310 agricultural report. [1664, 665, 6Q6, 667 668 



WATERS OF THE YELLOW LOAM REGION. 



664. It would be difficult to give, in any shape but that of a 

 lengthy catalogue, the extremely variable condition of the several 

 portions of this region with reference to the supply of well and 

 spriug water, or to record the numerous analyses I have made of 

 them ; and since the limits of this volume forbid such enlargement, 

 I shall cnofine myself in this place, to generalities ; the more so 

 as under the several heads of the " Waters of the Orange Sand " 

 (175, ff.), "Waters of the Lignitic Groups" (13 L4, ff.), and 

 especially under " Localities of the Northern Lignitic Groups " 

 (1168, ff.), a great many data will be found (in addition to those 

 incidentally mentioned in the special description of the region, 

 just given) from which an attentive person can inform himself on 

 this point. 



665. As a matter of course, where the gray or black clays, sands, etc., of the 

 Lignitic (^164), appear on the hillsides, or in bluffs of streams, etc., it may be 

 expected that the same will be struck in wells at the same level ; that, if they 

 are overlaid by Orange Sand strata (H"10), freestone water may be struck above 

 them, if not at one point, perhaps at another (% 605 2 ); and that, within them, 

 if water be found it will generally be somewhat mineral — the less so, the lighter 

 the color of the material found. All that has been said regarding the waters in 

 the Hills of the Flatwoods region, will apply in this case. 



666. Where the lignitic clays are absent, and the Orange Sand formation alone 

 comes into play (1T75), the chances of obtaining water in wells may be judged 

 of by observing whether or not, in washes on the hillsides, pipeclays (IT 24), 

 occur, and at what elevation. Where (as in the ridges S. of Oxford) springs 

 break out at the foot of the ridges only, it may be expected that wells will be 

 required to be sunk to the same level. And, so long as a well or bore remains 

 within the characteristic materials of the Orange Sand formation (IT 10, ff.), no 

 rise of the water need be anticipated. 



667. Bored and Artesian Wells. — The great depth to which wells 

 in the Orange Sand often require to be sunk, and the uncertainty, 

 frequently, of their supply during the dry season, has rendered the 

 practicability of deep bored, and especially of artesian wells, W. 

 of the Flatwoods, in N. Mississippi one of serious practical 

 import ; and its probable success has heretofore been discussed, 

 with more zeal than knowledge of facts. 



While in the absence of surface levelings in an E. and W. direction, it is 

 impossible to say whether at Oxford or Holly Springs, for instance, water could 

 be had to rise above the surface, so mnch can be said with certainty, that the 

 geological structure of the formations is favorable to artesian bores, and that 

 according to the regular westward dip, at the rate of about 30 feet per mile, of 

 the cretaceous strata in Tippah and Pontotoc, which contain abundant veins of 

 water, these strata would probably be reached at depths between 700 and 900 

 feet at Oxford, and at Holly Springs at a depth somewhat greater. At these 

 depths water possessing a considerable rise would be certain to be obtained ; but 

 there are chances of water at a less depth, since the strata of the Northern 

 Lignitic, in which veins of water are not scarce, probably possess a westward 

 dip, similar to those of the Cretaceous. 



668. It is impossible to make even an approximate guess as to the relative 

 levels, on which the rise of the water depends, without further data ; but since 

 the rivers of N. Mississippi flow from E. to W., the expectation that the country 



