Geology of Jefferson County, Texas, — Kennedy. 271 
three feet of brown sand underlaid by dark blue clay, con- 
taining great quantities of small, rounded, limy nodules. 
The thickness of this clay is unknown, but it shows over ten 
feet in the sewer. The same clay is also seen in the river 
bluff about a mile below the main portion of the town, and it 
underlies a great portion of the prairie south and west of 
Beaumont. On the coast the same blue clay is recorded as 
having been found by the Coast Survey in looking for a foun- 
dation for a lighthouse, and it also forms a bar across the 
mouth of the Neches, causing a shoaling of the water from 24 
feet in the river to 8 or 10 feet in the lake. 
North of Beaumont these cla3 T s occur in most of the wells, 
and at several places are reported to contain shells, chiefly 
oysters. A well bored at Mr. Fletcher's house in Beaumont 
shows a section of 
Feet. 
1. Blue clay with thin strata of sand 20 
2. Sand with broken shells 10 
3. Blue clay and sand 123 
4. Sand containing shells 5 
5. Heavy stiff blue clay 60 
6. Blue sand 30 
7. Blue sand and clay, the saod sometimes in beds of 
30 feet, to bottom of well 163 
Total 413 
A small flow of water was obtained in this well. The water, 
however, was brackish arid unfit for household purposes. 
The point selected for the oil and gas well was a slightly 
elevated mound situated on the prairie about five miles south 
of Beaumont. This mound is one of several such places oc- 
curring throughout the county, and only differs from the 
others by the presence of several springs locally known as 
"'sour wells." These wells are deserving of notice chiefly on 
account of the peculiarities exhibited by them. There are 
five springs or wells in all. These lie along the base of the 
western side of the mound in small, rounded depressions, to- 
tally devoid of vegetation, and while each emits a consid- 
erable quantity of hydrogen sulphide the color and taste of 
the water are different in each well. Four of them are of 
greenish hue, varying in intensity from Light to dark green, 
and the fifth is of a yellow or straw color, [n taste they are all 
