DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Roy 0. West; Secretary

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

George Otis Smith. Director

1 Bulletin 801

GEOLOGY AND WATER EESOURCES

OF THE

EDGELEY AND LA MOUEE QUADEANGLES 

NOETH DAKOTA

BY

HERBERT A. HARD
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CONTENTS

_________

Page

Introduction _____-_____--_-_-_-________-_-_---__-_--------------- 1

Location and general relations._________________________________ 1

General features of North Dakota.______________________________ 2

Topography._____________________________________________ 2

Drainage_ _____-_____-_-_____--_-____-_-__-__-_____--_-_ 3

Bedrock surface...-------_________________________________ 4

Stratigraphy and structure...._.-_--..--------------.------ 4

Settlement of the quadrangles_____________________.____________ 5

Topography..____-____----__-_-_____-_______-_-_____-_-_-___.-___ &

Relief___:_-------------------------------------L-----~-_- 6

Lake and river plams-______-______________________________ 7

Uplands____--_------_----___--_---_-----_------___------ 7"

Drainage_ ___._____--_-_.---_____-_____---_____-_______--_._ 8

James River.._.______.____.__.__._.__-______-______._____ 9'

Bear Creek..__._.....___...._...___________. 10

Maple River.____________________________________________ 10

Elm River...__......_________________________ 11

Lakes __.____._____---._-.__-_-_._-_--_.-_---_-.-_-____.-.___ 11

Springs ___"_________--___-_-----__--_---.-_---_-_-______-_____ 12

Climate and vegetation_________.__________________________________ 12

Descriptive geology.--__------_-------_-_-_-_-_-_-__-____--__-_-__ 13

Cretaceous system..__________________________________________ 13

Dakota sandstone-________-____-_-________________._______ 14

Depth and thickness---__-_-_-___-_-_____----____-____ 14

Character__-________________________._____.__________ 14

Fossils.....-____-_--__--_-_-__-____--___-___-_____-__ 15

'Colorado group_--__-____._______-___________-_-___._.____ 15

Benton shale.________________________________________ 15

Niobrara shale..._____________________________________ 16

Montana group.___________________'_______________________ 17

Pierre shale.___________. ___________________________' 17

 Thickness-..-.--.----..---.-.--_-___-_.___.-_.-__ 17

Outcrop-----_---_--_--_----__-______----_____-_- 17

Fossils.----.-.--- _---_---__--_-___-_-__________ 17

Quaternary system.____________________________________________ 18

Pleistocene series_'_______________________________________ 18

General glacial features._______________________________ 18

Color and oxidation____________^_______.______________ 20

Age of the drift...___.___'__.______.____________________ 20

Leaching.. _______________________________________ 20

Induration.______________________________________ 21

Glacial boulders._____________________________________ 21

Configuration of the drift and of the bedrock_____________ 22

in
IV CONTENTS

Descriptive geology Continued. 

Quaternary system Continued.

Pleistocene series Continued. - Page

Wisconsin drift-______________________________________ 23

General of eatures. _________________________________ 23

Altamont and Gary moraines____-__________________ 25

Till plain between the Gary and Altamont moraines. __ 27

Antelope morainic system__________________________ 28

Outer moraine._______________________________ 28

Inner moraine_______________________-________ 28

Till plain and eskers between the outer and inner

moraines of the Antelope morainic system..._______ 29

Till plain east of the inner moraine of the Antelope

morainic system._______________________________ 30

Correlation of the moraines-_______________-____-__- 30

Oakes moraine___________________-________________ 31

Sand Prairie deposits__-________________-_-_____-_- 32

Deposits of glacial Lake Dakota.___________________ 32

Terraces of James River.______________________________ 33

Recent series.____________________________________________ 34

Alluvium.. _ __________________________________________ 34

Sand dunes..__________-_________________-_-_-____---- 34

Peat-________---_____________________----_____-. 34

Geologic history___________________._-________________:__-_____--_ 35

Cretaceous period-____________________________________________ 35

Dakota epoch-___________________________________________ 35

Tertiary period._____-__--__-_--_-____-_-________-_---____-_-_ 36

Post-Cretaceous erosion.___________________________________ 36

Preglacial drainage of the Dakotas_--__---____--------___-_- 37

Quaternary period___________________________________________ 38

Pleistocene epoch_________________________________________ 38

Glaciation__ _ _________________________________________ 38

Glacial Lake Dakota--__---______-_-_-__-_-_-_________ 40

James River Valley___.._______..._______ 41

Economic geology._________--___-____-_____--__-____-_--_---_----_ 42

Building materials___________________________________________ 42

Sand -and gravel. _________________________________________ 42

Brick clay and shale.._____________________________________ 42

Soils__________,____________________________________________ 43

Water resources.______________________________________________ '44

Water in glacial drift._____________________________________ 44

Water in the Pierre and Benton formations.__________________ 45

Water in the Dakota sandstone.____________________________ 47

Scope and methods of testing artesian wells ______________ 47

Position of water-bearing beds-_-_--_-____--_--_--_____- 49

Artesian conditions---__-_-_____-________--_-_____-.___ 50

Types and yields of wells_____________________________ 50

Irregularities in head-_________________________________ 51

Original head____________-__________________._________ 53

Decline in head and flow.______________________________ 54

Artesian conditions and prospects as shown by the 1923 survey,

by 0. E. Meinzer.____________________________________ 57

History of artesian-well drilling in the Edgeley quadrangle. 57

Original head and area of artesian flow_______--_-________ 58
CONTENTS V

Economic geology Continued. 

Water resources Continued.

Artesian conditions and prospects as shown by the 1923 survey,

by 0. E. Meinzer Continued. Pago 

1 Decline in head from 1886 to 1923_____________.___ 59

Shrinkage in the area of artesian flow.___________________ 60

Increase in hydraulic gradient___-__________________-__- 61

S Correlation of decline in head with descent of artesian

boundary__________________________________________ 62

Yield of flowing wells and decline in yield ________________ 62

Specific capacities of flowing wells ___________________ 63

Total discharge of flowing wells..-_____--____--_________ 64

Beneficial flow as estimated by the State Geological Survey. 66 

Rate of recharge._-____------_--____-_-_--_--_-___-___ 66

Withdrawal of stored water and compression of the Dakota 

sandstone.. ___.__--.... ___-.-__.-.._...__._ 67

v Beneficial effect of the conservation policy adopted by the

State of North Dakota-_--_---_-_-_-__________._ 71

Effect of waste in South Dakota._______________________ 73

Head of the deep artesian water._______________________ 73

, Quality of the water_______________-_--____._______________ 74

Temperature of the water.____________-__*__________________ 76

Natural gas__-_-_______--_----_-_-----__---___-----__-__- 76

Data on artesian wells._____--'--__--______--____-___-.__-._ 78

Index_________________.__._-____-----_----.----.-._--.. 89

ILLUSTKATIONS

Page 

PLATE 1. Map of Edgeley quadrangle showing areal geology_______ In pocket.

2. Map of La Moure quadrangle showing areal geology___ _ In pocket.

3. Map of Edgeley quadrangle showing thickness of glacial drift

and artesian-water conditions________________________ In pocket.

4. Map of La Moure quadrangle showing thickness of glacial drift

and artesian-water conditions ________________________ In pocket.

5. Glacial moraines: A, Terminal moraine on Coteau du Missouri;

B, Oakes moraine, a recessional moraine_________________ 26

FIGURE 1. Index map of parts of North and South Dakota showing location of Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles_______________ 1

2. Sketch map of North Dakota and adjacent areas showing the

principal physiographic divisions of the region ____________ 2

3. Sections of wells in the Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles. __ 14

4. Map showing area covered by the North American ice sheets and 

the mountain glaciers of the Pleistocene epoch at the maximum extension. ______________________________________ 18

5. Sketch map showing southwestern limit reached by the Pleistocene ice sheets and the distribution of moraines of the Dakota 

glacial lobe of the Wisconsin stage of glaciation.__________ 24

6. Map of the northern part of the Ellendale quadrangle showing

decline in artesian head._______________________________ 56

7. Generalized east-west section of the area of artesian flow in

the Edgeley quadrangle, Showing hydraulic profiles. _______ 60

GEOLOGY AND WATER RESOURCES OF THE EDGELEY 

AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, NORTH DAKOTA

By HERBERT A. HARD

INTRODUCTION

LOCATION AND GENERAL RELATIONS

The Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles lie between meridians 98° 

and 99° and parallels 46° and 46° 30'. The area comprises nearly all 

of Dickey County, the southern two-thirds of La Moure County, and

FIGDBB 1. Index map of parts of North and South Dakota showing location of 

Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles and areas covered by Jamestown-Tower and 

Casselton-Fargo folios (Nos. 168 and 117) of the Geologic Atlas

small strips along the western edges of Kansom and Sargent Counties, 

N. Dak. (See fig. 1.) Each quadrangle is about 24^ miles wide 

and 34!/2 miles long and therefore covers about 840 square miles. 

Oakes and Ellendale, in Dickey County, and Edgeley and La Moure,

l
EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

in La Moure County, are thriving towns with good railroad facilities 

for handling agricultural products, which are about the sole resource 

of the region. Ellendale and La Moure are county seats.

The Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles lie in the western part 

of the Western Lake section of the Central Lowland. This lowland 

extends from the Appalachian Highlands on the east to the Great 

Plains on the west. The Edgeley quadrangle overlaps the Coteau du 

Missouri, which here marks the limit of the Great Plains. 1

The Western 

Lake section extends from the 

margin of the plateau in the Edgeley quadrangle 

.eastward to the 

Laurentian Upland in Minnesota 

and southward to 

the Dissected Till 

Plains in eastern 

Nebraska and 

Iowa. It embraces 

the area covered 

by the combined 

Minnesota and 

Dakota lobes of 

the last ice sheet. 

The region is traversed by some of the more prominent glacial moraines of the United States, and the rugged Gary and Altamont 

moraines cross the western part of the Edgeley quadrangle.

GENERAL FEATURES OF NORTH DAKOTA

As a setting for the description of these quadrangles a brief summary of the general features of North Dakota is given below.

TOPOGRAPHY

North Dakota comprises three areas which are characterized by 

somewhat different surface features. (1) The eastern tier of counties, 

forming a belt 30 to 40 miles wide, lies on the smooth floor of glacial 

Lake Agassiz, which is now the valley of Red River. This level 

tract, some 700 miles in length, extends far into Canada, where it has 

a maximum width of about 250 miles. Its total area is about 110,000 

square miles. (2) From the Herman beach and the low Manitoba

1 The classification here given is in accordance with the outline of the physiographic 

divisions of the United States adopted by the Association of American, Geographers and 

approved by the United States Geological Survey.

FIGURE 2. Sketch map of North Dakota and adjacent areas 

showing the principal physiographic divisions of the 

region
GENERAL FEATURES OF NORTH DAKOTA &

escarpment the rolling glaciated prairie plain rises gradually westward to the Coteau du Missouri, which is the eastern margin of the 

Great Plains. The eastward-facing Coteau escarpment is 30 to 90 

miles east of Missouri Eiver and runs diagonally across the State 

from northwest to southeast, roughly dividing it into halves. The 

glaciated area extends westward 25 to 80 miles beyond the Missouri 

River gorge and thus overlaps the Great Plains for 150 miles or more. 

(3) The remaining area, comprising several counties in the southwestern part of the State, is unglaciated. Here the surface is in the main 

a rolling, moderately dissected upland, above which rise a few isolated buttes. Near the inain streams the smaller valleys are more 

sharply cut, and in places a multiplicity of ravines and erosion remnants produces a picturesque badland topography. 

The altitude of the State ranges from 751 feet above sea level

where Red River crosses the international boundary, near Pembina, 

to 3,468 feet above sea level on Black or H. T. Butte, in southwestern 

North Dakota. That part of the Western Lake section in which the 

Edgeley anil La Moure quadrangles lie ranges from about 1,000 to 

about 2,000 feet in altitude. The Coteau du Missouri, which is more 

. fully described below, the Coteau des Prairies, and the Turtle Mountains, standing 300 to 800 feet above the surrounding plain, are 

among the few more prominent features of the region. The Coteau 

des Prairies extends through southwestern Minnesota and northeastern South Dakota and reaches an altitude of 2,000 feet at its 

north end. This is a broad, gentle ridge rising about 500 to 700 feet 

above the adjacent country. In North Dakota it is represented by a 

mere swell in the prairie that continues northward across the State 

with low relief but gradually rises until, near the international boundary, it merges into the highland known as Pembina Mountain, which 

stands 360 feet above the plain where it enters Canada. North of 

the Coteau des Prairies this feature is known as the Manitoba escarpment. It continues far into Canada, where it becomes more conspicuous. Along parts of its course Missouri River has trenched its immediate valley 200 to 300 feet, Sheyenne River 200 feet in places, and 

James River 100 feet.

DRAINAGE

The drainage of North Dakota is about equally divided between 

two great systems that of Red River, a tributary of Nelson River, 

leading to Hudson Bay, and the Missouri-Mississippi system, emptying into the Gulf of Mexico. Owing to light rainfall and the comparatively recent drift deposits the drainage of most of that part 

of the State east and north of Missouri River is not mature, and many 

local areas are undrained.
4 EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

BEDROCK SURFACE

Northeast of Missouri River the State is so heavily covered with 

glacial drift that only the general configuration of the bedrock 

surface can be determined. Drift and lacustrine deposits are in 

places several hundred feet thick, so that the only data obtainable 

are those afforded by the logs of deep wells. East of the Manitoba 

escarpment there is a great north-south valley in the bedrock corresponding in position to the present valley of Red River. This valley 

was eroded through the Cretaceous deposits into Silurian, Ordovician, and Laurentian rocks. Its bottom is lower toward the north, 

sloping from about 800 feet above the sea in the southeastern part of 

the State to about 500 feet at the Canada boundary. West of this 

valley, as far as the Coteau du Missouri, the general altitude of the 

rock surface ranges from 1,200 to 1,500 feet above the sea. This 

general plain ranges in width from 75 miles at the south boundary 

of North Dakota to 200 miles at the Canada line. It is cut more 

or less by ancient valleys, now buried under the drift. Records of 

many artesian wells drilled .through the drift filling in the James 

River valley show a deeply buried valley corresponding approxi-. 

mately in position to the present valley in North Dakota. The surface of the rock rises somewhat higher to the west beneath the Coteau 

du Missouri, but a large part of the present relief of the Coteau, at 

least near its east front, is probably due to a thick accumulation of 

glacial drift.

STRATIGRAPHY AND STRUCTURE

The deposits that underlie the glacial drift in the Dakotas are 

chiefly almost horizontal beds of Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments, 

The mantle of glacial drift is so heavy that the Pierre shale, which 

underlies the eastern part of the two States, is rarely exposed. The 

same is true of the Fort Union beds westward to the Missouri, but 

farther west the veneer of older drift is so thin and discontinuous 

that the Fort Union strata are exposed in many ledges in mesa 

fronts and valley slopes. These rocks are so soft and shaly that 

east of the Missouri they were smoothed by the overriding ice and 

generally do not have any marked influence upon the present topography except in a large way.

In the artesian basin that forms the eastern third of North Dakota the Cretaceous strata have a general southwesterly dip nearly 

to the south State line, where they bend upward. The dip to the 

west is over 1% feet to the mile, and the southerly dip is about 6 or 

8 feet to the mile. These strata are flexed strongly upward on the 

slopes of the Black Hills and the mountains farther west.
SETTLEMENT 5

Granite has been reached in a few wells in North Dakota. Except 

possibly the Oakes well, these are in the eastern part of the State, 

where in a small area granite underlies the Dakota sandstone (or 

the shale where the Dakota is absent) at depths of 250 to 500 feet. 

In the northeast corner of the State Ordovician and Silurian strata 

are interposed between the drift and the granite, which is reached 

at depths' of 800 to 900 feet. Thus the granite is found at very 

different depths in the different wells, indicating unequal erosion before Cretaceous deposition.

SETTLEMENT OF THE QUADRANGLES

The Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles lie in an agricultural region which is thinly populated. Most of the farmers own much larger 

tracts than they can properly till, and as a result of poor tillage and 

scant rainfall the yields are less than half what the land could 

produce. With the application of scientific management farming 

lias been found to be a profitable occupation, as the region is 

uniformly fertile. The area is well served with railroads, being 

crossed by five lines, so that all parts of it are within a reasonable 

hauling distance from the elevators. The Bismarck branch of the 

Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Kailway, 'the Fargo & 

Southwestern branch of the Northern Pacific Kailway, and the Ellendale branch of the Great Northern Railway cross the area from 

east to west, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Kailway and 

Midland Continental Railroad form one north-south line, and the 

Jamestown line of the Northern Pacific Railway another.

In the Sioux war of 1863 General Sully visited this region to clear 

it of Indians and avenge the massacres of New Ulm, Minn., and 

Spirit Lake, Iowa. He surprised the Sioux at Whitestone Hill, 7 

miles southwest of Merricourt, in the NW. % sec. IT, T. 131 N., 

R. 65 W., where they were encamped while hunting 'buffalo1 and 

preparing their winter's supply of meat and furs. He attacked them 

at night, and the withering cross fire from the surrounding hills 

quickly put them to rout. Sully estimated the number of Indians in 

the camp at 3,000 to 4,000, including 1,500 men. He reported to the 

Government 450 killed, but early settlers who found the skeletons 

still on the field estimated them at 1,500. Men, women, and children 

alike were shot or put to the bayonet. Later the bones were gathered 

up with those of the buffalo and shipped from Ellendale.! Largely 

through the efforts of the late Theodore Northrup, of Monango, local 

and State interest was aroused, and in October, 1909, a granite shaft 

commemorating the battle was erected on Whitestone Hill.

The first important bodies of settlers came in 1881-1885 from the 

Eastern States and from Norway and Sweden. Comparatively few
6 EDGELEY AND LA MOUEE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

of these persons still remain, as some have been discouraged by 

drought and hard times and others, more prosperous, have been 

caught in the drift to city life. These have been replaced by a slow 

but steady influx of others. The level country has a large proportion 

of Scandinavian population, and the rough hill country at the southwest is almost entirely inhabited by Kussians.

The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Eailway was built into Ellendale from the south in 1881, and after that the surrounding country, 

largely unsurveyed and occupied by " squatters," was rapidly homesteaded. In 1886 the Chicago & Northwestern Kailway and Northern Pacific Eailway were extended to Oakes. In 1887 the Soo Line 

was built through Oakes to Merricourt and the Great Northern to 

Ellendale. The Fargo & Southwestern branch of the Northern Pacific had previously reached Edgeley.

The population of the area is about 20,000. Oakes is the largest 

town, with a population (in 1920) of 1,637. Then follow Ellendale 

with 1,400, La Moure with 1,014, Edgeley with 803, Kulm with 725, 

Forbes with 293, Verona with 258, Monango with 231, and Fullerton 

with 202. In 1915 there were 22 banks and 9 newspapers in the area. 

Telephone service is general throughout the country, and there are 

many rural mail routes.

The staple products of the region are wheat, oats, and barley, with 

a decreasing amount of flax and a rapidly increasing amount of corn, 

alfalfa, and livestock. Brome grass, millet, and prairie grass constitute most of the hay.

TOPOGRAPHY

RELIEF

This region is so deeply buried under the deposits of repeated 

glaciation by the Dakota ice lobe that the bedrock affects the surface only in a general way, but the La Moure and Edgeley quadrangles are of geologic interest in that they contain a series of glacial 

features. Skirting the eastern margin is a range of hills which is 

here designated the Oakes moraine. In the southeastern part of the 

area there is a portion of the silted floor of the extinct glacial Lake 

Dakota.

For 35 miles west of these features the topography is that of a 

nearly flat plain, interrupted only by the 100-foot gorge of James 

Kiver in the east and the shallow valley of Maple Eiver farther west 

and traversed by two faint disconnected moraines. This generally 

level plain ends in E. 65 W., at the foot of the abrupt east front of 

the Coteau du ^Eissouri, which rises westward 200 to 400 feet within 

a distance of a few miles. This escarpment, composed in this region 

of glacial drift, is capped by the Gary and Altamont moraines.
TOPOGRAPHY 7

Along the south half of the portion of the Coteau included in this 

area these two moraines are practically continuous through a belt 6 

to 10 miles wide. At the Gary substage the ice that formed the 

moraine barely overtopped the escarpment, and thus its deposits lie 

on the edge of the upland, where they form rough bouldery hills 

with a relief of 25 to 100 feet and give a topography rivaling 

that of the badlands in irregularity.

