 

 urus. It so happened that the writer passed over this portion of the 

 road soon after the well was dug, in 1869, before the clay was removed, 

 and these specimens of the plants were collected. Such information as 

 could be obtained from the workmen, was secured at that time. 



At Washakie Station, a boring was made to the depth of 638 feet, 

 through horizontal strata, but the record seems to have been very im- 

 perfect. A fair supply of water was obtained. 



At Red Desert, water was obtained at the rate of 600 gallons per hour 

 at the depth of 600 feet. It is probable that the red paint spoken of is 

 the red earth that characterizes this group, which is probably the same 

 as the Vermillion Creek of King and the Wahsatch group of Hayden. 

 This group, though containing some thin beds of lignite, really rests on 

 the true Lignitic or Laramie group. 



At Bitter Creek Station, the strata are horizontal also. At the depth 

 of 696 feet, it will be seen by the diagram that an abundant supply of 

 water was obtained. A thia seam of coal and some oily shales were 

 passed through, which would remind one of the peculiar oily shales of 

 the Green River group, but they are believed to be far beneath them, and 

 most probably in the upper portion of the Laramie group. Indeed, it has 

 been found impossible to trace any physical line of separation between 

 the brackish- water Lignitic beds below and the purely fresh- water group 

 above. 



At Point of Rocks Station, the Washakie or Wahsatch group has 

 entirely disappeared in the immediate vicinity of the road, and the Lig- 

 nitic group has risen up by a gentle dip toward the east and southeast. 

 At this point, an artesian boring was made to the depth of 1,000 feet, 

 from which an abundant supply of water was obtained. 



Between Point of Rocks Station and Rock Springs the railroad passes 

 across an anticlinal valley, in which a large thickness of the Fos Hills 

 group is exposed, underlaid by the Fort Pierre group, or No. 4, wit h 

 perhaps portions of the Niobrara group, or No. 3. Mr. King, in his 

 excellent map of this region, very i)roperly places under one general 

 division the three groups. Fort Pierre, Niobrara, and Fort Benton, as 

 the Colorado division. They cannot well be separated in this region, 

 although on the eastern slope they might be separately defined on a map 

 to a limited extent. 



West of Salt Wells Station the dip is reversed. The entire series of 

 coal bearing beds comes to the surface above the true Cretaceous series, 

 and gradually passes up into the Green River shales. 



The well at Rock Springs is perhaps the most interesting one of the 

 series in a geological point of view. Tlie beds here dip to the west 



