L. E. Hicks—Test well in Nebraska. 159 
Art. XXIV.—The Test Well in the Carboniferous Formation at 
Brownville, Nebraska; by Professor L. E. Hicks of the Uni- 
versity of Nebraska. 
Ir has long been a mooted question, both in the minds of 
geologists and of practical miners, whether there is coal in 
Nebraska that will pay for mining. The citizens of Brownville, 
Nemaha county, have been making a practical test of this mat- 
ter for which they deserve much credit, since their test well has 
brought to light facts of great scientific interest and value irre- 
spective of the economical results. 
The boring was begun at an elevation of 919 feet above the 
level of the sea, and carried to the depth of 1,000 feet 10 inches, 
or 81 feet 10 inches below sea level. The surface rocks at 
Brownville are Upper Carboniferous and show traces of coal, 
as, for instance, in the west bank of the Missouri river just 
tates farther east. Here, therefore, is the place to find coal if 
it exists at all in paying quantities in Nebraska. The only 
Seam found in the Lower Cval Measures was one of bituminous 
Coal of fair quality, 30 inches in thickness, at a depth of 820 
eet 8 inches.. The boring was carried 180 feet farther without 
sReountering any more coal. Below the thirty inch seam noth- 
ing was encountered but the shales, limestones and sandstones 
ordinarily found jn the Lower Coal Measures. his renders it 
improbable that any more coal would be found at greater 
epths, although the demonstration would have been more 
complete if the hole had been put down one or two hundred 
feet deeper. 
Above the thirty inch seam three other thin seams were 
found ; one 8 inches -thick at a depth of 93 feet, another 14 
inches thick at a depth of 242 feet, and a third 10 inches 
thick at a depth of 375 feet. These evidently belong to 
the Upper Coal Measures, as there is an interval of nearly 400 
feet of barren rocks between them and the thirty inch seam. 
Immediately below the 14 inch seam is a stratum of sandstone 
20 feet thick containing water strongly impregnated with salt 
and other minerals in solution, which flowed out at the top of 
the well, 
Whether the thirty inch seam can be profitably worked at a 
depth of 820 feet is a question for the practical miner rather — 
than for the geologist. It would at once be answered in the 
negative where fuel is plenty, but in this land of prairies and 