The altitude of the area mapped ranges from 1,300 feet above sea 

level in the southeastern part along and east of James Eiver to 2,200 

feet on the hilltops of the Gary moraine in the southwestern part.

LAKE AND RIVER PLAINS

The level floor of glacial Lake Dakota comprises about 65 square

miles, or one twenty-fifth of the area. It is about 8 miles wide at 

the south boundary, maintains this width for 8 miles northj and then 

rapidly narrows to a point 4 miles north of Oakes. The plain varies 

less than 10 feet in altitude, except where it is trenched by James. 

River. Near the north end of this plain the James River Valley 

opens a mile wide into the upland and continues northward at about: 

the same altitude, 1 to 2^ miles wide, throughout-the area. Parts 

of the old lake and river bottoms covering many square miles are as 

level as a floor. Low dunes, or hills of wind-blown sand, constitute' 

about the only break in the level surface. Only in sees. 19 and 30, T. 

130 N., R. 58 W. (Jackson Township), do the dunes reach notableheight ; there they form an isolated group about 50 feet high. A low 

islandlike ridge that has escaped erosion rises above the general 

level of the plain in the western part of Riverdale Township. The 

level lake plain extends a few miles eastward beyond the La Moure 

quadrangle and about 90 miles southward in South Dakota.

No distinct terraces bound the lake floor, but many isolated terrace 

remnants, or barlike forms, are found to the north in the James 

River Valley, alternately on each side of the river.

UPLANDS

North and east of the lake plain rise the sharp hills of the Oakes 

moraine, which occupies a narrow strip 1 to 4 miles wide to the north 

boundary of this area but lies chiefly in the quadrangle to the east. 

It is roughest just north of the plain described above, where a few 

hills reach an altitude of 1,400 feet, 100 feet above the general level 

to the south. From this point northward the relief is 10 to 50 feet:.. 

For 35 miles to the west the gently undulating prairie is interrupted 

only by low swells and subdued knolls with a relief of less than 201 

feet and by the valleys of James and Maple Rivers. A subdued!
8 EDGELEY AND LA MOUBE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

morainal tract that extends from north to south through the central 

part of the La Moure quadrangle includes many undrained areas 

: ranging from a few acres to several square miles in extent. Only 

one of these holds a permanent lake, but many are marshes in wet 

seasons. Many formerly held lakes and show flat filled bottoms 

and ice-rampart banks.

From E. 61 westward the surface gradually rises at the rate of 

about 100 feet in 6 miles to the base of the Coteau and is of nearly 

uniform slope except for the narrow trench of Maple Kiver and a subdued and discontinuous moraine that extends southward from Edgeley. Two illusions are very commonly experienced in traversing this 

plain. Over most of the smoothest part the traveler is constantly deceived by the feeling that he is in the bottom of a great basin which 

gently rises on all sides of him for several miles. As he continues 

at the same altitude the illusion persists; he still seems to be at the 

bottom of a broad, shallow depression. Also on approaching the 

Coteau from the east for 6 to 8 miles, although the observer is looking 

up an incline that averages nearly 20 feet to the mile, he has a strong 

impression of looking downhill, so striking is the contrast between 

the slope of this plain and the abrupt front of the Coteau. It is not 

strange that the inhabitants of Dickey County refer to this area as the 

" Merricourt Valley," although it is a monoclinal slope. As the traveler mounts to the 1,700-foot level on a slope of 80 feet to the mile 

the hallucination still persists that he is going downhill. To perplex 

him further, as he turns to the east and looks downhill, he seems to 

see a strong upgrade, and only when he reaches the steep pitch above 

the 1,700-foot level does the illusion disappear.

In Dickey County the moraine-capped escarpment rises 100 to 300

feet to the mile. The maximum grade is 200 feet in a quarter of a 

mile in the NE. % sec. 7, T. 129 N., R. 65 W. Much of this steep slope 

in Dickey County and the first 2 to 3 miles of the roughest portion of 

the upland above are very bouldery. Farther west great fertile amphitheaters and beautiful valleys lie among the morainic hills. From 

the center of T. 132 N. northward through La Moure County the 

Coteau front has a much gentler slope. West of this front the surface is rough or sharply rolling and generally morainic. A large 

number of undrained depressions mark the sites of wet-season 

marshes and lakelets; practically all were dry when mapped in 

November, 1914, though some were evidently lakes when the topography was mapped in 1892-93.

DRAINAGE

There are two principal drainage systems in the area those of 

James River and Maple River. In the tract west of the Coteau front 

in Dickey County and much of La Moure County no drainage sys-
TOPOGBAPHY 9

tern has been established,'the scant rainfall being caught and for the 

most part held by the great intermorainic troughs till it evaporates or 

soaks into the ground. Many tracts in the broad central prairie area 

also have no drainage. Many of these tracts have become alkaline by 

the continued evaporation of water leaving its salt behind. A notable 

example is the tract of " gumbo " soil 2 to 3 miles wide extending 

from north to south across Dickey County west of Monango. Here 

the drainage is obstructed by blocking by the faint outer moraine of 

the Antelope morainic system.

JAMES RIVER

James River is the only body of water of any size and the only permanent stream in the area. Even in this stream the reeds grow, and 

grass floating in its channel attests the sluggish current, which 

scarcely moves in the driest seasons. The river is 2 to 6 feet deep and 

20 .to 30 feet wide. Its banks are abrupt and usually 5 to 10 feet 

high. It never overflows the valley bottom in this area. It flows 

south by southeast, entering the northwest corner of the La Moure 

quadrangle and leaving near the southeast corner; it falls about 

20 feet in about 45 miles. The stream is close to the 1,300-foot level 

from a point about 1 mile north of Grand Rapids to the south boundary of the area.

At the north edge of the area the valley is 1 mile wide; 1 mile 

farther south it bends sharply to the southeast and gradually widens 

to 21/2 miles. It sweeps in a series of broad curves and maintains a 

width of 1% to 2% miles through La Moure County and into Dickey 

County to T. 132 N., R. 60 W., where the river intersects the low 

morainic tract. Here the valley is narrowed at several points. 

Farther on it is joined by Bear Creek Valley and opens out to the 

broad plain of glacial Lake Dakota. A shallow trench, half a mile 

to iy2 miles wide and 10 to 20 feet deep, has been cut by the river 

along the west border of the plain.

The large size and .majestic sweep of the James Valley present 

an impressive contrast with its diminutive river. This valley is uniformly about 100 feet deep for about 30 miles, from the north boundary of the area nearly to the mouth of the Bear Creek. The bluffs 

are for the most part so steep that roadways are made only with 

much grading in selected places. Generally there is a 75-foot rise 

within a few rods, but in places large terraces or benches interrupt 

the slope. The bluffs are everywhere composed of glacial drift, the 

underlying rock being nowhere exposed. In sees. 5 and 6, T. 131 

N., R. 59 W., where the James River Valley broadens into the Lake 

Dakota basin, the east bluff gives place to a gentle slope 10 to 15 feet 

high. The stream closely follows the west bluff, which gradually
10 EDGELEY AND LA MOUEE QUADRANGLES, N". DAK.

lowers from a height of about TO feet in sec. 5, T. 131 N., R. 59 W., 

to a gentle slope in sec. 25, T. 130 N., R. 60 W. South of this locality 

a portion of the Lake Dakota plain lies on the west side of the river, 

and this rises gently and merges into the plain on the west.

BEAR CREEK

Bear Creek enters the northeastern part of the La Moure quadrangle, flows in a general southerly direction for about 25 miles, and 

empties into the James in sec. IT, T. 131 N., R. 59 W. Its valley, 

like that of the James, is cut all the way in drift. For the first 

5 or 6 miles of its course in this area it flows through an almost 

level plain, the southern extension of Sand Prairie. Here it forms 

but a shallow trench in the prairie, inconspicuous except to a person 

near by. In sec. 25, Verona Township, the creek passes close to the 

base of the Oakes moraine. Here it channels slightly higher land 

and has a deeper and narrower valley, which persists throughout the 

remainder of its course. This stretch, which is 20 to 50 feet below 

the plain on the west, skirts the moraine on the east. In the SW. % 

sec. 4, Bear Creek Township, its valley opens out into the constricted north end of the Lake Dakota plain. Bear Creek receives 

no large tributaries, but springs make it a permanent stream in its 

lower course, in which it falls about 85 feet in about 30 miles.

MAPLE RIVER

Maple River is an intermittent stream occupying a large valley 

that is out of all proportion to the present small drainage. It originates in numerous intermittent streams that head in the Coteau and 

the Gary moraine. Many of these streams unite in T. 133 N., R. 63 

W. ; and T. 132 N., R. 64 W.,to form the north and south forks, respectively. The forks unite in the NE. y^ sec. 10, T. 131 N., R. 63 W., 

whence the river flows east past Fullerton to sec. 24, T. 131 N., R. 

62 W., thence south, leaving the area in sec. 11, T. 129 K, R. 62 W. 

The stream, including its longest tributary, flows for more than 60 

miles in the area and falls 590 feet, from the 1,960-foot to the 

1.370-foot contour. The channel is for the most part cut in glacial 

drift, although several of the intermittent creeks have cut into shale 

in Tps. 132 and 133 N., R. 64 W. The major stream has exposed the 

shale at the base of its bluff in sec. 4, T. 131 N., R. 63 W., and sec. 

33, T. 132 N., R. 63 W. This is the easternmost exposure of the bedrock in the area. The south fork of the Maple crosses the low outer 

Antelope moraine south and west of Monango. All of that part of the 

Maple River Valley lying in R. 63 W. and extending for 2 miles into
TOPOGRAPHY 11

R. 62 W. has steep bluffs 40 to 50 feet high, cut in drift, except at the 

place noted above. South of Fullerton the valley is shallow, with 

banks usually 10 to 20 feet high. Thus above Fullerton the topography along the river is rough, but to the south it is smooth. Near Fullerton two broad, shallow glacial drainage channels join the Maple 

Valley from the north. The one that joins in sec. 16, Maple Township, still discharges an intermittent stream. The channel that joins 

in sec. 23, Maple Township, is but a few feet above the river level, 

so that occasionally in the spring, when ice gorges form in sec. 24, 

the rising water is ponded up the minor channel for 3 or 4 miles, and 

small lakes are left in the depressions of its bed when the flood subsides. From the La Moure County line southward the Maple has a 

narrow alluvial flood plain, gradually increasing in width from a 

few rods to 1 mile. Here and there are benches of sand and gravel, 

made when the stream had a greater volume and a capacity to erode 

the large valley it now occupies.

ELM RIVER

South of sec. 15, T. 131 N., K. 65 W., the small streams collected 

from the Coteau front unite to form Elm River, which in this area 

is an intermittent stream in a shallow valley. It leaves the 'south 

boundary in sec. 10, T. 129 N., R. 64 W.

LAKES

The only natural lakes in this area that are worthy of mention 

are the diminutive alkaline Twin Lakes, in the western part of T. 

134 N., R. 60 W., in the La Moure quadrangle. These lakes lie in a 

large depression in morainal deposits. They have no outlet and exist 

only because their basin is large enough to catch just a little more 

water than can evaporate during the long dry seasons. Shimmin, 

Wirch, and Crow Lakes, in the southwest corner of the area, are tiny 

permanent spring-fed water bodies. In the spring and after a succession of wet years a great number of depressions all over the area, 

especially in the morainal tracts, are converted into small lakes. 

These endure a number of months or some of them even years, according to the depth and porosity of their basins. Most of them, 

however, are dry long before winter. A few, such as those in western 

Ovid and Clement and eastern Wright, Yorktown, and Kent Townships, persist in shrunken size for a short period of moist years. 

These were all dry when both the topographic and the geologic surveys were made. Raney Lake, in the northwestern part of the area, 

was also dry when visited by the writer. 

6147 29 2
12 EDGELEY AND LA MOUEE QUADBANGLES, N. DAK.

SPRINGS

East of the Coteau the springs are almost entirely restricted to the 

^stream valleys, usually being found at the base of the bluffs, where 

the stream has exposed a porous sand or gravel stratum. Few of 

them give large flow, but they materially supplement the local water 

.supply. Probably most of the permanent water holes along Maple 

River and Bear Creek are due to springs, as well as much of the 

water in James River in dry seasons. On the Coteau, where rainfall 

is less and permanent bodies of surface water are rare and where 

the artesian flow will probably never reach the surface, there are 

fortunately many small springs. These issue from the ground in the 

depressions and form pools in the beds of the usually dry stream 

courses. They are of great value on the farms and grazing lands.

The Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles have the prevailing 

northern midcontinental climate, with short, mild summers and long,

 cold winters. The growing season averages about 105 days, though 

it ranges from 76 to 150 days. Light .frosts may occur in midsummer, but these are seldom 'injurious. The average date of the 

last killing frost in the spring is about June 1, and that of the first 

in autumn September 15, though frost may occur as late as June 20 

:and as early as August 20. As the air is dry, it is only when severe 

winds are blowing that l the low temperatures are very disagreeable. 

At such times the typical blizzard develops. The prevailing winds 

'blow from the northwest. A frost penetration of 4 to 6 feet is com- 

:mon, as the snowfall is usually light and soon drifted.

The temperature exhibits a wide range during the year. In July

-and August it occasionally reaches 100° F., but even after the hottest 

days the nights are always cool. Five to ten days is the limit of the 

hot weather each summer. In winter the temperature often drops 

to 25° and occasionally to 40° and remains close to these marks 

for some days. The mean annual temperature for the State for the 

"25-year period 1892 to 1916 was 38.7°; for this area in the 16 years 

1901 to 1916 it was 40.0°.

The annual precipitation in the area mapped ranges from 10 to 25 

inches; the average is the same as that for the State, 18.10 inches. 

'The snowfall ranges from a few inches to S1/^ feet annually but is 

only a small fraction of what is popularly attributed to the Dakotas. 

Normally 75 per cent of the precipitation falls in the spring and is 

therefore available for plant growth. W J McGee, in conversation 

with the writer, estimated that the underflow of water from the 

T31ack Hills, Big Horn Mountains, and Rocky Mountains and its 

tupward seepage from the artesian strata made available for crop use
DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY 13

in the Dakotas an amount of water equivalent to 3 or 4 inches of 

rainfall and that the production in these States is proportionate to 

.an annual water supply exceeding the rainfall by that amount.

Formerly this region was considered fit only for grazing. Now, 

with improved methods of farming, practically all of it can be put 

under the plow, and only small areas of the rougher or more sandy 

land need be left for pasture. This typical prairie was practically 

treeless, a few of the ravines in the Coteau front having brush and 

stunted trees and the James River Valley a few little groves. The 

trees planted on the early tree claims were usually little fitted to the 

climate, and, without cultivation to conserve moisture, nearly all of 

them died. Although a few groves of well-selected varieties were 

planted later and cultivated, little has been done to break the monotony of the bleak prairie. As evidence of what can be done a

nurseryman at Fullerton has 200 varieties of woody plants that are 

able, with proper attention, to withstand the rigors of cold and 

drought, A few hardy varieties of apple, plum, and cherry and 

of the berries can easily be grown.

DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY

The area of the La Moure and Edgeley quadrangles, like that of 

most of North Dakota, is mainly covered with a thick mantle o'f 

glacial drift ,and in part with glacial-lake silt and alluvium. These 

deposits are described at length under the heading "Pleistocene." 

The only consolidated or semiconsolidated rock formation near the 

surface in this area is the Pierre shale, which underlies the drift 

at depths ranging from a few feet to several hundred feet. Some 

information concerning the deeper-lying deposits has been obtained 

from logs of the many deep wells within the area. Granite has 

possibly been reached in one well at Oakes at a depth of over 1,300 

feet but is believed to underlie the whole area. Upon this crystalline 

bedrock, whose surface rises toward the east, lie the almost horizontal 

.stratified rocks. In the wells at La Moure and at Jamestown, 30 

miles north of this area, limestone of probable Paleozoic age is 

.reported.

CRETACEOUS SYSTEM

The Dakota sandstone and the Benton, Niobrara, and Pierre shales 

.are shown by the records of the well borings to underlie this area. 

The total thickness of the shales underlying the drift and overlying 

the Dakota sandstone ranges from 700 feet at the east side of the 

area to perhaps 1,600 feet at the west side. The nearly horizontal 

Benton and Pierre shales are separated by a poorly defined zone of 

the calcareous Niobrara shale.
14 EDGELEY AND LA MOTJBE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

700 gal. flow 

3 inch well

Feet Yellow clay 

Blue clay

Oakes town well 

817 gal. flow

Feet

Shale

DAKOTA SANDSTONE

Depth and thickness. The Dakota sandstone (fig. 3), the lowest of the Upper Cretaceous deposits, does not crop out in North 

Dakota. It is, however, reached by deep wells throughout an extensive area in both the Dakotas, and it is of great economic importance 

as the source of abundant artesian water in a subhumid region. It 

lies at depths ranging from about 200 or 250 feet near the east line

of North Dakota to

Ellendale town well ^Q feet ^ Jameg_

town. Several wells 

near Oakes, in the 

La Moure quadrangle, reach it at 

depths of 790 to 900 

feet, but a 2,000- 

foot well on the 

high land in the 

western part of the 

area failed to reach 

the bottom of the 

shale. The relations 

of this important 

water-bearing stratum are shown in 

Figure 3.

Numerous wells 

penetrate the sandstone to depths 

ranging from 1 to 

450 feet or more. 

The deeper wells indicate a thickness 

of 400 to 500 feet.

FIGURE 3. Sections of wells in the Bdgeley and La Moure mi v/v quadrangles ' The differences in

the depth at which

water is struck might be taken to indicate that in places the sandstone was eroded before the overlying Benton was laid down, though 

the very general conformity between the Dakota and Benton renders 

this inference rather improbable. The differences are more probably 

due to the discontinuity of the water-bearing lenses as originally laid 

down, and to irregularities in the surface upon which the Dakota was 

deposited.

Character. The Dakota sandstone in South Dakota has repeatedly 

been described 2 as a brown or gray rock with a .thickness of 300 to

a Darton, N. H., Preliminary report on artesian waters of a portion of the Dakotas: 

U. S. Geol. Survey Seventeenth Ann. Rept, pt. 2, p. 612, 1896.

575

ard'sand stone 

Soft sandstone

___ .85 

880

Hard lime 

I foot

Blue shale

Hard lime 

2 feet

Blue 'shale

Lime

Shale

,Hard sandstone

-Shale

NJme and pyrites 

Shale, sandrock, 

lime -and pyrites
DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY 15

400 feet, comprising a relatively thin but widely extended sheet of 

sand and intercalated beds of clay and streaks of pyrites. As described from its outcrop in the Black Hills 3 and along Missouri Kiver 

it is "a brown sandstone, hard and massive below, but thinner bedded 

and interstratified with much shale above." The Dakota consists of 

a great number of layers that range from a few inches to 100 feet or 

more in thickness and differ widely in shape and permeability. Some 

are uniform in thickness; others thin out or disappear altogether; 

some are lens-shaped. They range from coarse-grained, porous sand 

to fine, compact sand; some beds are so thoroughly consolidated and 

hard as to require many days of drill work to penetrate a thickness 

of a few feet; others are so loose as to cave in or .to rise as slush from 

the drill. Some earlier drillers worked for several weeks on a few 

feet of "cap rock" encountered just above the first flow.

Fossils. The Dakota sandstone has frequently been considered of 

fresh-water origin, owing to the fact that most of its fossil remains 

everywhere are land plants with a few fresh-water mollusks. In 

eastern Kansas and Nebraska, however, it has been found to contain 

invertebrate remains indicating that some beds are marine and others 

of brackish-water origin. In the Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles 

very few fossil remains aside from leaves of deciduous trees have been 

found. A shark tooth, indicating marine waters, was obtained from 

the Greenwald well, at Ludden. Imperfect specimens tentatively identified as NaMca (marine), Gorbula (brackish water), and Goniobasis 

(fresh water) were obtained from other wells. The fossil remains 

and the general character of the formation indicate that the Dakota 

sandstone was laid down along the coast of an advancing sea.

