472 



Account of the Boring Operations 



jellow veins occurred, resembling in appearance a thin stratum passed 

 at 127 feet. The borer, which during the prevalence of the sand wag 

 always behind the tubing, sometime several feet, now penetrated in 

 advance of it, and in less than 24 hours reached the depth of 175 feet. 



The clay at 163 feet changed, for a short space, remarkably in colour 

 and substance ; becoming dark, friable, and apparently containing 

 much vegetable and possibly some ferruginous matter. At 170 feet ifc 

 became sandy, and gradually passed into a very coarse sharp sand 

 mixed with small fragments of quartz and felspar, which was brought 

 up from 1 75 feet. 



This gravel or shingle at present impedes further progress, until we 

 shall have made some auger capable of penetrating and lifting the 

 stones. 



Report Progress of the Boring Experiment in Fort William^'-^ 

 By Major T. M. Taylor, bth Cavalry. 



April 5, 1837.— The immediate superintendence of the boring ex« 

 periment having, in consequence of my removal from Fort William^ 

 passed into other hands, I think it necessary to acquaint the Society 

 with the progress that has been made since I had the honour to submit 

 to them a note on the subject in June last. 



At that time a depth of 175 feet had been attained by the borer^ 

 which then worked in a coarse sharp sand mixed with pieces of quartz, 

 and felspar, and from the little progress made, it was supposed a bed of 

 gravel or shingle had been reached. This supposition, however, prov- 

 ed erroneous ; for after some delay the work advanced, until, the 

 borer having gained 178| feet, and the tubes being forced down ta 

 ISOi feet, they were observed soon after to have sunk by their own 

 weight, and thence forward up to the present time they have continued 

 so to sink, maintaining a depth generally a few feet in advance of 

 the auger. 



It is remarkable that, although it was frequently tried, it was sel- 

 dom found practicable to force the tubes down more than an inch or 

 two at a time; yet, shortly after the removal of the pressure, amount- 

 ing, possibly, to twenty tons, they would sometimes descend six 

 inches or even a foot by their own gravity. 



With a trifling variation in the colour and fineness of the sand the 

 stratum remained the same, until clay was found at 198i feet, but this 



