270 GEOLOGY. 



the chambers were carved out of the soil (Loess), they were per- 

 fectly dry. The walls were hidden and ornamented with Harpers 1 

 Weekly, with the emanations of Nast's genius made to occupy the 

 conspicuous corners. My hostess, whose cultivated intellect and 

 kindly nature made even this abode a charming resort, was a grad- 

 uate of an eastern seminary. Her husband, after a failure in busi- 

 ness in New York, came here to commence life anew on a home- 

 stead, by stock raising. To get a start with young stock no money 

 could be spared for a house. Eight years afterward I found the 

 same family financially independent, and living in a beautiful brick 

 mansion, but I doubt whether they had any more substantial hap- 

 piness than when they were looking for better days in the old tem- 

 porary "dug-out." Thousands who are still coming into this land 

 of promise are still doing the same thing. So firmly does the ma- 

 terial of this deposit stand, that after excavations are made in it, 

 underground passages without number could be constructed with- 

 out meeting any obstacles, and without requiring any protection 

 from walls and timber. 



Cause of these Peculiarities. 



These peculiarities of the Loess deposits are chiefly owing to the 

 fact that the carbonate of lime has entered into slight chemical 

 •combination with the finely comminuted silica. There is always more 

 or less carbonic acid in the atmosphere which is brought down by 

 the rains, and this dissolves the carbonate of lime, which then read- 

 ily unites with silica, but only to a slight extent, and not enough to 

 destroy its porosity. Though much of the silica is microscopically 

 minute, and is water-worn or rounded, it still enters into this slight 

 union with the carbonate of lime. Had there been more lime and 

 iron in this deposit, and had it been subjected to a greater and 

 longer pressure from superincumbent waters, instead of a slightly 

 chemically compacted soil, it would have resulted in a sandstone 

 formation, incapable of cultivation. There is not enough of clayey 

 matter present to prevent the water from percolating through it as 

 perfectly as through sand, though a great deal more slowly. This 

 same peculiarity causes ponds and stagnant water to be rare within 

 the limits of this deposit. Where they do exist in slight depres- 

 sions on the level plain, it is found that an exceptionally large 

 quantity of clayey matter has been accumulated in the soil on the 

 bottom. In Clay, Fillmore, York, and a few other counties, there 