COLORADO GROTDP

Numerous wells penetrate thicknesses of shaiy rock ranging from 

700 feet beneath the James Kiver Valley on the east to about 1,500 

feet beneath the Coteau on the west. The difference in thickness is 

due in part to the gentle westward dip of the formations and to the 

fact that the preglacial James River Valley was eroded lower than 

the Coteau region. The composition of the shale does not differ 

much from top to bottom. However, some drillers have observed 

variations in composition in a zone that probably marks the position of the Niobrara shale.

BENTON SHALE

Above the Dakota sandstone lies the somber-hued Benton shale, 

named from its occurrence near Fort Benton, Mont. This is one of

8 Darton, N. H., U. S. Geol. Survey Twenty-first Ann. Rept., pt. 4, p. 531, 1900; Geology 

and water resources of the northern portion of the Black Hills and adjoining regions in 

South Dakota and Wyoming: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 65, p. 49, 1909.
16 EDGELEY AND LA MOUEJB QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

the most extensive and characteristic rocks of the Central Plains 

and is reported to range in thickness from 400 feet in the southeastern part of the plains to 1,600 feet in the Black Hills,4 and in 

southeastern South Dakota it ranges from 180 to 500 feet.6 The 

Benton is reported to thicken from central South Dakota toward the 

north, and this statement is borne out by the records of wells in 

North Dakota. A few wells, indicated on the accompanying artesian-water maps (pis. 3, 4), obtained a flow of water from sands in 

the Benton, but most of its strata are compact, fine-grained shale. 

Pyrites is usually found on the contact with the Dakota.

Very few fossils were observed, Prionotropis woolgari, of the upper Benton, and Inoceramus Idbiatus being about the only ones reported. A shark tooth (Otodus or Odontaspis?} came from the 

Greenwald well, near Ludden. Pieces of lignite were taken out of 

this and many other wells.

NIOBRARA SHALE

.The Niobrara shale was named from its exposure near the mouth 

of Niobrara River, in Nebraska, where it is a chalk rock 200 feet 

thick and is white, gray, or drab when pure and freshly excavated 

but weathers to a bright straw color or a buff. It becomes impure 

toward the north and merges into shale in South Dakota. Drillers 

in northern South Dakota and in North Dakota often find some variation in the character of the Cretaceous shale at about 300 feet above 

the Dakota sandstone. In some wells no difference was observed;: 

in others the dark-gray Benton gives place to a shaly rock of somewhat lighter color and higher lime content. However, the variation 

is often so slight that it is observed only by the more careful drillers,, 

and at its upper and lower limits the limy rock shades so imperceptibly and at different* depths into pure shale that it can not be separated from the Benton below and the Pierre above. In many wells in 

the area mapped a notable stratum designated by the drillers the " 40- 

foot cap rock " is encountered. It too is about 300 feet above the 

Dakota and is described as a compact shale much harder than the 

strata above and below.

The thickness of the Niobrara in South Dakota ranges from WO 

to 300 feet; in Colorado 800 feet of this formation has been observed. 

Aside from the 40-foot cap rock noted above, its thickness in the 

Edgeley-La Moure area is not determinable. Here it is massive,. 

fine grained, and of uniform texture. This widespread formation

* Darton, N. H., Preliminary report on the geology and underground water resources of 

the central Great Plains : U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 32, p. 166, 1905. 

8 Idem, p. 130.
DESCBIPTIVE GEOLOGY 17

lies conformably on the Benton. The Benton and Niobrara crop 

out in the Pembina Mountains of northeastern North Dakota but 

with the Pierre shale are absent in the Red River Valley.

MONTANA GROUP 

PIERRE SHALE

Thickness. The Pierre shale, or lower formation of the Montana 

group, is the only preglacial rock formation that crops out in the 

area. (See pi. 1.) Here it is weathered and is so soft and claylike 

as hardly to warrant the term shale. It is one of the most extensive 

and thickest formations of the Great Plains, aggregating some 7,700 

feet of rock north of Denver. In the Edgeley-La Moure area it 

ranges in thickness from 200 feet at the east, where it has suffered 

the maximum post-Cretaceous erosion, to perhaps 1,300 feet at thewest. It consists of dark-gray soft shale of nearly uniform texture 

except for concretions of calcareous matter and pyrites.

Outwop. In R. 64 W., from Edgeley south, the drift mantle is 

very thin, and the underlying shale is exposed by erosion in the 

bottoms of many of the small coulees, as shown on the geologic map 

(pi. 1), at altitudes of 1,500 to 1,560 feet above sea, level. About 10 

miles farther east the drift is reported to be about 300 feet thick,, 

and the surface of the Pierre is at an altitude of about 1,200 feet.

Thus the drift thins out as the surface of the shale rises. Nearly 

all the tributaries of Maple and Elm Rivers in R. 64 W. cut through 

to shale in many places. In many sections the shale lies but 2 to 

5 feet below the surface, and fragments are often turned up by 

the plow. Road ditches are cut into it, and a soil auger usually 

brings it up. At the base of the 40-foot bluff on Maple River in 

sec. 33, Valley Township, and sec. 4, Keystone Township, a thickness 

of several feet of the shale is exposed for about a mile. For much 

of this distance the shale has been carved into a narrow terrace-like 

form. This outcrop is about 5 miles east of the series of exposures 

in R. 64 W. and is the easternmost outcrop in the area and in southeastern North Dakota. It is practically impossible to measure the 

gentle westward dip of this clay shale.

Fossils. No fossil remains have been found where the shale is 

exposed, and the well-drilling methods here in vogue are such as 

seldom yield any recognizable trace of organic remains. Only scant 

and poorly preserved fragments of Lucina occidemtali® (Morton), 

Baculites ovatus (Say), and Inoceratnus sagensis (Owen) have been 

noted.
18 EDGELEY AND LA MOUKE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK. 

QUATERNARY SYSTEM

PLEISTOCENE SERIES 

GENERAL GLACIAL FEATURES

The Edgeley-La Moure area is covered throughout its extent by 

a deposit of glacial drift. In parts of the area some of this material 

has been assorted by lake and stream action. (See pis. 1 and 2.)

FIGDRB 4. Map showing area covered by the North American ice sheets and the 

mountain glaciers of the Pleistocene epoch at the maximum extension

This drift was the product of the advance and melting of the Dakota 

lobe of the great Keewatin ice sheet, which had its center of accumulation far to the north, in the area west of Hudson Bay. (See fig. 4.) 

It corresponds very closely in character with that in other parts of
DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY 19

the State and adjacent States, which has been fully described in 

many other Federal and State reports.

No evidence has been found in this area on which to base subdivision of the drift into two or more sheets corresponding to different stages of ice invasion, as is possible in certain other areas.

Occasionally pieces of wood and other plant remains and traces 

of soil are reported as buried at various depths, but these are so 

rare and so isolated as to forbid any correlation to establish a definite 

horizon of interglacial deposits except in one or two localities. Mr. 

Young, of La Moure, had many wells dug about Berlin and in the 

township on the north in which he found 6 inches to 2 feet of 

soil and wood buried at depths of 40 to 60 feet. J. F. Brenckle, 

M. D., and M. A. Noland report remains of trees, cones, leaves, grass, 

and fish as being found at depths of 18 to 30 feet north and east

of Kulm.

The drift sheet ranges in thickness from 1 foot to 450 or 500 feet, 

as indicated on Plates 3 and 4. It was deposited in part beneath the 

moving glacier as till or boulder clay composing the ground moraine; 

in part about the margins of the melting ice lobes as terminal moraines. The material that was included within the glacier or carried 

on its surface was let down upon the ground moraine when the ice 

finally melted. Some of the drift was assorted and deposited by 

waters flowing from the melting ice.

No very deep railroad cuts have yet been made revealing the 

character of the drift within the Edgeley-La Moure area, though 

there are some from 10 to 15 feet deep. The Soo Line from Merricourt, at an altitude of 1,640 feet on the low prairie, to Kulm, upon 

the Coteau, 340 feet higher, makes the grade in 8 miles by easy stages 

and small cuts and fills along the Coteau front.

The drift generally consists of a mixture in various proportions 

of clay, sand, gravel, and boulders that is, of till with local interbedded underlying or surficial layers, seams, or pockets of stratified material, usually of gravel, sand, or silt. The clay matrix, which 

constitutes by far the larger part of the deposit, was derived principally from the Cretaceous shales of the immediate region. The 

boulders are generally granite, basalt, gneiss, schist, and dolomite 

brought from places far to the north, in Canada. The shales were 

soft and readily ground up by the moving ice or have since decayed 

to the consistency of clay. The superficial parts may have been 

already decayed, so that only exceptionally are masses found remaining intact in the drift. Notable instances of big masses of shale 

dislodged from the parent ledge and embedded unbroken in the 

drift are seen in the two prominent morainic hills in sees. 25 and 26, 

T. 135 N., E. 66 W. Here boulders many feet in diameter are embedded in the hillside. These masses are tipped at various angles, as
20 EDGELEY AND LA MOTTRE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

shown by their bedding planes, which are still preserved, though the 

shale is soft and friable. A huge cleft in one was excavated to a 

depth of more than 25 feet by early settlers in quest of gold, which 

was reported to have been found as small drift inclusions along the 

draw leading to the northwest. The bottom of the shale mass was not 

reached in any'of the several shafts. That these masses really were 

transported by the ice is shown by the fact that they are underlain 

by drift about 400 feet thick, as determined by well borings.

Deposits of sand and gravel are distributed promiscuously through 

the clayey till. They are the porous water-bearing portions of the 

drift. In certain localities a continuous layer may be traced from 

well to well over a considerable area. In some places the sand and 

gravel may represent interglacial deposits and mark the line of separation between drift sheets of different age, ,Where it is possible to 

determine the base of the till there is in many places a sand or gravel 

layer of varying thickness and texture. This may be the material 

washed out in front of the advancing ice prior to the deposition of the 

till. The porous strata are usually the principal source of water 

in the shallower wells. Under large areas this basal deposit of sand 

and gravel is absent, and as the dense clayey till is very much like 

the underlying Pierre shale in texture and color it is impossible at 

many places to determine the line of separation.

COLOR AND OXIDATION

The color of the till is bluish black below the water table and yellow 

or pale bluish yellow above, the color of the upper part being determined by the degree of oxidation of the iron salts in the till. 

The yellower zone of oxidation ranges in depth from a few inches 

to several feet. In this zone the iron has been oxidized to the yellow 

insoluble form, though it lacks the deeper yellow and red or reddishbrown shades characteristic of the more completely oxidized preWisconsin drift in the States farther east and south. In the zone 

of blue clay below the water table the oxygen is excluded, and the iron 

is unoxidized. The water carries soluble salts of iron.

AGE OF THE DEIFT

LeacMng. The surface of the drift of the Edgeley-La Moure area 

has been only slightly modified by erosion, and the drift has lost 

very little of its lime content by leaching. In this respect it shows 

 characteristics of drift of the last or Wisconsin stage of glaciation, 

in contrast with that of the older sheets in areas farther east, which 

has been much eroded and from the upper part of which much of 

the calcareous matter has been removed by percolating water. Even 

the surface soil in this area is rich in lime. In many places the
DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY 21

drift masses are weakly cemented together, and in most localities 

the under sides of rocks lying on the surface are covered with lime 

incrustation.

Induration. The true ground morainic deposits, usually at a depth 

of several feet below the surface, are well compacted but nowhere 

show as high a degree of induration as some of the pre-Wisconsin 

drift of other localities. Very hard clay is reported to have been encountered in drilling wells in some places. This may be the earlier 

drift, now mantled by the Wisconsin. It is not exposed in any valleys 

or cuts within the Edgeley-La Moure, area. Although no buried 

boulder pavements were found in these quadrangles, the writer found 

a fine example in the cut for the new Northern Pacific Kailway line at 

Valley City, in the Eckelson and Tower quadrangles, just to the 

north. The excavation was made since those quadrangles were 

mapped. There a straight line of boulders, evidently the edge of a 

boulder pavement, buried 6 to 12 feet below the surface of the ground, 

was exposed for about a mile in the steep side of the cut.

GLACIAL BOULDERS

About two-thirds of the boulders on the surface in the EdgeleyLa Moure area consist or gray or pink granite. The remainder are 

dolomitic limestone, gneiss, and dark basaltic rocks in about equal 

proportions. The dolomitic limestone blocks, which are very abundant in small areas, amounting perhaps to one-third of all the 

boulders, are usually gray, though some are pink. Many boulders 

are striated or polished. Small pieces of lignite are jtound 

in very many wells in the drift. Occasionally a large piece is reported. One boulder, found by T. R. Shimmin in western Dickey 

County, contained a large percentage of silver, and several citizens 

of western La Moure County report samples of drift rock in Raney 

Township that yielded gold and silver. These were doubtless plucked 

by the ice from ore-bearing ledges in Canada. Their occurrence in 

western La Moure County led to much excitement among early settlers, who drove in from all directions and staked out claims on 

nearly all the land in sees. 25 and 26, T. 135 N., R. 66 W. It was 

here that the big masses of unbroken shale, noted above, were discovered. In the southwestern part of sec. 35, Clement Township, 

Mr. Denning found a pocket of sulphurous material 5 inches in diameter, 12 feet below the surface. Pieces of coal were also encountered 

in making his well.

The drift of the morainic hills contains a larger proportion of 

boulders, as well as of sand and gravel, than that of the smoother 

tracts, although some of these 'tracts have many boulders sprinkled 

over them. The rough morainic tract, 3 miles wide, on the Coteau
22 EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

front in Dickey County is covered with countless boulders, in places 

so closely set as almost to constitute a pavement. Many hills in the 

Oakes moraine are also very bouldery.

Deposits of assorted drift consisting chiefly of sand and silt but 

including also a large proportion of clay and gravel form small 

knolls scattered over the area, a system of eskers extending south 

from Edgeley, and the deposits of glacial Lake Dakota.

CONFIGURATION OF THE DRIFT AND OF THE BEDROCK

In the area as a whole the surface of the drift is very uneven. 

This irregularity is due in part to erosion, in part to inequality of 

distribution, and in part to unevenness of the eroded surface of the 

Pierre shale, upon which it was laid. Before the deposition of the 

drift there was a relief of at least 400 feet in the area. Records of 

wells in the eastern half of the area indicate that the general pre-- 

glacial topography was similar to that of the surface of to-day in that 

there was a river valley with a general north-south axis. The river 

itself is believed to have had about the position and course of the 

present James River, at least in the time immediately preceding the 

last advance of the ice. In preglacial time also the area may have 

drained to the south and east. South of T. 132 N. and east of R. 

62 W. the drift is about 200 feet thick,o and the altitude of the bedrock is 1,100 to 1,200 feet above sea level. North of this area the 

exact altitude of the shale surface was not determined, for two 

reasons the drift is 300 to 400 feet thick and is penetrated by the 

artesian wells only; the drift below the weathered zone is very similar in color and hardness to the underlying shale, and the line of 

separation is seldom distinguished by the drillers. The east side of

the broad preglacial valley lies east of the area under discussion and 

may possibly be continuous southward with the west slope of the 

Coteau des Prairies. One bench of its western slope is probably 

found in R. 63 W. and the eastern half of R. 64 W. The shale surface rises much more rapidly toward the west in these ranges than 

the present surface of the drift. This rise is about 300 feet in 8 or 

10 miles, though much of it is localized within a few miles, making 

the slope abrupt in that part of its extent. This rise may be the 

southern extension of a possible shale escarpment of the Coteau du 

Missouri farther north, though lacking as a covering the great terminal morainic features, which in this latitude are 6 to 8 miles 

farther west.

The Coteau du Missouri has repeatedly been described as being 

underlain near its eastern front by an abrupt shale escarpment 300 

to 400 feet high, compared with which the drift forms a relatively 

thin deposit. If the records of the comparatively few deep wells
DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY &6

in the Coteau can be relied upon, however, there is little or no increase in altitude of the surface of the shale at or west of the Coteau 

front in this area. In the Edgeley quadrangle there is, so far as 

known, no such shale escarpment in the Coteau. Rather the relief 

of the Coteau above the plain immediately to,the east seems to be 

due almost entirely to a great mass of drift, which has accumulated 

to a thickness of 100 to 480 feet. This is clearly indicated in the 

region north of T. 131 N., where, it is reported, the shale was encountered in some recently drilled wells a.t depths ranging from 100 to 480 

feet. The general altitude of this district is 2,000 feet above sea 

level; the outcrop of the shale south of Edgeley is at an altitude of 

1,520 to 1,550 feet. South of this area the deepest wells end in drift 

at various depths down to 188 feet. Wells some miles west of this 

area indicate the same conditions, and if there is any shale escarpment under the Coteau in this latitude it is farther west in Logan 

and Mclntosh Counties. However, it is doubtful if there is any 

shale escarpment along the Coteau front in the southern half of 

North Dakota. This structure of the Coteau du Missouri is similar 

to that of the Coteau des Prairies as found in southwestern Minnesota by Hall and Meinzer,0 who state that .the plateaulike elevation 

is not entirely of preglacial origin but is capped by a heavy drift 

deposit.

WISCONSIN DRIFT

GENERAL FEATURES

The surface features of the Western Lake section of the Central 

Lowland, comprising eastern North and South Dakota, much of 

Minnesota, and north-central Iowa, are largely the result of glaciation. A lobe of the Keewatin ice sheet advanced southward up the 

Ked River Valley and spread westward into and extended across and 

down the James River Valley at the Wisconsin stage of glaciation. 

(See fig. 5 ) This region also undoubtedly received deposits from 

earlier extensions of the ice .as well as the later one. The drift deposits comprise terminal moraines, till sheets, eskers, outwash, and 

glacio-lacustrine sediments. They were formed from material plowed 

up or plucked from the rock ledges and carried along by the moving 

ice. The till sheet probably accumulated chiefly by lodgment beneath 

the advancing glacier. When a warmer climate gradually returned 

the ice front was halted and melted backward. The outer terminal 

moraine consists of the drift deposited at the limit of the ice advance. 

The successive concentric inner moraines were formed about the ice 

margin and mark positions of halt of .the retreating glacial front.

6 Hall, C. W., Meinzer, 0. E., and Fuller, M. L., Geology and underground waters of 

southern Minnesota: U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 256, pp. 26, 27, 36, 37, 1911.
24 EDGELEY AND LA MOUEE QUADBAETGLES, N. DAK.

f * ~^~ ~ -££ - -I

i'i^^<': '\; s^ I

FIGURE 5. Sketch map showing southwestern limit reached by the Pleistocene icesheets and the distribution of moraines of the Dakota glacial lobe of the Wisconsin 

stage of glaciation. (Compiled largely from Todd, Upham, Leverett, and others.) 

Numbered rectangles indicate location of quadrangles (1, Jamestown ; 2, Eckelson;. 

3, Tower; A, Bdgeley ; 5, La. Moure)
DESCEEPTIVE GEOLOGY 25

The pre-Wisconsin glacier is believed to have extended 20 to 60 

miles beyond the present course of Missouri River in North Dakota 

but not so far in South Dakota. The Missouri flows not very far 

outside and roughly parallel to the Altamont moraine, which marks 

the limit of the Dakota lobe of late Wisconsin glaciation. The Coteau des Prairies stood as a wedge-shaped barrier at the Wisconsin 

stage between two broad open troughs that divided the Keewatin 

glacier in northeastern South Dakota, causing one lobe to move 

southward as the Dakota Valley glacier and deflecting the other to 

the southeast down the Minnesota Valley and thence into north-central Iowa. The names of the outermost three moraines of the Dakota 

lobe are taken from the towns of Altamont and Gary, S. Dak., on the 

east side of the Coteau, and the Antelope Hills. The Altamont 

.moraine 7 loops about the head of the Coteau des Prairies in a long

reentrant, as shown in Figure 5. The later moraines were formed 

within and generally parallel to the Altamont moraine along lines 

where the ice front stood for any considerable period of time. Thus 

the Gary moraine, the several members of the Antelope morainic 

system, and the Oakes moraine were produced in succession, separated by smooth till plains, over which the ice margin retreated 

comparatively fast.

