176, >7J WATERS OF THE ORANGE SAND 45 



ble. It must be recollected, however, that although a spring- may 

 run out of the Orange Sand materials, it may have its origin in 

 different strata ; such, in fact, is the case with most of the mineral 

 springs of the State, and not unfrequcntly the freestone water of 

 the Orange Sand is rendered mineral by merely running over the 

 surface of another stratum. 



76. While, however, the quality of the water obtained from the 

 Orange Sand, whether in wells or springs, is generally excellent, 

 its quantity and availability leave much to be desired. This is 

 owing to the perviousness of the greater portion of the mass of 

 the formation, and the want of continuity, or irregularity of the 

 impervious strata which it does contain. Where the Orange Sand 

 prevails in force, wells often require to be sunk to great depths, 

 and very frequently through the entire thickness of the formation, 

 to where it rests on older and less pervious strata, which shed ihe 

 water. Yet sometimes, in the middle of such a district, a few 

 wells in a particular locality may yield water at a moderate depth, 

 by striking, accidentally, some lenticular mass of clay of inconsid- 

 erable extent, and no less perhaps, of inconsiderable thickness ; so 

 that after a while an incautious cleaning out, the falling of a 

 a bucket, or a slight shock of an earthquake, would break 

 through it and allow the water to sink. A further deepening may 

 reach another impervious ledge, which itself may give way in time ; 

 and thus wells are frequently kept deepening until either the un- 

 derlying impervious formation is reached, or the depth becomes 

 inconvenient, as has been the case at the University of Mississippi. 

 At Oxford, close by, water is reached at moderate depths ; and in 

 searching for the cause, we shall find outcropping in the ravines 

 adown the hillsides, several successive ledges of cream colored 

 pipeclay, which we look for in vain in the R. R. cut, midway be- 

 tween the town and the University. In the Orange Sand, there- 

 fore, wells of 80 to 100 feet and more, are of common occur- 

 rence. 



77. It is thus that in the more elevated ridge lands of S. Simp- 

 son, and S. Smith counties, for instance, the regular, rounded hol- 

 lows and valleys are often without even a channel for flowing 

 water ; some bunches of leaves floated up against trees or bushes, 

 give the only evidence that at times, in heavy rains, all the water 

 is not absorbed by the sand. Yet even the next day after a rain, 



