62 



GEOI^OGY OF IvA SAIvIvE COUNTY. 



lake level. We are of the opinion that 320 feet is 

 nearer the depth which must be bored at Grand Ridg-e 

 for coal- At Wenona it is 576 feet to this same bed, 

 so that if it can be found there at even 350 feet, it is 

 not too deep to be successfully worked if twenty-four 

 to thirty-two inches thick. 



We would call the attention of those having- 

 boring-s made to the importance of having- the piaterial 

 broug-ht up carefully inspected, and the thickness 

 of the strata passed throug-h recorded. Too man}^ of 

 those who conduct such work are wholly incompetent 

 to determine the real character of the beds passed 

 tliroug-h, as has been abundantly proven by a compari- 

 son of the records of a boring- with what was found in 

 sinking- a shaft. The variations are often g-reat, and 

 show dense ig-norance on the part of those doing- the 

 work. Black shales pass for coal and coal for dark 

 shales. Hard sandstone for limestone and soft lime- 

 stone for sandstone, and hard shales for one or the 

 other, according- to fancy. Thus much valuable 

 knowledg"e is lost and the results lose half their 

 value. 



Do not imag-ine you are on the hig-h road to fortune 

 because a well driller assures you he has passed 

 through a three-foot bed of coal on your land, unless 

 you know him to be competent to decide what he has 

 cut through. In boring-s with the diamond drill blun- 

 ders are impossible, as it tells the whole story. 



We would also call attention to the fact that the 

 same bed of coal varies much in thickness in compara- 

 tively short distances. Of this w^e have g-iven some 

 instances, but a few g-eneral statements on this point 

 will not be amiss. No. 2 varies from twenty-two 

 inches at Ottawa to forty-six inches in the Caledonia 

 mine; No. 7 from seven feet at Kirkpatrick's ford 

 to forty inches at Wenona, and No. 8 from six inches at 