The valleys of several of the principal rivers of the region contain broad level plains that represent floors of extinct glacial lakes, 

and into these plains the rivers have cut their present channels. 

These lakes were formed along the southern margin of the melting 

glacier. In the valleys of Red and Souris Rivers they were caused 

by ice blocking the outlets of streams that had a general northerly 

course, but in the valley of the southward-flowing James River the 

lake was probably due to a constriction back of which the rapidly 

accumulating water ponded.

ALTAMONT AND GAEY MORAINES

In the western part of the Edgeley quadrangle the Altamont and 

Gary moraines, the first and second Wisconsin moraines of the 

Dakota lobe, are massed together, occupying an area 3 to 10 miles 

wide. The Altamont moraine (fig. 5) .doubles back eastward 70 

miles from Missouri River in a great reentrant, whose head just 

reaches into the southwestern part of the area under discussion. It 

certainly covers at least the southwestern townships, Tps. 129 and 

130 N., R. 66 W., and for: 8 or 10 miles farther north the Gary 

moraine coalesces with ,it, producing the roughest topographic features of the area. The rugged morainic hills are so massed together

7 Leverett, Frank, What constitutes the Altamont moraine: Geol. Soc. America Bull., 

vol. 33, pp. 102-103, 1922.
26 . EDGELEY AND LA MOUBE QTJADEANGLES, N. DAK.

that it is impossible to differentiate clearly the two moraines. In 

this rough area, which is 9 miles wide and 15 miles long, the hills 

are as much as 100 feet highland many are thickly sprinkled with 

boulders. (See pi. 5, A.) Thence northward for 20 miles nearly to 

the north line of the Edgeley quadrangle the more subdued features 

belong to the Gary moraine. Several high ridges of the Altamont 

moraine extend westward beyond the limits of the quadrangle, and 

these are separated by comparatively level valleys, which drain to 

the west or southwest. Although the topography along the northern 

half of the portion of the Gary moraine lying in this area is very 

subdued, stronger features set in 2 to 4 miles farther west. Nearly 

the whole of Logan, Mclntosh, and McPherson Counties has a rugged surface due to the Altamont and Gary moraines. In fact, the 

greater part of the Coteau country is marked by massive morainic. 

ridges 50 to 150 feet high, running in various directions and separated by depressions 1 .to 10 miles or more wide.

The eastern part of the rough area in Dickey County, just described, 

and probably the whole of the more subdued belt farther north form? 

the head of a second great morainal loop or reentrant similar to 

and embracing within its arms the great loop of the Altamont 

moraine. From this reentrant the Gary moraine extends northwestward, on the one hand, from the Edgeley quadrangle through Logan 

and Kidder Counties toward Missouri River, and continues southwestward, on the other, about 20 miles into McPherson County, 

S. Dak., where it turns sharply west, parallel to the Altamont 

moraine, and extends within about 15 miles of the Missouri in Campbell County. The Gary moraine stands out boldly on the eastern 

flank of the Coteau in R. 65 W., and from this locality the surface 

drops 400 feet to the flat till plain on the east. In Dickey County 

and in the small area at the north line of the quadrangle designated 

"strongly morainic" on the map, besides the knolls that stand 15 

to 50 feet above the general Coteau, the surf ace is cut by many sharp, 

deep gulches which drain portions of the upland eastward to Elm and 

Maple Eivers. This narrow belt, in common with the steeper Coteau 

slope just to the east, is so rough as to be entirely unfit for cultivation, 

though the numerous springs help to make it a fine grazing tract. 

In Tps. 133 and 134 N. and the northern two-thirds of T. 132 N. the 

moraine is very subdued in relief and contains a narrow intermorainic area in the center of R. 66 W., which has many sloughs, 

small marshes, meadows, and large tracts whose drainage by artificial 

means presents a very difficult problem. The imperfect natural watercourses lead to the northeast, down the Coteau slope.

The Altamont and Gary moraines include many undrained tracts, 

which range in area from a few acres to several square miles. In
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 801 PLATE 5

A. TERMINAL MOKAIiNK ON COTKAU UU MISSOURI

B. OAKES MORAINE, A RECESSIONAL MORAINE 

GLACIAL MORAINES
DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY 27

years of greater precipitation these tracts contain small lakes or 

marshes, which, unless spring-fed, evaporate in dry periods, many 

of them leaving alkali-incrusted beds or a sparse growth of salt 

grasses.

The material composing the drift in the Altamont and Gary 

moraines is much coarser than that of the remainder of the area, 

containing much more sand and gravel, especially in an area 3 

miles wide extending 20 miles north from the southwest corner of the 

Edgeley quadrangle. Some of the highest hills of the region are 

kames, or gravelly morainic knobs, of which fine examples are seen 

in sees. 26, 27, 29, and 30, T. 131 K, E. 66 W.,secs. 3, 29,31, 32, 33, and 

34, T. 130 N., E. 66 W., and sees. 4 and 5, T. 129 N., E. 66 W. The 

town-line road on the north side of sees. 4 and 5 is graded down 10 

to 15 feet in good commercial sand and gravel. In fact, nearly the 

whole area of the above-named sections is deeply covered with sand 

or gravel. Similar conditions prevail far into Mclntosh County, on 

the west.

That part of the Coteau du Missouri lying within the Edgeley 

quadrangle appears to be composed entirely of drift. None of the 

wells drilled in it, so far as known to the writer, reach the underlying shale at altitudes much higher than the exposures of shale 

south of Edgeley. It appears, therefore, that whatever definite shale 

escarpment there is beneath the plateau in this latitude must be west 

of the area here described. When the last ice sheet spread over this 

region, however, there must have been a great obstruction extending as far east as the southwestern part of the Edgeley quadrangle, 

for the great loop in the Altamont and Gary moraines shows that 

the ice was prevented from extending as far west in this part of the 

region as it did either farther north or farther south. If the 

obstruction was not due to a high shale escarpment it must have 

been due to a great accumulation of drift. From this conclusion it 

seems probable that the larger part of the great thickness of drift 

in this belt must be of pre-Wisconsin age, and only the smaller part, 

though a considerable thickness, really belongs to the Altamont 

and Gary moraines.

TILL PLAIN BETWEEN THE GABY AND ANTELOPE MORAINES

The till plain extending from the base of the Coteau du Missouri 

to the outer moraine of the Antelope morainic system, 6 to 8 miles 

east, is almost featureless and has a uniform eastward slope of 25 to 

30 feet to the mile. In Tps. 133 and 134 N., E. 65 W., where the 

Gary moraine is set back from the eastern crest of the Coteau, there 

is a comparatively smooth tract which descends at the rate of 60 to

6147 29 3
28 EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

90 feet to the mile to the flat prairie land. Owing to the fact that 

they receive the spring-time wash from the Coteau, some of the 

coulees are deeply cut along parts of their courses. The erosion that 

has cut the deep gashlike ravines in the whole Coteau front has 

caused great quantities of sand and gravel to be deposited within the 

first mile or two at its base. The drainage is naturally good over 

the plain except along the border of the Antelope morainic system, 

where it is partly blocked. This has given rise to many alkaline or 

" gumbo " tracts.

ANTELOPE MORAINIC SYSTEM

Outer moraine. The Antelope morainic system is represented in 

the Edgeley-La Moure area by two members, each composed of low 

swells or subdued hills. The western or outer member is made up of 

more or less disconnected hills or ridges and flattens out entirely 

north of Edgeley. These hills are scattered over an area 5 or 6 miles 

wide and interspersed with many large level tracts. They range 

from gentle swells or low mounds to hills 15 or 20 feet high. For 

the most part they are of subdued form, though in places, notably in 

the north-central part of T. 132 N., R. 64 W., the southwestern part 

of T. 131 N., R. 63 W., and the eastern part of T. 130 N., R. 64 W., 

they have the sharp expression of moraines that have never been 

overridden by ice. The last two areas named contain several gravelly 

kames, the largest of which are indicated on the map. It is in the 

smoother intermorainic tracts that the Pierre shale is exposed in the 

ravines. The general easterly drainage of the region is partly 

blocked by the moraine, and many of the smaller tributaries of Elm 

and Maple Rivers are forced to unite and find a common passage.

Inner moraine. A mild morainal belt extends from north to south 

across the La Moure quadrangle, principally in Rs. 60 and 61 W. 

Although this moraine has been correlated in the Jamestown-Tower 

folio with Upham's Kiester moraine of southern Minnesota, the 

results of the present survey seem to indicate that it is to be correlated with one of the inner members of the Antelope morainic system 

as described by Todd in the Aberdeen-Redfield folio. (See fig. 5.)

The main portion of this moraine, that in Rs. 60 and 61, is somewhat peculiar in that it is, in large part, marked not so much by piledup morainal hills or ridges as by a belt of depressions. This character is in places so manifest as to give rise to the suggestion that the 

moraine lies along the line of a partly filled older valley. The moraine has no distinct relief above the plain on either side. James 

River may owe its location from the big bend north of Oakes to La 

Moure or Grand Rapids originally to such a line of depressions with 

intervening sags. Twin Lakes lie in one of the major depressions, 

and in a period of wet years several others develop lakelets, ponds,
DESCKIPTIVE GEOLOGY 29

or marshes. West of Grand Rapids, in R. 62 W., is a morainal tract, 

subdued in character but yet more strongly morainal in form than 

the portion just described. The moraine mapped in Gladstone Township (T. 133 N., R. 60 W.) is very similar to that west of James 

River. It has in addition several gravelly kames. The roughest 

topography of the moraine is found in Dickey County, along the east 

side of Tps. 130 to 132 N., R, 61 W. Here the moraine may have 

been laid at the base of a minor escarpment, cut perhaps in pre-Wisconsin time, that extends due south from the big bend of James River 

in central Wright Township. Its position is marked on the map by 

the 1,400-foot contour. Numerous large sags and hollows in this 

portion trend north and south. In Yorktown and Wright Townships the sags contain many hills 10 to 25 feet high.

TILL PLAIN AND ESKERS BETWEEN THE OUTER AND INNER MORAINES OF THE 

ANTELOPE MOKAINIC SYSTEM

From the outer moraine of the Antelope system a nearly level 

plain 10 to 15 miles wide extends eastward to the irmer moraine. 

North of Edgeley a till plain extends unbroken from the rough 

Gary moraine, in the western part of Tps. 134 and 135 N., R. 65 W., 

20 miles east to the inner moraine in the eastern par.t of R. 62 W. 

This almost featureless tract is cut by the southeastward-trending 

ravines of the intermittent Maple River and Cottonwood Creek 

and by the shallow abandoned postglacial drainage channels in R. 

62 W. The drift underlying the plain is for the most part very 

heavy in texture, consisting of 1 foot to 400 or 500 feet of clay 

with minor seams of sand and gravel, and some boulders are intermingled with the other materials or scattered over the surface. An 

area of several square miles where the soil is more sandy is found 

around Duane, in Elden Township.

On the west side of this plain are sinuous ridges or eskers trending 

southwest and leading up to the moraine. The longest is about 6 

miles in length. It starts at the north line of sec. 5, T. 132 N., 

R. 63 W., with two small branches, which independently cross into 

sec. 8, where they unite. From this junction the esker takes a devious 

course to the center of sec. 30 of the same township, ending at a 

low morainic tract. Its course in places is interrupted by small 

kames or knolls, and it is believed to include some till knolls or 

ridges. Much of the material composing this esker is of unusually 

fine texture, being largely silt or clay. Other sections yield sand 

or fine gravel. It is a persistent ridge, 3 or 4 rods wide and usually 

about 8 to 10 feet high except where it develops a kameliko enlargement, which may be 15 feet high.
30 EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

Eskers more typical in composition and structure and of greater 

cross section are found southeast and north of Edgeley. A finely 

developed composite system of branching eskers is found in western 

Willowbank Township. The main branches arise in sees. 5, 8, and 9, 

converge in sec. 17, and end at the moraine in sec. 30. Much of the 

original deposit has been eroded away by! the tributaries of Maple 

River, and several kames form parts of the ridge, which ranges 

from 5 to 15 feet in height within short distances. It also varies 

greatly in composition but has a higher percentage of sand and 

gravel than the esker first described. It is most typical in form 

in sec. IT and the northwestern part of sec. 8. The esker 1% miles 

east of Edgeley, in sees. 1 and 12, T. 133 N., R. 64 W., is about a mile 

long, very unifornij and of typical shape and structure. It is 8 to 10 

feet high and 3 to 5 rods wide. One open pit beside the road shows 

stratified sand and gravel. Short eskers are found in the northern 

part of sees. 34 and 35, T. 134 N., R. 64 W.; the one in sec. 34 is 

three-quarters of a mile long and 5 or 6 feet high. Several small 

kames are distributed over the area to the north.

Several short eskers are found in the western part of Cottonwood 

Township (T. 133 N., R. 61 W.). One on the bluff overlooking 

James. River in sec. 28, Grand Rapids Township (T. 134 N., R. 61 W.), 

was partly removed by the Indians in constructing one of the numerous burial mounds of this locality. The location of this Indian 

mound and others in Roscoe and Grand Rapids Townships is indicated on the map.

TILL PLAIN EAST OF THE INNER MORAINE OF THE ANTELOPE MORAINIO SYSTEM

East from the inner moraine of the Antelope morainic system an 

undulating till plain extends 2 to 7 miles. From the north line of 

T. 131 N. northward it is limited on the east side by the Oakes 

moraine, arid from that line southward it is bounded by James River 

Valley and the silted floor of glacial Lake Dakota. The drift beneath 

this plain is about 200 to 500 feet thick. Its texture is generally 

heavy, except in that portion of La Moure Township south of the 

Fargo branch of the Union Pacific Railroad, which is covered with 

a thin veneer of fine sand. This sand is several feet thick in the 

center of this area. It continues down over the river bluff into 

James River Valley on the northwest, where it was blown by the 

wind.

CORRELATION OF THE MORAINES

In discussing the successive positions of the retreating ice front 

Upham8 states that

The Waconia moraine appears to be merged with the two preceding Blysian 

and Kiester moraines in the conspicuous belt of drift hills that extends from

8 Upham, Warren, The glacial Late Agassiz: U. S. Geol. Survey Mon. 25, p. 143, 1896.
DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY 31

the line dividing South and North Dakota northward between Straubville and 

Crescent Hill, between Nicholson and Oakes, and along, the east side of Bear 

Creek, to the southeast part of T. 135, R. 59. Thence it runs again northward 

through the west part of T. 136, R. 59.

This statement does not exactly express the relations found during 

the present investigation. The main moraine on the east side of Bear 

Creek extends northward to the Sheyenne Valley on the east side 

of Sand Prairie, in the southwestern part of the Tower quadrangle. 

This moraine is correlated by Willard 9 with the conspicuous moraine 

on the east side of the Sheyenne River Valley farther north in the 

Tower quadrangle, to which he applied the name Fergus Falls 

moraine. There is, howevei, a serious question as to the propriety of 

applying that name to this moraine or to any moraine in the La 

Moure quadrangle and thereby indicating correlation with Upham's 

Fergus Falls moraine of western Minnesota. If the mapping by Willard in the Jamestown-Tower folio is accepted, the correlations by 

Upham seem to require some modification. The morainal deposits in 

Black Loam Township (T. 135 N., R. 59 W.) extend northward on 

the west side of Sand Prairie and join a conspicuous moraine in the 

Eckelson quadrangle, to which, following Upham, Willard applied 

the name Waconia. The present investigation shows that these deposits continue southward with some discontinuity through R. 59 W. 

to a point southeast of Glover, in T. 132 N., R. 59 W., and there they 

appear to merge with or pass under the big moraine east of Bear 

Creek. The next moraine west of this in the La Moure quadrangle is 

probably the inner moraine of the Antelope morainic system. It may 

be, therefore, that the moraine called Waconia by Willard, which 

passes east of Valley Junction and Glover in R. 59 W., is really the 

Kiester moraine of Upham. In La Moure and Dickey Counties it 

consists for the most part of rolling drift knolls, as subdued as the 

Antelope moraines. Both may perhaps have been smoothed out by a 

readvance of the ice. In Ovid Township the narrow ridge has not 

great relief but has many sharp hills, many of which are gravelly 

kanies.

OAKES MORAINE;

As stated above, a conspicuous moraine extends north and south 

along the east side of the La Moure quadrangle. Pending further 

study of the moraines of southern Minnesota and northeastern South 

Dakota, it is not now clear just what correlations are to be made and 

what Minnesota names, if any, should be applied in this area. Under 

the circumstances the application of a local name may best serve 

the purposes of this report. The name Oakes is therefore proposed 

for the conspicuous moraine lying east of the village of that name

8 Willard, D. E., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Jamestown-Tower folio (No. 168), 1909.
32 EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, 1ST. DAK.

and extending thence northward on the east side of Bear Creek. The 

main Oakes moraine, though not so rough as parts of the Altamont 

and Gary moraines, has sharp features with boulder-strewn surfaces. 

Extending into the northeast corner of the area from a direction a 

little east of north, the west front of the moraine continues nearly 

due south to the vicinity of Oakes and thence bears southeastward 

into Sargent County near the northwest corner of Jackson Township. It occupies an area half a mile to 3% miles wide in the La 

Moure quadrangle, though most of the moraine is in the area on the 

east. The Oakes moraine has a relief of 30 to 40 feet above the 

till plain and 100 feet above the Lake Dakota floor on the west. 

(See pi. 5, B.) The relief between the rough stony hills which compose the moraine is nearly as great as that of the moraine itself. 

The moraine is several miles wide and has many short drainage 

ways opening into the valley of Bear Creek, which closely skirts it 

on the west to Bear Creek Township. Trending nearly due north, it 

extends 10 miles from this area to the west bluff of Sheyenne River. 

From the north line of Jackson Township the moraine extends southward about 20 miles in Sargent County, N. Dak., and into Marshall 

County, S. Dak., and loops back northeastward to the head of the 

Coteau des Prairies in the southeastern part of Sargent County. 

The Oakes and later moraines deposited between the head of the 

Coteau and the highlands on the northwest effectually blocked the 

large preglacial valley which is believed to have extended from 

the southwest through to Red River Valley along the course of Wild 

Rice River.

In the northeast corner of the La Moure quadrangle that portion 

of the plain below an altitude of 1,380 feet is as level as a lake floor 

and has a thin veneer of silt. This thickens toward the north 

boundary, where there is above the till at least 10 feet of stratified 

clay, sand, and gravel in places. This deposit is continuous at the 

north with the Sand Prairie tract of the Jamestown-Tower area and 

is probably due to glacial outwash into ponded waters. Along the 

west side of this area and in T. 134 N. it grades imperceptibly into 

the till plain on the west.

The shallow glacial channel crossing the south half of Black 

Loam Township has a thin deposit of reworked glacial material 

a quarter to half a mile wide.

DEPOSITS OF GLACIAL LAKE DAKOTA

Glacial Lake Dakota occupied about 65 square miles of the southeastern part of the La Moure quadrangle, including all the area 

between the west slope of James River Valley, the Oakes moraine,
DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY 33

and the east boundary of the quadrangle, also a narrow strip on 

the west side of. James River at the south. This strip and the islandlike area between the silted channels in western Kiverdale Township 

are largely till, with a little silt forming a veneer in small areas. 

East of the eastern channel is a lacustrine or slack-water deposit of 

alternating strata of clay, silt, sand, and gravel, with sand predominating. This lake deposit is about 100 miles long, extending from 

a point 12 miles north of Oakes to a point about the same distance 

south of the latitude of Redfield, S. Dak. Its maximum breadth in 

South Dakota is about 25 miles. It stands everywhere about 1,300 

feet above the sea. It is reported to range in thickness from a few 

feet at the north end of the area to 65 feet at Oakes. The deposit 

in South Dakota is described by Todd in the Aberdeen-Redfield 

folio as 5 to 35 feet thick and largely composed of loesslike silt.

