112 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Vol. XXIX, 1922 
the rate of 150 gallons per minute, continuing from eleven o’clock 
forenoon to eleven o’clock the following day, discharging over 
200,000 gallons of water within the 24 hours. At the beginning of 
the test the water was within 73 feet of the surface of the ground. 
After pumping 24 hours, the water had fallen to 157 feet, a drop 
of 84 feet. This was considered a very satisfactory test, showing 
an abundant supply of water, and far in excess of our daily needs. 
The first casing or pipe was put down 83 feet. The second pipe 
was down 829 feet. The first two shales were “cavy,” so the 
pipes prevented caving. Below this it was solid enough. 
Our water tank holds 50,000 gallons, and the new pump keeps 
it full by only three or four hours pumping in every 24 hours. The 
pump is operated by electric power. 
In referring to the deep wells of some of our neighbors, it is 
noticed that the St. Peter sandstone was reached at a depth of a 
little over 1100 feet in the wells at the State Hospital for the In- 
sane at Mt. Pleasant, distant about seventeen miles from Winfield ; 
at about the same depth at Washington ; and at nearly 1000 feet at 
Burlington. This famous sandstone was reached at Winfield at 
1143 feet, but it is not as thick here as in these other localities. 
Its thickness at Winfield is 37 feet, at Burlington 120 feet, at Mt. 
Pleasant 136 feet, and at Washington 128 feet. 
The depth of these wells is 1268 feet at Winfield; at Wash- 
ington, City well No. 1 is 1611 feet, Well No. 2 is 1217 feet, and 
Well No. 3 is 1808 feet; the two wells at the State Hospital at Mt. 
Pleasant are 1267 and 1203 feet each. 
To the reader who may not be versed in geology, it may be 
explained, in the language of one our state geologists, that, “The 
hard, regularly-bedded rocks of Iowa were formed almost exclu- 
sively under water. They were originally loose, soft sediments 
spread out where they now lie, in regular sheets or layers, on the 
bottom of ancient seas. The present sandstones were originally 
submarine sand banks, the shales were beds of mud, the limestones 
were the products of coral reefs or marine shells of various 
kinds, broken and ground into fragments, and the coal seams were 
first masses of vegetable matter accumulated in swamps or 
marshes, something as similar matter accumulates in modern peat 
bogs.” 
Winfield 
