THE RUSSELL ARTESIAN WELL. 69 



had but a very small specimen for examination. The pottery clay and marl re- 

 ferred to, are valuable deposits, and the clay, especially, is very pure. 



The hot water referred to was sufficient to boil an egg in three minutes. 

 The heat I am under the impression was caused by the iron pyrites by some 

 chemical changes, not caused by the well, but which have continued probably for 

 ages. I did not procure any of the hot water for analysis. 



The yellow clay, underlying the upper soil, I have been fortunate in ex- 

 amining its structure for five feet ten inches, the remaining twenty feet I have 

 not yet had opportunity to examine. 



The following is the yellow clay at the Benton so far as I have had an oppor- 

 tunity to examine it : 



Clay colored with Iron of aqueous formation and 



laminated, and of friable nature. ...... 3 feet. 



Lime, Magnesium and chalk, (natural lime) containing 

 fossil fish scales, Inoceramus, and Ammonites, 

 with iron nodules i foot. 



Ferruginous limestone, containing fossils of Inocera- 

 mus, fish scales and ctenoides gigantea and 

 sharks' teeth . . . ." o. 10 inches 



Silicious ferruginous limestone, (no fossils) , . . . i foot. 



Total 5.10. 



The work on the well has not yet been completed, and of course the matter 

 of irrigation has not yet been settled, though I am pleased to say from present 

 prospects the well will be completed successfully under government aid, and the 

 question of artesian water will be settled. In this respect I am under the impres- 

 sion that a good vein will be tapped somewhere about 2,000 feet, as there is 

 every indication to show that a very large vein underlies this locality, but this 

 remains for future investigations to bring forward. Respectfully, 



F. E. Jerome. 



Russell, Kansas, April 26, 1884. 



The anomaly in this boring is the finding of boiling hot water at the depth 

 of two hundred and forty feet. This water must have derived its heat from local 

 causes, as the increase of heat after passing the stratum of invariable tempera- 

 ture, is only one degree Fahrenheit for every fifty or sixty feet of descent. 