As the ground water stands near the surface of this lacustrine 

deposit, very few wells penetrate to the till below. There are many 

driven wells, and many 3 to 12 foot holes were made by the writer 

with a soil auger. A 12-foot section made by boring in the bottom 

of a sewer trench in Oakes showed sandy loam with yellow sandyclay subsoil, 15 inches; gray and brown sand with many seams of 

clay and muck, 10% feet. The muck layers were half an. inch to 

2% inches thick and occurred at depths of 3, 6, and 9 feet. A little 

gravel was scattered throughout the deposit, and a very gravelly 

6-inch layer was found at a depth of 3^ feet. Many white limy 

concretions half an inch to an inch in diameter occurred at the 3-foot 

depth. Other holes and cuts yielded some magnesian limestone pebbles, many shale fragments of various sizes, and pink, yellow-gray, 

or black silt and sand. The sand is mostly quartz and is of various 

grades of coarseness. Many layers are loosely cemented by darkbrown iron oxide, others by lime, and all effervesce with acid, showing the presence of calcareous matter. .

TERRACES OF JAMES RIVER

In the relatively narrow valley of James River are certain deposits 

in the form of bars and detached terracelike benches rising 10 to 70 

feet above the present flood plain. The barlike forms consist largely 

of stratified sand or gravel. The benches are generally underlain by 

fine sand, though some are of glacial till eroded to their present form. 

All are shown and appropriately designated on Plate 2.

The sand and gravel are probably deposits of late Pleistocene time 

made by the much larger James River of that epoch, swollen by the 

waters from the melting glacier when the ice front stood.at the 

position of the inner moraine of the Antelope morainic system, or 

farther east. In excavating its valley 100 feet down into the till, the
34 EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

river cut in some places and filled in others, according to the shifting 

of the main current. Slack water on the lee or downstream side of 

projecting headlands produced the barlike deposits seen in sees. 31 

and 32, Grandview Township, sees. 5, 6, 26, 27, 34, and 35, Grand 

Rapids Township, and sees. 29 and 32, La Moure Township. The 

last named is much the largest, because Cottonwood Creek debouched 

into the James River Valley at this point, bringing additional sand 

and gravel, which was deposited as a bar in the slack water between 

the two streams. Smaller bars are found in different parts of the 

valley. Benchlike deposits of finer material were produced in protected places, as in southwestern Grandview, central Grand Rapids, 

west-central La Moure, eastern Wright, and southwestern James 

River Valley Townships. (See pi. 2.) Taken together these bars 

and terraces probably represent the bottom of the valley at the time 

James River was discharging into glacial Lake Dakota at a point 2 

miles north of Oakes. The two large baylike reentrants in the side 

of the valley southwest of Glover may have been formed as intrenched meanders by two sharp bends of the down-cutting stream.

RECENT SERIES

Alluvium. On the floor of James River Valley is a deposit of 

alluvium, formed after glacial Lake Dakota had been drained 

and James River had cut down to or below its present level. As 

the river seldom overflows at present it is possible that much of 

this deposit was made by the water from the waning ice while the 

glacier stood far to the north and while the James received the 

drainage from glacial Lake Soiiris. The flats range in width from 

a quarter of a mile to 2 miles. The material is for the most part fine

sand and clay and extends to depths ranging from 25 feet at Grand 

Rapids to 50 or 60 feet at La Moure. The portion of Maple River 

Valley in Dickey County has a deposit of alluvium a quarter to 

half a mile wide.

Sand dames. Drought following the breaking of the prairie sod 

on the light sandy 'soil of the Lake Dakota plain permitted the sand 

to be drifted by the wind in Riverdale and Lovell Townships, so 

that shifting dunes, 1 to 5 feet high, have been formed in many 

places. In sees. 19 and 30, Jackson Township, Sargent County, a 

small group of sand dunes 40 feet high has been formed. The same 

fine sand extends in lower dunes to the east over the lake floor and 

as a veneer over the Oakes moraine. Several miles to the southeast 

a range of high dunes is found. Sloughs or shallow drainage ways 

on the lake floor have a heavier soil closely bound with meadow sod.

Peat. Two small deposits of peat 'occur in sec. 27, T. 130 N., R. 

66 W., one in the northeast corner along Crow Lake and one in the
GEOLOGIC HISTORY 35

northwest corner. Each has an area of about 10 acres and is in places 

6 .feet deep. Turf is usually found on top and black peat beneath. 

It was used by early settlers as fuel. A growth of sedges, moss, 

and other plants covers the surface.

GEOLOGIC HISTORY

CRETACEOUS PERIOD

North Dakota in common with the Great Plains region generally 

was .depressed in Cretaceous time and was covered by the advancing 

sea, which ultimately extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the 

Arctic Ocean and from the Rocky Mountains at least to the longitude of St. Paul, dividing North America into an eastern and a 

western continent. In the latitude of the Ecfgeley-La Moure area 

the sea must have been at least 800 or 900 miles wide from east to 

west. Over most of this region sediments were deposited to an average depth of perhaps a quarter of a mile. The materials were 

brought in by great rivers from land areas that can not now be 

definitely located. The sediments were deposited on the eroded 

Archean, Ordovician, and Silurian rocks, at least along the west 

 margin of the Red River Valley and thence eastward in southern 

Minnesota nearly to the position of Mississippi River. Upper Cretaceous rocks still underlie North Dakota except along the east side 

under the Lake Agassiz floor, whence they have t»een in part at least 

removed by erosion.

Dakota epoch. At first the Cretaceous sea was shallow and may 

hav% been represented by brackish, water or by fresh-water lakes. 

In the shallow sea strong currents assorted and.deposited coarse sediments. Abundant vegetation, including many dicotyledons that resembled present-day species, lived on neighboring lands. At least 

500 species have been identified. Salt-water mollusks indicate true 

marine conditions for part of Dakota time. Marine conditions were 

fully established in the region of North Dakota early in the Benton 

epoch by a gradual transition, indicated by the fact that the Benton 

sediments, so far as known, rest conformably upon the Dakota sandstone, and these conditions continued in the area until near the end 

of the Cretaceous. The rivers of Benton time were muddy and transported much clay to° the sea. The Niobrara sea was probably 

deeper, clearer, and freer of sediments, so that countless numbers of 

lime-secreting animals lived in its waters. Fossil evidence of life 

in the Pierre beds is almost lacking in the Edgeley-La Moure area, 

but the long duration of the sea is indicated by the thickness of its 

fine offshore deposits.

The Fox Hills, Lance, and Fort Union formations, developed in 

central and western North Dakota, were also, presumably, laid down
36 EDGELEY AND LA MOUBE QTJADBANGLES, N. DAK.

in the La Moure area, but if so they have been almost or quite 

removed by erosion. The Fort Union has been reported as present 

just west of the Edgeley quadrangle10 and may possibly extend into 

it in the area where 400 to 480 feet of drift conceals the underlying 

formation, though the few deep wells dug in the region have afforded 

very little record of the formations penetrated.

TERTIARY PERIOD

POST-CRETACEOUS EROSION

At the end of Fox Hills time and again at the end of Lance 

time the site of the former interior sea became land, as a result of 

sedimentation and perhaps also of regional uplift. A sea or lake 

floor that has long received the waste brought down by rivers from 

the surrounding land usually has a monotonously flat surface. Such 

was the region of North Dakota when it emerged from the Cretaceous sea.

After the deposition and uplift of the Fort Union beds erosion of 

the newly made land began on a grand scale. The ordinary agency 

of water flowing in rills, brooks, and rivers, assisted by the various 

processes of weathering, cut and carved the partly consolidated 

rocks formed in the earlier seas and lakes. Not only was the post- 

'Cretaceous highland channeled by streams, but the erosion continued until the interstream ridges and uplands were removed and 

the whole region was reduced to a nearly uniform plain. Much 

of the Fort Union coal and other beds and, after the Oligocene 

uplift, nearly all the later sediments were swept away and transported to the seas. Perhaps 1,000 feet of these strata were removed 

from western North Dakota, and in the eastern part of the State 

some 500 to 1,000 feet of Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments were 

eroded and the region was probably reduced nearly to base-level.

Then an uplift of the region initiated the erosion cycle that produced the escarpment of the Coteau du Missouri and the Turtle 

Mountains and again wore down to base-level the region east of the 

Coteau, including most of the Edgeley-La Moure area. This plain 

extends eastward to the crest of the eastward-facing Manitoba 

escarpment. The wearing down above the Manitoba escarpment 

probably occupied most of the Tertiary period. This erosion cycle 

was brought to an end by a further uplift, which gave rise to the 

erosion that carved out great river valleys, notably the Red River 

Valley below the Manitoba escarpment. In late Pliocene and early 

Pleistocene time 300 to 500 feet of Cretaceous, Silurian, and Ordo10 Leonard, A. G., North Dakota Geol. Survey Sixth Bienn. Kept., map, p. 98, 1912.
GEOLOGIC HISTOBY 37

vician strata were removed in eastern North Dakota, as indicated 

by the height of the Pembina Mountains above the buried floor of 

this valley. The Turtle Mountains are a remnant of the higher 

level cut off by erosion.

PREGLACIAL DRAINAGE OF THE DAKOTAS

The preglacial drainage of North and South Dakota was believed by Warren,11 Todd,12 and others to have been almost wholly 

to the northeast into the Bed-Nelson river system, rather than 

mostly to the Missouri-Mississippi system, as at present. The course 

of the Missouri from the point where it turns south at Fort Stevenson, N. Dak., to its mouth was believed by Todd to date only from 

the glacial epoch. Leonard,13 on the other hand, finds that the 

valley at least as far south as Bismarck had been excavated to a 

depth of 100 feet below its present level before the advance of .the 

pre-Wisconsin ice sheet, which extended across its course, inasmuch 

as this glacier partly filled it with glacial deposits or reworked 

glacial gravel. Todd held that the ancient upper valley may have 

drained northeastward to Souris River or eastward to the region 

of the James River Valley and thence to the Red River Valley. 

Likewise Heart, Cannonball, Grand, Moreau, Sheyenne, Bad, and 

White Rivers were believed by Todd to have flowed on northeast 

of their present mouths across the course of what is now the Missouri 

Valley and into the James River Valley. Todd believed that the 

waters of these united rivers, flowing northward, carved a great 

valley in the position of the James through South Dakota and southern North Dakota and discharged eastward at about the position 

of the present Wild Rice River into Red River Valley. There 

Cretaceous and Paleozoic rocks were eroded to depths of 300 to 500 

feet below the Manitoba escarpment. If this is true, possibly the 

wedgelike point of the Coteau des Prairies in southeastern North 

Dakota and northeastern South Dakota may be the headland between and at the junction of two great northward-flowing tributaries of a master stream emptying into Hudson Bay. The eastern 

of these tributaries would have been a branch flowing- northwest 

from north-central Iowa through southwestern Minnesota to the sup11 Warren, G. K., Corps of Engineers U. S. Army Ann. Kept, 1868, pp. 307-314; Science, 

new ser., vol. 39, pp. 263-274, 1914; Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci. Proc., vol. 33, pp. 381-392, 

1884.

13 Todd, J. E., The Pleistocene history of the Missouri River: Science, new ser., vol. 39, 

pp. 263-274, 1914.

13 Leonard, A. G., Pleistocene drainage changes in western North Dakota: Geol. Soc. 

America Bull., vol. 27, pp. 295-334, 1916; U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Bismarck folio 

(No. 181), 1905 ; Pre-Wisconsin drift in North Dakota: Jour. Geology, vol. 24, pp. 528-532, 

1916.
38 EDGELEY AND LA MOUEE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

posed junction. However, the preglacial drainage of the region 

requires further investigation before definite statements can be made 

concerning it.

QUATERNARY PERIOD

PLEISTOCENE, .EPOCH 

GLACIATION

The late Pliocene uplift continued into the Pleistocene epoch and 

was followed by the beginning of glaciation. A lowering of the 

temperature with larger precipitation in the form of snow resulted 

in a vast accumulation of ice over the northern half of North 

America. There were three main centers of ice accumulation and 

dispersion in Canada (fig. 4), one east and one west of Hudson Bay 

and one in the Cordillera. Upon these the ice accumulated in such 

great thickness that it spread in all directions. From the first two 

of these centers, either simultaneously or alternately, the ice invaded 

the northern United States until the country was glaciated as far 

south as Ohio and Missouri Rivers and in places even farther. The 

country was invaded several times by the ice. Periods of cold, in 

which the ice advanced far to the south, were followed by periods of 

warmth, when the ice melted back far to the north. In the mild 

periods plants and animals returned to the glaciated area. Rocks 

were weathered, and soils had time to develop but were swept away 

or covered by the next overriding ice sheet. The several stages of 

advance of the ice are named from States where the glacial deposits 

are well developed and are, in chronologic order, the Nebraskan or 

pre-Kansan, Kansan, Illinoian, lowan, and Wisconsin stages. The 

last stage, at least, was characterized by minor fluctuations or substages of retreat and readvance of the ice front. The lithologic 

composition of the drift suggests that the ice which reached the 

Dakotas came each time from the Keewatin center, west of Hudson 

Bay. The Wisconsin ice sheet reached nearly to Missouri River in 

North Dakota, and the region 20 to 60 miles farther west suffered 

an earlier glaciation, but the age of the deposits left there has not 

yet been definitely determined. Although all the drift exposed at 

the surface in the Edgeley-La Moure area is of Wisconsifi age, it is 

believed that there is considerable earlier drift buried beneath the 

Wisconsin drift.

The ice of the Wisconsin stage.in the southwestern part of the 

Edgeley-La Moure area encountered an obstruction in the Coteau 

du Missouri so great as not readily to be overridden, although the 

ice extended farther west in areas both north and south. This obstruction made a great reentrant in the glacial front, as shown^by 

the position of the Altamont moraine (fig. 5). The reentrant or
GEOLOGIC HISTOR5T 39

morainal loop opens to the northwest from the South Dakota line 

in K. 66 W., showing that the ice pushed in upon the upland from 

the northeast, east, and south. As a result a considerable thickness 

of drift was piled up. There is reason for believing, however, that 

a large part of the bulk of the Goteau du Missouri in the Edgeley 

quadrangle is a great accumlation of pre-Wisconsin drift, upon 

which the drift of the Altamont moraine was piled.

After a prolonged stand at the position of this moraine the ice 

front melted back an unknown distance. It may have retreated only 

to the position of the second or Gary moraine, or it may have retreated farther through a long series of warm or dry years and later 

readvanced to the position of its next long stand. During the Gary 

substage the ice front generally stood 5 to 20 miles inside the Altamont moraine. In some places, however, it stood so near and formed 

the Gary moraine so close to the Altamont that the two can not 

be differentiated. This was the case around the head of the reentrant described above, in adjacent parts of McPherson, Mclntosh, 

and Dickey Counties. In the Gary substage the ice pushed southwest wa^d upon the Coteau in T. 132 N., K. 66 W., but was held back 

somewhat by the high ridge west of Merricourt, so that a minor 

reentrant was produced. From the northwest side of this reentrant 

and from Logan County the ice front at length retreated until it extended more directly northward to the region of Eaney Lake. During this time the water from the ice in this area drained to the west 

or southwest. Thence northwestward the front of the glacier 

extended through adjacent parts of Logan, Stutsman, and Kidder 

Counties.

After the Gary substage the glacier was melted back from the 

Coteau and made its next stand 6 to 8 miles farther east, at the 

outer moraine of the Antelope morainic system. This may have 

been but a temporary halt, as the moraine is low and discontinuous 

and not traceable north of Edgeley within the area under discussion. 

However, it should be noted that the moraine was formed at the base 

of a strong slope leading up to the foot of the Coteau and perhaps 

stood in water ponded along the ice front. The flow of drainage must 

have been southward along the glacial margin and may have largely 

flattened out or washed away the moraine. Although most of the 

evidence has been removed, the nature of the soil in certain silted 

tracts supports the conclusion that the tract between the Antelope 

morainic system and the Coteau constituted a broad drainage way 

for the melting glacier. Probably at first obstructions existed, causing 

slack water or even a temporary lake to cover the tract. A deposit of 

gravel and sand 1 or 2 miles wide that lies along the base of the 

Coteau in Dickey County may owe its origin in part to deposition 

in such a lake and in part to wash from the Coteau.
40 EDGELEY AND LA MOUEE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

Well-defined streams flowing southwestward in tunnels beneath the 

ice produced the eskers in Rs. 63 and 64 W. After abandoning the 

outer of the Antelope moraines the ice never again advanced to it, 

as is seen by the undisturbed condition of the eskers and kames.

The glacial lobe, which had also Been shrinking away from the 

Coteau des Prairies in eastern South Dakota and shortening northward in the James Valley, was now only 40 miles wide south of the 

La Moure area and occupied only the central part of the valley, 

probably extending little farther south than the site of Huron, 

S. Dak. (See fig. 5.)

During the temporary halt at the inner moraine of the Antelope 

system the glacial drainage eroded the several channels now abandoned in R. 62 W. In South Dakota the ice lobe had narrowed to a 

width of about 25 miles. After a brief stand at the mild morainal 

belt east of Valley Junction and Glover the western front retreated 

to the east side of the La Moure quadrangle, where, during a prolonged stand, the Oakes moraine was formed. This retreat uncovered nearly all the James River Valley, and the Dakota lobe then 

extended but 15 miles into South Dakota. ft

GLACIAL LAKE DAKOTA

The ice now stood along the east side of James River. Great 

volumes of water poured down the James River Valley, and when 

the ice disappeared from the upper Sheyenne Valley water came 

from the Sheyenne channel as well. The lower Sheyenne Valley 

was covered with ice westward to a point about 9 miles north of 

the northeast corner of the La Moure quadrangle, at the northeast 

corner of La Moure County. The water from the upper Sheyenne 

cut across the low divide over Sand Prairie into Bear Creek, where 

it was further swollen by the drainage from the ice front at the 

Oakes moraine. James and Sheyenne Rivers received all the Avater 

from the ice in central North Dakota and farther north, probably 

including that from glacial Lake Souris. They united their floods 

in the broad depression of the James Valley, which extended south 

from a point about 4 miles north of Oakes. This basin is constricted 

100 miles south of this point and obstructed TO miles farther south 

by the quartzite ledge near Alexandria, S. Dak. It is possible also 

that the north end of this basin may have been slightly lower when 

the ice began to melt and rose later after the glacier disappeared at 

the north. The waters from the melting ice poured in faster than 

they could find egress, so that they flooded the valley for a width of 

25 miles and produced a shallow lake known to geologists as glacial 

Lake Dakota.
GEOLOGIC HISTORY 41

As the ice front withdrew northeastward from its stand at the 

Oakes moraine in South Dakota, the lake probably spread behind the 

moraine until it reached as far as the site of Nicholson, in Sargent 

County, N. Dak. At this point it received the waters of Sheyenne 

River, which then flowed due south through the Big Slough behind 

the Oakes moraine fronl the point where the present river turns 

east at Fort Ransom. In the Jamestown-Tower folio this ancient 

stream has been named Ransom River. Its abandoned channel is 

three-quarters of a mile to 2^ miles wide. The northeastward extension of the glacial lake continued as long as the glacier pressed 

snugly against the head and east slope of the Coteau des Prairies. 

Its outlet flowed over the low divide separating it from the James 

River Valley. As this divide at the State line was composed of sand 

and clay it Avas readily eroded. When the ice melted back from the 

Coteau des Prairies the water ponded behind the Oakes moraine 

found an outlet to the east. The flood plain of James River is now 

350 feet higher than Red River, and a cut of about 25 feet would 

permit the drainage of the James through Wild Rice River into 

Red River. As the watershed between the Wild Rice and James 

Valleys is only 10 to 15 feet above the general level of the Lake 

Dakota floor, the glacial lake in Sargent County was probably 

confluent with Lake Dakota, unless the latter had previously been 

drained by the cutting down of its outlet by James River. The 

rapid cutting of the James, which had eroded its present channel 

before the removal of the ice from contact with the Coteau des 

Prairies, alone prevented the drainage of the upper valley of this 

river toward the east into Wild Rice River and the partial restoration of the preglacial drainage system.

When the swollen torrents of James and Sheyenne Rivers and Bear 

Creek poured in at the north end of Lake Dakota, the coarser sediments were deposited as sand and gravel around the site of Oakes. 

The deposits grow finer southward, and cream-colored silt lies to a 

depth of 5 to 35 feet over the floor in South Dakota as far south 

as Redfield. The surface of this deposit is nearly level and is a 

little more than 1,300 feet above the sea.

JAMES RIVEK VALLEY

James River may have flowed in practically its present course before the Wisconsin stage of glaciation. Its valley must have been 

largely drift filled, though it had been pretty well cleared out by 

the time the ice withdrew from the Oakes moraine and the Coteau 

des Prairies. The inner moraine of the Antelope morainic system 

placed diagonally across its course was a great obstacle to erosion, 

and on that account the valley 'is much narrower in the western part
42 EDGELEY AND LA MOUKE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

of James River Valley Township. However, the stream, swollen 

by the rapidly melting ice at the north, readily cleared the valley. 

The terraces and bars described'above were built in slack water. As 

the James River flood plain up to Grand Rapids is at about the same 

level as the Lake Dakota floor, slack water must have extended at 

least that far at one time. As the glacial flood waned the flood plain 

was abandoned. The statement applies also to the old channel in 

the western part of Riverdale Township, on the east side of an 

island-like body of land. The James has since cut down about 15 

feet at Oakes and 25 and 45 feet east of Aberdeen and Redfield 

respectively.

ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

BUILDING MATEEIALS

Sand and gravel. Aside from glacial boulders, which are often 

used in foundations, sand and gravel are the only building materials 

in the Edgeley-La Moure area. The glacial drift and the old river 

terraces yield a large amount of sand fit for mortar and of gravel 

for concrete and road material The grade is not uniform, and the 

quality of some deposits is made poor by the presence of silt or shale, 

so that much screening is required. There are many especially good 

deposits in the bars and terraces of James 'River, few of which have 

yet been opened. Some of the largest and of the best quality are 

found in the bars in southwestern Grand view and northwestern 

Grand Rapids'Townships, in sees. 16, 18, 34, and 35, Grand Rapids 

Township, sec. 12, Cottonwood Township, and sees. 7, 17, 20, 29, and 

32, La Moure Township. Much of the sand of glacial Lake Dakota 

deposited around Oakes is coarse enough for use, but the lake silt 

generally is too fine to be of much value. Some minor banks along 

Maple River and Bear Creeks are valuable.

The second largest source of sand and gravel is in the ridges and 

hills described as eskers and kames. The greater number of these 

shown on Plates 1 and 2 contain some material of economic value. 

The coarse drift in Tps. 129 to 131 N., R. 66 W., contains much valuable sand and gravel, which is being used for road making. Many 

open pits are designated on the map. West of Merricourt the Soo 

Line has opened a large pit in the gravel wash from the Coteau. It 

is believed that considerable deposits will be found all along the 

slope in Dickey County.

In some parts of the area glacial boulders, are abundant. These 

may be used either for masonry or after crushing for road material. 

Many of the granites, schists, and gneisses give fine effects in exterior 

walls.

Brick clay and shale.-^-It is believed that some of the clay and 

shale may be used in the manufacture of rough brick and drain tiles.
ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 43 

SOILS

The soils of the La Moure quadrangle are mainly of three textural types silt loam, silt clay loam, and loam. The soil is generally fairly heavy and is underlain by a good clay subsoil that 

seldom develops very troublesome hardpan. Lighter sandy soil 

occurs in the upland areas of the western half of Tps. 129 to 131 N., 

R 66 W., in 10 or 12 sections in the center of Elden Township, in 

that part of southeastern La Moure Township south of the Northern 

Pacific Eailway, in all areas mapped as eskers and kames, and in 

a tract 1 to 3 miles wide lying at the base of the Coteau du Missouri 

in Dickey County. The soil of the James Biver Valley is generally 

rather light in texture. The soil of the Lake Dakota plain is for the 

most part loose sand or silt and requires careful management to prevent it being blown about. The soil of certain tracts, largely near 

the north end of the plain, is heavier and gives good yields. Most of 

the lake area in North Dakota is suitable only for grazing and 

meadow. The light soil and subsoil of the James River Valley and 

the lake plain are known as " warm " and " early " soils, and on account of the fact that the ground water stands within a few feet ofthe surface they are better supplied with moisture and are more productive than one would suppose from £heir leached character.

Alkali is troublesome in only one large tract in La Moure and 

Dickey Counties, although many alkaline areas, containing from a 

few acres to a section, are scattered throughout the area. The largest 

alkaline tract comprises the eastern half of K. 64 W., extending 

from the larger morainic ridge in central Albion Township northward to the similar ridge running east and west in southern T. 133 N. 

The low-lying land extending on northward some miles past Edgeley 

also has much alkali. The alkali of this tract is due to the blocking 

of the natural eastern drainage by the outer moraine of the Antelope morainic system lying across it. Some sections are good, but 

much of this land is practically useless. Many sections will become 

valuable when the soil is properly treated. There are many sloughs 

and old lake and marsh floors in the Altamont and Gary moraines 

and the inner moraine of the Antelope morainic system which are 

undrained and have a large amount of alkali. In the James Valley 

there are some poorly drained tracts having a damaging amount of 

salts in the soil. The largest of these is found west of La Moure. 

Nearly all of the valley land can be drained, washed with water from 

the river, and entirely cured. The alkaline soils are locally known 

as "gumbo" and have a high percentage of sodium carbonate and calcium sulphate. In the poorest tracts the salts collect as a white crust 

on the surface. Shallow wells in many localities are affected by the 

salts. The water from hundreds of artesian wells in the area is 

6147 29 4
44 EDGELEY AND LA MOTJRE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

allowed by their owners to run at full force all the time. Often 

there is no good natural drainage and the water is permitted to collect in depressions and form alkaline pools with large marshy 

tracts about them. The land thus covered is usually of the best, and 

in the aggregate the loss is very considerable. The same condition 

prevails throughout the artesian basin of the eastern Dakotas and 

is a fit subject for drastic regulation.

WATER RESOURCES 

WATER IN GLACIAL DRIFT

A large part of .the population of the Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles draws its water supply from shallow wells, which obtain 

water in the glacial drift in nearly all parts of the area. In the western part the depth to water is somewhat greater. In La Moure, in 

the James Valley, and in Oakes, on the Lake Dakota plain, water is 

obtained from inexpensive driven wells only 5 to 15 feet deep, almost 

every house in these places having one or two such wells. In most 

places east of R. 64 W. water is found in sand or gravel layers in the 

'drift at depths ranging from 10 to 150 feet, but in some localities, 

as in parts of Henrietta Township, supplies are found only at depths 

of more than 200 feet. On much of the Coteau du Missouri water is 

obtained with great difficulty, many of the early shallow wells having 

failed entirely. Some farms are supplied by springs, and many 

others north of T. 131 N. have wells 100 to 480 feet deep, some of 

which penetrate the shale. These relatively deep wells on the Coteau 

are drilled, like the deeper artesian wells.

In many shallow wells the water is artesian to the extent that it 

rises in the well, though it does not flow at the surface. Five or six

shallow wells overflow freely at the surface. Among the flowing 

wells that end in drift are the Ellison well, in sec. 29, La Moure 

Township, 31 feet deep; a well in sec. 6, T. 132 N., R. 60 W., 40 feet 

deep, both on the bank of James River; one each in sees. 22 and 23, 

T, 132 N., R. 59 W., 200 and 240 feet deep; the Eaton well, south of 

Ludden, 160 feet deep; and a well on the brow of the Coteau, 

in sec. 4, T. 130 N., R. 65 W. The Wirch well, in sec. 21, T. 

130 N., R. 66 W., is made to flow by siphoning into a near-by 

ravine. The wells in which the water rises undoubtedly tap beds of 

sand and gravel that lie between relatively impervious layers and 

are fed from higher ground, many from near-by mofainic hills. If 

the place of intake of the rain water is higher than the mouth of the 

well a flow may result.

Many of the dug wells are imperfectly curbed and are polluted 

by water from barnyards or cesspools. The careful farmer locates his 

well some distance from these sources of contamination and at a
WATER RESOURCES 45

higher level. Even deep wells may be polluted by water that passes 

down outside the casing, and great care should therefore be taken 

to set the casing tightly in the earth.

The following are partial analyses of Avaters from wells at Edgeley 

that end in glacial drift or in shale and are between 15 and 25 feet 

deep:

Partial analyses of water from shallow wells in drift or shale at Edgeley, N. Dak. 

[Parts per million; analyzed in December, 1913, by North Dakota State College]

Owner

Chas. J. Sturgeon.... __ .............. __ . ____ .... __ . _ .......

C. K. Ordney-. .......... ........ ................... ..... .

W. S. Hancock...........................................................

O. H. Shiels. ......................................

B. H. Cornwall.. .........................................................

Total 

dissolved 

solids

"860

'625

 1, 240

 *730

' 1, 620

Organic 

and volatile matter

180

25

25

80

90

Chloride 

radicle 

(Cl)

60

20

514

44

586

° Mainly sodium carbonate with traces of sulphate, calcium, and magnesium. 

* Mainly sodium carbonate with traces of sulphate and calcium. 

«Mainly sodium chloride. 

<* Mainly sodium carbonate.

The water in the flowing wells, as in most nonflowing wells that 

end in gravel and have a strong supply freely drawn upon, is of 

satisfactory quality. Water that stands in wells in contact with 

clay or shale for a long time, however, may become bitter with 

absorbed salts, as was clearly shown by a well in sec. 32, La Moure 

Township. When gravel was struck at 31 feet in this well the 

water rose rapidly to a level less than 4 feet below the surface. The 

well was not strongly drawn upon for some weeks, and the water 

became bitter and unfit for use. As the well was within a few feet 

of James River, in which the water stood 10 to 15 feet lower than 

in the well, the owner cut the bank below the level of the water 

in the well and started a flow. In a few days the water had lost its 

bitterness and, continuing to flow, remained good.

WATER IN THE PIERRE AND BENTON FORMATIONS

A few wells have flows from beds above the Dakota sandstone. 

Flows probably from sand layers in the Pierre shale were obtained 

1 mile north of La Moure at a depth of 260 feet; at Grand Rapids 

at a depth of 125 feet, or 36 feet below the top of this shale; 

and at Oakes at a depth of 320 feet. Flows were obtained probably 

from the Niobrara or the Ben'ton formation in the Dennison well 

in sec. 7, Port Emma Township, at 600 feet; in a well 1% miles 

northeast of Verona at 540 feet; in sec. 26, Elden Township, at 850 

feet; in a well in sec. 30, Henrietta Township, at 870 feet; in a
46 EDGELEY AND LA MOUEE QUADRANGLES, N". DAK.

well in sec, 3, Port Emma Township, at 800 feet: in the 2,000-foot 

well in sec. 29, Norway Township, at 1,300 feet; and in the Morse 

well, sec. 32, T. 133 N., R. 60 W., at 536 feet. The natural flow of 

the Dennison well was 20 gallons a minute.

Flows from the Pierre, Niobrara, and Benton formations, like 

those from the glacial drift, are usually weak and are generally 

cased off by the drillers. This is done partly for the reason that the 

well is drilled by contract for a lump sum, and the farmer, fearing 

the upper flow may prove inadequate, demands that the Dakota sandstone be reached. It is believed that no records are made of many 

flows from upper strata. Occasionally a flow from the drift of 

water of superior quality and of volume quite adequate for the 

farmer's needs is shut off and lost, and the driller spends hundreds 

of dollars penetrating deeper strata, which yield only salty water. 

The farmer would do well to keep in touch with his driller and 

pay him adequately either to stop at a fresh-water flow, or, if it is 

feared that the supply is not of sufficient volume for all needs, to 

pipe it independently to the surface for use as far as it will suffice. 

This water generally does not contain so large an amount of salts 

as the water of the Dakota sands, much of which is objectionable 

for drinking and boiler use. Furthermore, the near-surface flow 

may actually outlast the deep artesian supply, especially in the western part of the basin, as it may have an independent source, whereas 

the deeper wells reach a layer which is tapped by thousands of 

other wells and in which the pressure is being reduced.

Weak flows of muddy water are often struck within 20 to 200 feet 

above the base of the Benton shale. This water, commonly called the 

"mud flow" by the drillers, is generally cased off. It is possible that 

as the artesian supply further declines in years to-come this muddy 

water may be filtered and used. The Jensen well, near Oakes, yielded a flow of clear water near the base of the Benton shale at a depth 

of 877 feet. ' ~

The 125-foot flowing well in the Pierre shale at Grand Rapids 

yields relatively good water. A sample examined in 1914 by the 

North Dakota State College was found to contain 1,015 parts per 

million of dissolved solids, of which the chloride radicle made up 

176 parts.

In many wells a hard rock, termed the "40-foot cap rock" by drillers, is found just above the Dakota water-bearing stratum. In other wells such a hard layer is reported far up in the Benton shale. 

Early drillers were often stopped by this rock, and sometimes they 

spent several weeks in penetrating it. Drillers with more powerful 

machines are now experiencing little difficulty in drilling through it.
WATER RESOURCES 47

WATER IN THE DAKOTA SANDSTONE 

SCOPE AND METHODS OF TESTING ARTESIAN WELLS

Field work on artesian wells was begun by the writer in 1914 in 

La Moure and Dickey Counties and was extended to other areas in 

following years. In 1916 more intensive work was started on artesian wells in Stutsman County south of Jamestown. In 1919 and 1920 

these wells and those previously studied in La Moure and Dickey 

Counties were again visited. Thus an investigation has been made 

of the artesian conditions in a belt extending from Jamestown to 

the South Dakota line along the 1,500-foot contour. In La Moure 

and Dickey Counties the belt examined was 10 to 12 miles wide and 

included the land lying between 1,470 and 1,700 feet above sea level.

Another belt of wells, which crosses this belt at right angles and

runs from the 1,700-foot contour eastward down the slope from the 

Coteau to Ellendale and Monango and thence beyond Fullertown, was 

examined in detail. Wells in an extension of this belt east past Oakes 

were examined in a cursory way. The line was taken up again some 

20 miles farther east, between Forman and Geneseo. In 1919 and 

1920 wells were examined on a line extending northward through 

Sargent, Kansom, and Cass Counties, at localities near Milnor, Lisbon, 

Sheldon, Enderlin, Alice, Embden, and Buffalo, and from Buffalo 

eastward to Wheatland. In 1920 the Des Lacs deep well was visited, 

and some detailed tests were made on the artesian gas wells from 

Lansford to Newburg, in Bottineau County. Shallow drift wells 

were tested at Maddock, in Benson County, and at Jud, in La Moure 

County. The work in 1919 and 1920 was done as a part of work for 

the State of North Dakota on flood control, of which the writer was 

chief engineer. 6nly the data obtained for the Edgeley and La Moure 

quadrangles are given in this paper; data for other parts of the area 

of artesian flow in North Dakota can be found in a report published 

by the State.14

Before 1919 a small number of wells had been studied each year 

in great detail. This plan was changed because each year some of 

these wells became unfit to stand closed-pressure tests and others 

stopped flowing, so that the number of test wells became too small. 

To obviate this difficulty, in 1919 the number of wells on which flow 

tests were made was greatly increased. In 1920 a still greater number was added, and a good addition was made to the pressure tests, 

including those on a series of new wells near Ellendale and Monango the Lind, Thorn, Fleming, Taylor, Gray, Whelan, and Fuller 

wells.

14 Hard, H. A., Report to the Governor of North Dakota on flood control for the years 

1919-20, 1923.
a

48 EDGELEY AND LA MOUSE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

A collection was also made of the logs of several hundred wells 

by interviewing owners and drillers, especially the Oakes Artesian 

Well Co., Mr. C. E. Turnbaugh, and Mr. Lee Herring, who generously made available the records of many wells in their files. In 

so far as possible the depth, diameter, original and later pressures, 

und flow were recorded, and all data having any interest were collected. These records were of great value in preparing this paper.

The equipment used for field work included pipe tongs, wrenches, 

pliers, plenty of extra couplings of various sizes to replace any 

found to be defective or rusted out or disturbed by making connections for testing, graphite and thick lead paints and rubber dam 

for joint wiping, a good steam-pressure gage with auxiliary, thermometer, quart, gallon, 2-gallon, and 10-gallon measuring vessels, 

rubber hose, wire, sounding line, and stop watch. It is usually most 

economical for two persons to work together on a well.

Permission was usually obtained before a well was tested. If the 

owner was at all unwilling or the pipes were rusted so that disconnecting would complete their ruin and cause inconvenience to the 

owner, no test was made. If the rusting of parts was not extensive, 

the rusted parts were removed and new couplings or pipe installed, 

and the well was then tested and left in good repair. The public has 

thus acquired valuable information, and the farmer has received a 

little gift of plumbing.

The tests of the wells consisted of measurement of flow, open and 

closed pressure where feasible, temperature of the water, and the 

flow of gas if any.

For flow tests a vessel of known volume was held so as to catch the 

entire flow of the well for a fixed time, noted with watch in hand.

A good steam gage with auxiliary was attached for pressure tests. 

After the " open " pressure was taken the well was slowly turned off 

to avoid possible injury, and the closed or actual pressure was read 

every few minutes till it became constant. This took from half an 

hour to an hour for most wells, longer for a few others. Some tests 

were run all night, for two reasons to determine possible variation 

in a 12-hour test, and to demonstrate that a well will not cease flowing if shut entirely off. At every well the valve was carefully 

turned on in the morning and the water came as usual. It gave much 

satisfaction to many farmers to know that the water could be turned 

off to prevent needless flooding of valuable land and the making of 

a foul-smelling mud hole near the house or barn.

In February, 1923, the information in regard to decline of artesian pressure was brought to date by O. E. Meinzer, geologist in 

charge of the ground-water division of the United States Geological 

Survey, who sent questionnaires to owners of artesian wells in a belt
WATER RESOURCES 49

along the western border of the area of artesian flow. This was accomplished through the hearty cooperation of the postmasters at 

Edgeley, Monango, Ellendale, and Forbes. In July and August, 

1923, several days were spent in the area with Mr. Meinzer, H. E. 

Simpson, water geologist of the State Geological Survey of North 

Dakota, and C. E. Turnbaugh, an experienced well driller who was 

engaged by the State Geological Survey to inspect artesian wells in 

order to stop the illegal waste of artesian water. Through cooperation between the State and Federal surveys Mr. Turnbaugh, in November and December, 1923, examined practically every artesian 

well in the Edgeley quadrangle and adjacent parts of the La Moure 

quadrangle both those that were still flowing and those that had 

ceased to flow. The results of the data obtained in 1923 by correspondence and in Mr. Turnbaugh's survey are discussed by Mr. 

Meinzer on pages 57-74.

POSITION OF WATER-BEARING BEDS

The importance of artesian water in this region is shown by the 

fact that in 1915 there were between 600 and 700 flowing wells in the 

Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles. (See pis. 3 and 4.) The main 

supply of artesian water comes from the Dakota sandstone. This 

formation underlies the greater part of both North and South 

Dakota, including the Edgeley-La Moure area, where it has a low, 

general southwesterly dip. The thickness, extent, and character of 

the Dakota sands are discussed on pages 14-15. The stratum in the 

Dakota sandstone that gives the first artesian flow is usually 

within 50 feet of the top of the formation.' It ranges in altitude from somewhat less than 200 feet above sea level at the west 

side of the Edgeley-La Moure area to more than 500 feet at the east 

side. As shown by the artesian-water maps (pis. 3 and 4), the depth 

to this stratum ranges from about 900 feet to more than 1,500 feet. 

In a few localities, as in the northeastern part of Kent Township 

(T. 130 N., E. 61 W.), this upper stratum yields no flow. Where 

the head is sufficient the flow from the first sandstone is strong and 

appears promptly when this stratum is penetrated. In some wells 

the flow from the first standstone is very weak and is cased off. This 

occurs where the sandstone stratum is thin or very fine grained. In 

some wells the pressure and flow increase continuously with depth, 

but usually two or more separate flows are encountered. As many 

as seven successive flows have been obtained in drilling one well, the 

water-bearing beds being separated by impervious " hardpan " of 

shale or dense sandstone. Successive artesian layers are usually 

marked by sudden increase in flow. Water from the second and third 

artesian horizons usually has a larger pressure than that from the 

first.
50 EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

ARTESIAN CONDITIONS V

The Dakota'sandstone crops out on the flanks of the Black Hills, j 

Big Horn Mountains, and other mountain ranges. From the moun- ; 

tains this sandstone dips to the east and by many wells is traced 

under the plains of North and South Dakota, where it gradually -. 

rises within a few hundred feet of the surface and supplies water to ' , 

thousands of wells. The sandstone cropping out in the mountains ; 

catches the rain and absorbs water from streams flowing over it. :: 

The water thus collected is held within the porous sandstone by the ; 

nearly impervious formations that lie above and below it and 

moves far out under the plains. As the intake on the mountains is ;' 

3,000 to 6,000 feet above sea level and the original area of artesian 

flow in the Edgeley and. La Moure quadrangles was everywhere less ', 

than 1,800 feet above sea level, there was ample difference in altitude \ 

to produce artesian pressure.

The head of water in % flowing artesian well, in feet above sea 7 

level, can be calculated by multiplying the pressure at the mouth of \ 

the well, in pounds per square inch, by 2.3 and adding the result to ; 

the altitude of the well mouth. The artesian water must percolate , 

a long distance through sandstone to get from its areas of intake 

to the Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles and to the rest of the great { 

area of artesian flow in North and South Dakota, and much of its 

head is dissipated in overcoming the friction of the sandstone «." 

throughout its long journey. As the artesian'water is moving in a ,-; 

general eastward direction, the head decreases toward the east.

}

TYPES AND YIELDS OF WELLS *,

As different beds of the Dakota sandstone differ greatly in texture < 

and therefore in porosity, permeability, and water-yielding capacity, 

some beds yield large flows but others retard the water by friction 

and give only small flows. Moreover, some porous lenses are doubtless wholly or nearly inclosed by shale and therefore yield no flows. , Wells even in the same locality may differ greatly in yield for the 

reason that they are not supplied by a continuous stratum. (:

The sandstone ranges from a very hard, compact rock to one that 

caves into the well. Wat«r enters some drill holes so roily with fine 

sand and clay as to force the driller to abandon the hole and drill 

elsewhere. As many as three or four holes may thus be made on one 

farm, though usually the water gradually clears in a short time. 

Loose sand may clog the well and stop the flow. Wells whose water 

contains sediment must always be kept discharging, at least in a 

small stream, to prevent clogging. Most wells may with safety 

be gradually closed or nearly closed; in fact, reducing the flow will 

often stop the discharge of sand.
WATER RESOURCES ( 51

Except in the towns nearly all wells extend only to the first artesian 

horizon: At the Olthoff well, in sec. 12, T. 130 N., R. 61 W., no flow 

was obtained at the horizon of the first water-bearing stratum, but 

at the depth of 1,236 feet a strong flow was obtained with 180 

pounds of pressure. The power was used in 1915 to operate feed 

mills, and this is one of the very few places in this area where 

power has been developed from artesian pressure. The deeper wells 

at Oakes and La Moure probably reach the second horizon, and the 

deepest Ellendale well taps the third. The wells at the Lillebridge 

farm, in sec. 33, T. 132 N., R. 60 W., penetrate four water-bearing 

layers between depths of 900 and 1,160 feet.

In 1915 the wells near the west side of the area of artesian flow 

having a diameter of 1^4 inches discharged from 5 to 10 gallons a 

minute, and those near the east side of the La Moure quadrangle 15 

to 40 gallons. Along the extreme western limit of the area of 

artesian flow (pi. 3) nearly all wells are 1% to 2 inches in diameter 

and many reach the second water horizon, yet they barely discharge 

at the surface. In 1915 2-inch wells in the eastern part of the area 

discharged 40 to 80 gallons a minute. Most of the artesian wells in 

this area are l1/^ or 1% inches in diameter, a few are 2 inches, and 

wells for town supply at La Moure are 3 and 4% inches, and at 

Ellendale 3y2 and 3% inches.

As the artesian head with reference to sea level decreases gradually toward the east, it is to be expected that in any well the water 

will rise slightly higher above sea level than in wells father east 

and not quite so high as in wells farther west. The data obtained, 

however, indicate irregularities in the height to which the artesian 

water actually rises in different weljls in the same locality. Some 

apparent irregularities are due to inaccurate information as to the 

head or as to the slope and altitude of the land surface. Other 

irregularities are real and are found ,to be due chiefly to one or 

more of the following causes: Difference in the head of water 

from different layers in the Dakota sandstone, local depletion of 

the artesian supply, leakage of well casings, and the presence of gas 

in the water.

The difference in head of water from different layers has already 

been discussed (p. 49). In general the deepest layers had the greatest 

original head and have been the least depleted by wells. Thus it 

may happen that a well that ends at the first horizon has ceased 

flowing, whereas another near by that extends to a deeper horizon 

still flows.
52 ( EDGELEY AND LA MOUEE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

Local depletion, may be due to the draft of an especially large 

number of flowing wells in the same vicinity or of one or more 

strong wells situated on especially low land, or it may be due to 

a tight or interrupted condition of the water-bearing beds in the 

particular locality, resulting in slow recharge.

Leakage of well casings is a common and well-recognized cause 

of loss of head in individual wells. The salts present in all the 

artesian water of this region cause the pipes to become corroded 

in .time, the rate varying with the kind and amount of salt. Northwest of a line running through Merricourt, Monango, Berlin, and 

Grand Rapids the salts are usually of such character as to corrode 

the casings rapidly, and this accounts for the fact that there are 

relatively few flowing wells in that region. Water escaping through 

corroded casings or around casings that fit loosely flows underground into porous strata or comes out on the surface and forms 

ponds or sloughs. Some of these wells have been abandoned, but 

part of them continue to flow freely. All leaks lessen the pressure 

and cause waste of artesian water. The time required for casings 

to develop leaks depends somewhat on the composition of the metal 

used. No pipe on the market at present will, it seems, wholly withstand the corrosive action of these waters. The head of the well 

drilled in Ellendale in 1886 to the first water horizon was 1,715 feet 

above sea level, but by 1915 .the pressure was reported to have fallen 

to 7 pounds to the square inch, which would indicate a head of only 

1,466 feet, a decline in 29 years of about 250 feet. The head of 

most wells in the vicinity of Ellendale in 1915 was, however, about 

1,600 feik, and hence the great decline in the Ellendale well is 

probably due in part to leakage.

If a well ceases to flow because the casing has developed leaks 

from corrosion, the well may become clogged or the water may 

still be coming up from the artesian horizon to the points of escape, 

as could be demonstrated by lowering a current meter into the well 

a method used successfully by the United States Geological Survey 

for locating leaks in artesian wells in the Hawaiian Islands and 

in the Roswell artesian basin in New Mexico.14a If a new well is 

drilled near the site of such a leaky one it is likely to be a flowing well.

In many of the wells in this area considerable natural gas escapes 

with the water. This gas acts in the same manner as an air lift 

and raises the water above the level to which it would otherwise 

rise. Thus, of two wells at the same altitude and with the same head,

14» See U.. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 596, pp. 1-32, 1928.
WATER RESOURCES 53

one without gas may have ceased flowing and one that yields gas 

may still be a flowing well.

The head and flow of wells varies slightly with the atmospheric 

conditions. When there is high barometric pressure some lightpressure wells cease to flow; on the other hand, low barometric 

pressure causes some wells to increase their flows and even to discharge sediment. These irregularities in flow are noticeable in 

wells along the boundary of the area of artesian flow, where the 

heads with reference to the' surface are slight.

ORIGINAL HEAD

A report by Darton 15 on artesian water in the Dakota sandstone, 

covering a large region that includes the Edgeley and La Moure 

quadrangles, gives data obtained in 1895 and 1896 and also data 

from earlier reports. Its data in regard to artesian head, therefore, 

probably represent nearly the original conditions. In this report 

Darton stated that the highest artesian heads found in flowing wells 

in the James River Valley were a little more than 1,700 feet above 

sea level. 16 He gives the head at Ellendale as 1,727 feet, and the 

maximum head at Jamestown as 1,631 feet.17 As the head decreased 

toward the east and the high pressure at both these wells showed 

that the area of artesian flow must have extended farther west, it 

is reasonable to assume that to the west flowing wells could have 

been obtained at considerably higher altitudes than the heads indicated at these wells.

An artesian-water map of the Jamestown quadrangle, prepared 

by Dartori and Willard 18 in 1904 and 1905, indicates that along the 

line between the JamestoAvn and Edgeley quadrangles the west boundary of the area of artesian flow at that time was about 1,725 feet above 

sea level. The highest altitudes shown on the map (pi. 3) of wells 

in the Edgeley quadrangle that formerly flowed but that have now 

ceased to flow are about 1,690 feet above sea level at the Sullivan well, 

in sec. 23, T. 132 N., R, 65 W., and 1,680 feet at the Kern well, in sec. 

33, T. 130 N., R, 65 W. These wells are respectively 1,620 and 1,727 

feet deep, and the Kern well extends 47 feet below sea level.

The following original pressure heads for several old wells were 

generally reported in pounds of pressure to the square inch but .have 

been recalculated in terms of head in feet above sea level.

15 Darton, N. H., Preliminary report on artesian waters of a portion of the Dakotas: 

U. S. Geol. Survey Seventeenth Ann. Rept., pt. 2, pp. 60.9-694, 1896. 

10 Idem, p. 666.

17 Idem, pi. 70.

18 Willard, D. E., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Jamestown-Tower folio (No. 168), 1909.
54 EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

Original pressure in certain wells in Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles

Well

Village well, -Monango __ . __ ' ________ . _ ?__. ___ .. ___ .....

E. H: Heine, SE. X sec. 24, T. 130 N., R. 64 W...... ............... ......

F. J. Hill, sec. 7, T. 129 N., R. 63 W......... ....._._._.__....__.__.;_..__

F. W. Fuller, NE. J£ sec. 6, T. 129 N.," R. 64 W.. .........................

Mr. Davis, sec. 2, T. 130 N.. R. 65 W......................... ............

R. R. Davis, sec. 24, T. 134 N., R. 64 W... ...............................

Vennum well, owned by L. E. Clark, sec. 1, T. 130 N., R. 65 W. .........

A. H. Carrow, sec. 18, T. 134 N., R. 64 W. ...............................

Mr. White, sec. 32, T. 129 N., R. 65 W........ .......... .................

Anderson Brothers, sec. 9, T. 129 N., R. 64 W. ...... ..... _ ....... __ ..

Date of 

drilling

1902 

1908 

1905 

1909

1903 

1902 

1903 

1907

Original pressure

Pounds 

to the 

square 

inch

70 

70 

90 

75 

30 

75 

75 

80 

70 

120

Feet 

above sea 

level

1,660 

1,660 

1,700 

1,700 

1,700 

1,700 

1,770 

1,780 

1,790 

1,800

Although it is not possible to verify all the reports as to the original pressure, the data seem to be sufficiently abundant to indicate 

that flowing wells could originally be obtained on land more than 

1,700 feet above sea level. In the vicinity of Forbes, just south of 

the Edgeley quadrangle, the head was evidently greater than in 

most of this quadrangle, and the original area of artesian flow may 

there have extended above the 1,800-foot contour.

DECLINE IN HEAD AND FLOW

The artesian wells in the Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles 

have undergone a gradual but notable decline in head and flow. 

Along the east side of the area covered in this report the flows from 

l^-inch wells 800 to 1,000 feet deep had decreased from original 

discharges of 70 to 100 gallons a minute or more to only 15 to 30 

gallons in 1915, and in the central part of the area they had decreased from discharges of 50 to 85 gallons a minute to less than 

25 gallons, some wells having flows of only 1 to 5 gallons a minute 

and many having ceased flowing.

The numerous data obtained in this investigation show conclusively that the great decline in head, although complicated by the 

irregularities described above, is due mainly to the general depletion 

of the supply of artesian water in this region. (See pi. 3 and fig. 6.) 

When a well ceases to flow in a locality that still has many flowing 

wells the cause of failure is generally a corroded casing that allows 

the water to escape below the surface or that has caused the well to 

collapse and to become clogged. On the other hand, a well that is 

still flowing at an altitude at which most wells have ceased to flow 

may extend to a deeper horizon than the others or may yield more 

gas or may possibly owe its apparently abnormal head to some other 

cause not so well understood. That the decline of head is general C5
WATER RESOURCES 55

and not due solely to defects in certain wells is shown from the fact 

that in most locations new wells do not show the original pressures 

of the first well but are much weaker. Illustrations of this are 

given above. The first well owned by R. R. Davis, drilled in 1903. 

had an original pressure of 75 pounds to the square inch and a flow 

of 29 gallons a minute. The flow dropped to 1 or 2 gallons a minute 

in 1915 and had ceased before 1919. Sounding in October, 1921; 

showed the water to be about 5 feet below the surface. The second 

well, drilled in 1916 a few rods from the first, had an original flow 

of only 7 gallons a minute. In 1919 it had a pressure of only 4 

pounds and a flow of only 2 gallons. In* the summer of 1920 it 

stopped flowing, and on October 10 the water stood 14 inches above 

the surface but too low to flow into the watering trough.

From year to year the head has gone progressively downward, and 

the west boundary of the area of artesian flow has moved steadily 

eastward. In the Edgeley quadrangle flows could originally be obtained on land more than 1,700 feet above sea level, by 1915 the wells 

above the 1,600-feet contour had nearly all ceased flowing, by 1920. 

the ylimit of flowing wells had descended to about the 1,550-foot 

contour, and by 1923 it was approaching the 1,500-foot contour. 

In the vicinity of Forbes, south of the Edgeley quadrangle, according to the questionnaire sent out in February, 1923, the original 

head was apparently nearly 1,800 feet, and in 1923 wells not far 

below the 1,600-foot contour were still flowing. (See fig. 6.) Thus 

it appears that both the original head and the head in 1923 were 

higher in that vicinity than in the Edgeley quadrangle, but that 

the total decline and the rate of decline were about as great.

At first the boundary of the area of artesian .flow moved down 

the relatively steep slope at the base of the Coteau and thence eastward only 2 to 4 miles in 10 years. Recently it has reached the more 

nearly level region on the east, and its lateral movement has been 

more rapid. By 1923 the belt in which wells had ceased to flow 

was about 10 miles wide in the northern part of the Edgeley 

quadrangle and about 5 miles wide in the southern part.

The western boundaries of the area of artesian flow, as shown 

on Plate 3, refer to flow from the first and second water horizons. 

The boundaries for 1915 and 1923 were determined by taking into 

account wells that were barely flowing and those that had recently 

ceased flowing and by measuring the depth to the water level in 

nonflowing wells. West of the boundary indicated for 1923 no 

flow can be expected .from the first and probably none from the 

second water horizon, but wells reaching the third horizon may flow 

or the water may rise in them within a practicable pumping distance.
99eOO' R.66W R.65W. R.64W. 

R.68W. R.67 W. R.66W. 

FIGURE 6. Map of the northern part of the Ellendale quadrangle showing decline in art

of area of artesian flow in 1923. , well drilled to Dakota sandstone which was s

sandstone which originally flowed but which had ceased flowing by 1923
ARTESIAN CONDITIONS AND PROSPECTS 57 

ARTESIAN CONDITIONS AND PROSPECTS AS SHOWN BY THE SURVEY OF 1923

By 0. E. MEINZEH

In order to bring the study in the Edgeley quadrangle up to date 

a questionnaire covering the present condition of the artesian wells 

was sent to the owners of wells in or near this quadrangle through 

the cooperation of the postmasters at Ellendale, Edgeley, Forbes, 

and Monango. Thanks are due to the postmasters for their helpful 

cooperation and to the well owners for their hearty response to 

this questionnaire. In November and December, 1923, through the 

cooperation of the North Dakota State Geological "Survey, practically all the artesian wells in the quadrangle were examined by 

C. E. Turnbaugh under the direction of H. E. Simpson, State water 

geologist. The data that have been obtained in the successive surveys in regard to about 230 artesian wells in or near the Edgeley 

quadrangle are given in the table on pages 79-87.

HISTORY OF ARTESIAN-WELL DRILLING IN THE EDGELEY QUADRANGLE

The first well drilled to the Dakota sandstone in the Edgeley quadrangle was doubtless the well at Ellendale, which was put down 

in 1886. It was started with an 8-inch or 10-inch casing but was 

finished at the bottom with 3%-inch casing, the lower 40 feet of 

which was perforated with %-inch holes. The next well drilled 

to the Dakota sandstone in the quadrangle of which there is any 

record is the city well at Edgeley, which is reported to have been 

6 inches in diameter and to have been put down in 1892. C. E. 

Turnbaugh, who made the survey in 1923 for the present report, 

has been a driller in the Edgeley quadrangle since 1902. In so far 

as he has information these two wells were the only wells drilled to 

the Dakota sandstone prior to 1902. In 1902 he drilled a 2^-inch 

well for the village of Monango. About this time wells with small 

diameter came into use throughout the artesian basin, and owing to 

their low cost numerous l1/^ and 1% inch wells were put down for 

farm supplies. Most of the artesian wells in the Edgeley quadrangle were drilled between 1904 and 1912; drilling was most active 

between 1905 and 1910, and very few artesian wells have been 

drilled since 1915.

Prior to 1915 the decline in water level in the Hassenger, Chambers, and Webb wells was more than 5 feet in a year, in the Halstead 

well about 8 feet, and in the Kern well about 10 feet. In some 

wells in this region the head dropped 80 to 130 feet or more in a 

period of 8 to 10 years prior to 1915.

The cause of this great and widespread loss of head and flow is 

not difficult to find. Hundreds of wells have been allowed to run 

full force for no adequate reason, and as a result the artesian sup-
58 EDGELEY AND LA MOUEE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

ply has been greatly diminished. The wells in the higher parts 

of the basin have ceased to flow, and wells at still lower level will 

eventually cease to flow if effective regulations are not adopted to 

conserve the artesian water.

ORIGINAL HEAD AND AREA OF ARTESIAN FLOW

The original artesian head in different parts of the area can never 

be ascertained with great precision. The artesian-water map of 

South Dakota by Darton,19 which was published in 1909 but which 

doubtless shows the approximate conditions at a considerably earlier 

time, indicates that in the southern part of the Edgeley quadrangle 

the area of artesian flow extended westward nearly to the 1,800-foot 

contour. It also indicates that in this part of the artesian basin the 

hydraulic gradient, or eastward decrease in artesian head, was about 

4 feet to the mile. This agrees approximately with an original 

hydraulic gradient of 4V& feet to the mile from Highmore to Huron, 

S. Dak., as given by Powell20 in 1890. According to Powell's report,21 made in 1890, the pressure of the water in the well at Ellendale drilled in 1886 was 175 pounds to the square inch-. According 

to Mr. J. K. Lacey, a resident of Ellendale, who was present when 

this well was drilled and who is probably the best-informed man on 

the entire history of artesian wells at Ellendale, the pressure in 

this well was measured on the day the well was completed and Was 

found to be 145 pounds. In the report by Nettleton,22 published in 

1892, a pressure of 115 pounds is given for this well, apparently 

based on measurements made by Nettleton in 1890. It seems reasonable to believe that the records of very high original pressure in the 

earliest wells drilled to the Dakota sandstone are approximately 

correct. Such pressures were doubtless maintained only a short 

time and hence were not corroborated by reliable measurements a 

few years later. It is evident also that those who made and reported 

the reliable measurements a few years later were not alert for data 

as to decline^but rather assumed that the high pressures and flows 

were permanent. A pressure of 145 pounds at Ellendale would give 

a head of about 1,785 feet with reference to sea level that is, it 

would be sufficient to raise the water in a casing or standpipe to an 

altitude of 1,785 feet above sea level. If the original head at Ellendale was 1,785 feet and the original hydraulic gradient 4 feet to the 

mile, the original west boundary of the area of artesian flow was

18 Darton, N. H., Geology and underground waters of South Dakota: U. S. Geol. Survey 

Water-Supply Paper 227, pi. 11, 1909.

20 Powell. J. W., Artesian irrigation on the Great Plains: U. S. Geol. Survey Eleventh 

Ann. Kept., pt. 2, p. 273, 1891.

21 Idem, p. 269.

22 Nettleton, E. S., Artesian and underflow investigation : 52d Cqng., 1st sess., S. Ex. Doc. 

41, pt. 2, pp. 67, 68, table opposite p. 74, 1892.
AETESIAN CONDITIONS AND PROSPECTS 59

about 16 miles west of Ellendale, at an altitude of about 1,850 feet 

above sea level.

An artesian-water map, by Darton and Willard,23 of the Jamestown quadrangle, which lies immediately north of the Edgeley 

quadrangle, was published in 1909 but is based on studies made in 

earlier years. It shows the west margin of the area of artesian flow 

at the boundary between the Jamestown and Edgeley quadrangles 

to have been at about 1,725 feet above sea level. According to the 

available record, the city well at Edgeley, drilled in 1892, had an 

original pressure of 60 pounds to the square inch, or a head of about 

1,690 feet with reference to sea level. Therefore if in 1892 the 

gradient was 4 feet to the mile, the west margin of the area of 

artesian flow lay about 6 miles west of Edgeley, or about 1,715 feet 

above sea level. The original pressure in the vicinity of Edgeley was 

probably somewhat greater than the pressure recorded in 1892.

In view of these data it seems reasonable to assume that the 

original west boundary of the area of artesian flow in the Edgeley 

quadrangle ranged from somewhat less than 1,800 feet above sea level 

in the northern part to somewhat more than 1,800 feet in the southern part and had an average altitude of fully 1,800 feet.

DECLINE IN HEAD FROM 1886 TO 1923

The well at Monango, drilled in 1902, is reported to have had 

an original pressure of 70 pounds to the square inch, or a head of 

about 1,660 feet with reference to sea level about 125 feet less than 

the Ellendale well in 1886, about 55 feet less than the Ellendale well 

in 1890, and about 30 feet less than the Edgeley well in 1892. Other 

data (given in the table on pp. 79-87) indicate a considerable drop 

in head prior to 1902.

During the period from 1902 to 1915, which was the period of 

active well drilling, the artesian head dropped rapidly. According 

to computations on 20 wells for which more or less satisfactory data 

are available, the average annual decline during this period was 12.7 

feet, which for the whole period would amount to 165 feet.

During the period from 1915 to 1920 the decline, according to 

similar computations on 12 wells, averaged about 4 feet a year, or 

about 20 feet for the period. During the period from 1920 to 1923 

the decline, according to computations on 20 wells, averaged about 

4 feet a year, or about 12 feet for the period.

The foregoing computations are based on available wells within 

the original area of artesian flow in the Edgeley quadrangle and in 

a belt several miles wide adjacent to this quadrangle on the south. 

They indicate a decline of about 200 feet from 1902 to 1923 and a

23 Wlllard, D. E., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Jamestown-Tower folio (No. 168), 1909. 

6147 29 5
60 EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

considerably greater decline from 1886 to 1923. Computations that 

take into account the geographic distribution of the wells (see p. 61 

and fig. 7) indicate, however, that the average decline for the entire 

area has not been quite so great. On the assumption that the original 

pressure in the Ellendale well was 145 pounds to the square inch, 

they indicated that the decline in the southeast corner of the quadw.

1,800

1,750-

I.70O1,650-

1,600 -

1550'-

1,500-

R.65W. R.63W.

FIGURE 7. Generalized east-west section of the area of artesian flow in the Edgeley

quadrangle, showing approximately the profile of the land surface, the original '

hydraulic profile, and the hydraulic profiles in 1915 and 1923. The hydraulic

profile for any particular year indicates how high the water from the upper part

of the Dakota sandstone would rise at each point along the section in that year.

a, Decline in head prior to 1915 in wells at position of artesian boundary in

1915; 6, original difference in head between wells at original boundary and wells

at boundary in 1915 ; of, decline in head from 1915 to 1923 inl wells at position

of artesian boundary in 1923; 6', difference in head in 1915 between wells at

boundary in 1915 and wells at boundary in 1923. a+6. Descent of artesian

boundary prior to 1915; a' + 6', descent of artesian boundary from 1915 to

1923; (a+b) + (a' + b'), total descent of artesian boundary prior to 1923 / 

rangle amounted to over 300 feet, but that the average for the entire 

area was more nearly 250 feet. If the original pressure at Ellendale 

was 175 pounds to the square inch the total decline was about 70 feet 

greater.

SHRINKAGE IN THE AREA OF ARTESIAN FLOW

I

According to the lower assumption as to the original head, the / 

area of artesian flow originally extended westward to an altitude of ( 

somewhat less than 1,800 feet near the north margin of the Edgeley
ARTESIAN CONDITION'S AND PROSPECTS 61

quadrangle and to an altitude of somewhat more than 1,800 feet near 

the south margin. In 1902 it apparently still extended to an altitude 

of 1,700 feet or more, except possibly near the north margin of the 

quadrangle. By 1915 the west boundary of the area of artesian 

flow had come down the slope about 200 feet, so that it lay somewhat 

below the 1,600-foot contour in the northern part of the quadrangle 

and somewhat above the 1,600-foot contour in the southern part. (See 

pi. 3 and fig. 7.) By 1923 this artesian boundary had migrated 

eastward to the flat land, where the slope of the surface nearly 

coincided with the hydraulic gradient, and over a wide belt the 

artesian water rose to about the surface slightly above the surface 

in some wells and slightly below in others. Therefore, in 1923 the 

boundary of the area of artesian flow was a less definite line than 

it had been originally or in 1915. It is, however, approximately correct to say that from 1915 to 1923 the boundary descended about 

75 feet, and that in 1923 it was about 1,500 feet above sea level at 

the north margin of the quadrangle and about 1,550 feet at the 

south margin. (See pi. 3 and fig. 7.) A considerable part of this 

descent occurred between 1920 and 1923. According to the lower 

assumption as to the original head, the total descent of the west 

boundary of the area of artesian flow from the time the first wells 

were drilled until 1923 was about 275 feet. The belt in which flowing wells were originally obtained but in which the wells have ceased 

to flow is about 10 miles wide in the northern part of the quadrangle and 5 miles wide in the southern part. (See pi. 3.) Fully half 

of this belt has " gone dry " in the 8-year period since 1915, during 

which only a few wells were drilled.

INCREASE IN HYDRAULIC GRADIENT

A geographic analysis of the data indicates that the decline in 

artesian head has been greater along the east margin of the Edgeley 

quadrangle than farther west and hence that the hydraulic gradient 

has increased. According to the best information available, the 

original gradient was only about 4 feet to the mile, whereas the 

gradient in 1923 was about 10 feet to the mile in the eastern part of 

the quadrangle and fully 15 feet to the mile west of the 1,600-foot 

contour (fig. 7). These figures may be considerably in error, the 

original gradient especially being in doubt, but the available records 

of decline from year to year in artesian head and in depths to the 

water level in wells that have ceased to flow give evidence of relatively small decline in head in the western part of the original area 

of artesian flow. They seem to lead to the significant conclusion 

that the effect of the great decline in head becomes slight or dies out 

entirely long before the western outcrops of the sandstone are 

reached.
62 EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK. 

CORRELATION OF DECLINE IN HEAD WITH DESCENT OF ARTESIAN BOUNDARY

According to the computations, the results of which have been 

given, the descent of the artesian boundary was less than the average 

decline in head during the period prior to 1915 but much greater 

than the average decline during the period from 1915 to 1923. To 

the casual reader these differences may appear to be discrepancies 

in the results. On account of the fragmentary and uncertain data 

in regard to conditions in the early years of artesian development, no 

claim of accuracy can be made for these computations, but it should 

be noted that the results are about as would be expected when the 

topography and the changes in hydraulic gradient are taken into 

consideration.

In Figure 7 the vertical distance a represents the decline in head 

prior to 1915 at the point shown, and the vertical distance a+b 

represents the descent of the artesian boundary prior to 1915. 

Because of the steep slope of the land surface the large decline in 

head did not produce any great lateral movement of the artesian 

boundary. For this reason and because of the slight original hydraulic gradient the descent of the artesian boundary (a+b) was 

only slightly greater than the decline in head (a) at the point shown. 

But farther east the decline in head was greater than at this point, as 

is indicated in Figure 7 by the increased vertical distance to the east 

between the original hydraulic profile and the. hydraulic profile in 

1915. Hence the vertical distance through which the artesian 

boundary descended during this early period was somewhat less than 

the average decline in head.

The vertical distance of represents the decline in head from 1915 

to 1923 at the point shown, and the vertical distance a'+b' represents the descent of the artesian boundary during this period. Because of the more gentle slope of the land surface in the belt through 

which the artesian boundary had to pass in this later period the 

relatively small decline in head (of) produced fully as great a lateral movement of the artesian boundary as had been produced by 

the great decline (a) in the period prior to 1915. For this reason 

and because of the greater hydraulic gradient the descent of the 

artesian boundary (a' + b f ) was much greater than the decline in 

head at the point shown (a') and also much greater than the average 

decline in head.

YIELD OF FLOWING WELLS AND DECLINE IN YIELD

The flow of the 334-inch well at Ellendale drilled in 1886 was 600 

gallons a minute according to Powell's report,24 published in 1891, 

and 700 gallons a minute in 1890 according to the Nettleton report,25

21 Powell, J. W., op. clt., p. 269.

a Nettleton, E. S., op. cit., table opposite p. 74.
ARTESIAN CONDITIONS AND PROSPECTS 63

published in 1892. The original flow of the 6-inch well at Edgeley drilled in 1892 is reported to have been 500 gallons a minute.20 

The 2y2 -inch well drilled at Monango in 1902 is reported by C. E. 

Turnbaugh, the driller, to have had an original flow of only 45 

gallons a minute.

According to an estimate by Hard, the original discharge of 1*4- 

inch wells drilled prior to 1915'in the Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles was about 50 to 100 gallons a minute. According to the 

estimates of Turnbaugh and other drillers and well owners, as given 

in the table on pages 79-87, the original discharge of 166 wells drilled 

in the Edgeley quadrangle from 1902 to 1914, inclusive (not including the deep well drilled at Ellendale in 1908 to a deeper horizon), 

was only 221^ gallons a minute. These 116 wells were nearly all 

1^ or iy2 inches in diameter.

Hard also estimated for the Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles 

that in 1915 the flow from l^-inch wells was 5 to 10 gallons a minute near the west side of the area of artesian flow and 15 to 40 gallons farther east. However, the average discharge of 20 wells measured in 1915 by H. M. Derr,27 State engineer of South Dakota, in 

Brown County, which lies south of these quadrangles, was only 

about 11 gallons a minute.

The flow of 41 wells measured by Hard in the Edgeley quadrangle 

in 1919 and 1920 ranged from a fraction of a gallon to 20 gallons 

a minute and averaged 7% gallons.

In 1923 the flow of 111 artesian wells was measured by Turnbaugh all in the Edgeley quadrangle except a few that were just 

outside. This list included nearly but not quite all the flowing 

wells in the quadrangle. The 111 wells were found to have an aggregate flow of 343 gallons a minute, or an average flow of 3.09 gallons a minute. With few exceptions the flows were measured after 

the wells had been opened as much as possible, and the results therefore represent more than the actual discharge of the wells in their 

normal condition.

SPECIFIC CAPACITIES OF FLOWING WELLS

The specific capacity of a flowing well is its flow per foot of head. 

If there is no change in the intake facilities of a well, its specific 

capacity will remain nearly the same whether the head is high or 

low. Thus if the specific capacities of the wells that tap the Dakota 

sandstone can be determined they will give a check on the reported 

flows of the wells in the earlier years when the heads were high and

 ° Barton, N. H., U. S. Geol. Survey Seventeenth Ann. Kept., pt. 2, p. 661, 1896. 

27 Derr, H. M., Keport on artesian wells: South Dakota State Engineer Sixth Bienn. 

Kept., for 1915-16, pp. 177-187, 244-248.
64 EDGELEY AND LA MOUEE QUADRANGLES, IT. DAK.

will also give a clue as to the permeability of the sandstone and hence 

as to the rate of recharge.

For 23 wells in the Edgeley quadrangle there is fairly reliable information as to head and flow, which was used in calculating the 

specific capacities of these wells. For four of these wells check calculations could be made, because this information was available for 

different years and hence for different heads. In one of these four 

wells the specific capacity was 0.40 gallon a minute for each foot of 

head in 1906 and 0.25 in 1920; in another it was 0.15 in 1909 and 0.24 

in 1915; in a third it was 0.28 in 1902 and 0.29 in 1920; and in the 

fourth it was 0.09 in 1920 and 0.09 in 1923. Thus the calculations 

for different years and very different heads agreed as closely as 

could be expected.

The data in regard to the specific capacities of the 23 wells for 

which calculations could be made are summarized in the following 

table:

Specific capacities of wells in the Edgeley quadrangle

Diameter

6

3Ji

VA

2

lj^

1J£

1

1 to 2

(inclusive).

Number

1

1

1

4

3

12

1

20

Specific capacity (gallons a minute 

for each foot of head)

Maximum

3.62

2.64

.29

1.40

.57

.36

.14

1.40

Minimum

3.62

2.64

.29

.57

.20

.09

.14

.09

Average

3.62

2.64

.29

.80

.35

.22

.14

.25

If the average flow of the small wells is one-fourth gallon a minute 

for each foot of head, then the average flow should have been 50 

gallons a minute when the head was 200 feet, 25 gallons when it was 

100 feet, 10 gallons when it was 40 feet, 3 gallons when it was 12 feet, 

and so on.

TOTAL DISCHARGE OF FLOWING WELLS

As the water in the Dakota sandstone comes from the west and 

moves in general toward the east, a study of discharge, recharge, and 

depletion of the artesian-water supply should obviously relate to an 

east-west belt extending across the entire area of artesian flow unless 

a complete survey of the entire basin can be made. Hence for this 

purpose calculations have been made for the tract covered by T. 129 

N., Rs. 48-65 W., and not for the Edgeley quadrangle.

It was estimated by Darton 28 that in 1896 the total discharge 

from flowing wells which ended in the Dakota sandstone in the

28 Darton, N. H., U. S. Geol. Survey Seventeenth Ann. Rept., pt. 2, p. 609, pi. 69, 1896.
ARTESIAN CONDITIONS AND PROSPECTS 65

area that he covered was 104,000 gallons a minute. This area included most of the area of artesian flow of the Dakota sandstone 

in North and South Dakota and had a north-south extent of nearly 

300 miles. His estimate therefore gives an average discharge of a 

little more than 2,000 gallons'a minute for an east-west row of 

townships in the area. As most of the strong wells were in South 

Dakota, the average for the part of the area that lies in North Dakota must have been much less than 2,000 gallons a minute. The 

only well in the T. 129 row shown by Darton's report was the Ellendale well, with a flow of 700 gallons a minute.

In 1923, in connection with the enforcement of the artesian-water 

law, practically all flowing wells in this row of townships were inspected by Howard E. Simpson, water geologist of the North Dakota 

Geological Survey, and his deputy, C. E. Turnbaugh. The data 

obtained in this inspection were generously furnished by Professor 

Simpson for use in this report. They show that in T. 129 N., Es. 50 

to 65 W., inclusive, there were 320 flowing wells supplied by the 

Dakota sandstone, which were normally discharging an aggregate 

of 965 gallons a minute, or an average per well of 3.02 gallons a 

minute. In addition were the wells that supplied the waterworks 

in six towns and five farm wells that were closed except when 

the faucets were turned on. It was estimated that an average of 

about 40 gallons a minute was drawn from these wells, making an 

aggregate flow of 1,005 gallons a minute. It was estimated by 

Simpson and Turnbaugh that the aggregate flow in this row of 

townships in 1923 was about one-half the aggregate flow in 1920 

that is, that the flow from all wells in this row of townships in 1920 

was about 2,000 gallons a minute, or about 6' gallons a minute per 

well. No flowing wells were reported in T. 129 N., Rs. 48 and 49 W.

On the basis of all available data and with the assumption that 

the history of well drilling in the T. 129 row was similar to that 

given for the Edgeley quadrangle, a rather elaborate calculation 

was made of the quantity of water that has been discharged from 

the Dakota sandstone through wells in this row of townships. This 

calculation gave an average discharge during the 38-year period 

from 1886 to 1923 of somewhat less than 3,000 gallons a minute. 

The peak discharge doubtless occurred at some time between 1905 

and 1910 and probably did not exceed 10,000 gallons a minute. It 

is recognized that these estimates may be very inaccurate, but they 

are probably as good as can ever be made and are believed to be 

worth presenting in order to give some tangible conception of the 

quantities of water that are involved and the stage of depletion that 

has been reached. It is believed that the total quantity of artesian 

water discharged at the surface in an average row of townships in
66 EDGELEY AND LA MOTJRE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

this artesian basin in North Dakota did not exceed the quantity 

represented by these figures that is, 3,000 gallons a minute for a 

period of 38 years. No estimate can be made of the underground 

waste through leaky casings. However, it is generally believed by 

those best qualified to judge that the aggregate underground waste 

is not very large because of the great thickness of plastic cjay that 

tends to seal the old wells when the casing becomes corroded.

BENEFICIAL FLOW AS ESTIMATED BY THE STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

On the basis of the information obtained in the inspection a 

careful estimate was made by Professor Simpson of the extent to 

which each of the 320 wells can be reduced in order to stop all unnecessary discharge without depriving the farmer of any beneficial 

use or working any hardship. The term " unnecessary discharge" 

is used to designate the discharge that serves no useful purpose. 

Reasonable allowances were made for a flow of water that will run 

to waste but will be necessary to prevent freezing of the pipes or 

clogging of the well. The results of this work showed that by stopping the unnecessary discharge the flow can be reduced to 377 gallons 

a minute from the 320 wells, or to an average of 1.18 gallons a minute 

per well. This makes the aggregate beneficial flow amount to 417 

gallons a minute from existing wells in this row of townships, including the necessary flow from the waterworks wells and the closed 

farm wells.

RATE OF RECHARGE

An effort was made to estimate for the T. 129 row of townships 

the rate at which the water in the Dakota sandstone is percolating 

eastward in the direction of the hydraulic gradient. It was assumed 

that, whereas the townships both to the north 'and to the south have 

similar artesian-water developments, this row of townships is supplied by the artesian water directly west of it and neither draws from 

nor contributes 'to the adjacent townships. Such an estimate would 

be of great practical value, because it would serve as a basis for 

judging how much further the discharge must be reduced, either 

by natural lowering of the head or by voluntary or enforced conservation, before a balance is struck between discharge and recharge. 

Unfortunately the information in regard to both thickness and 

texture of the water-bearing sandstone strata 'is so meager and unsatisfactory that it is impossible to make any estimate in which 

much confidence can be placed. Calculations based on Slichter's 

formula 29 show, however, that if the hydraulic gradient is 10 feet

29 Sllchter, C. S., Field measurements of the rate of movement of underground water: 

U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 140, pi. 2, 1905.
ARTESIAN" CONDITION'S AND PEOSPECTS 67

to the mile and the sandstone strata which supply the wells under 

consideration have a thickness of 60 feet, a porosity of 35 per cent, 

and an effective size of grain of 0.17 millimeter the same as that of 

the St. Peter sandstone as determined in numerous tests 30 the rate 

of recharge or eastward percolation is about equal to the 417 gallons 

a minute estimated by Simpson as the quantity needed'for present 

beneficial use without any unnecessary discharge and without allowing anything for possible underground leakage. There are no good 

reasons for believing that the rate of recharge is greater than this 

amount.

The problem of recharge was then approached by another line of 

reasoning, as follows: During the period from 1915 to 1923, with 

progressive decrease in the rate of discharge, there was progressive 

decline in pressure head, indicating that depletion was going on.

In 1923, with a discharge of only 1,000 gallons a minute, the head 

was apparently still declining, which would seem to indicate that 

the recharge was less than 1,000 gallons a minute. It can not be 

argued that the rate of recharge decreased on account of decrease in 

the hydraulic gradient, because the evidence seems to show that at 

the entrance to the area of artesian flow the hydraulic gradient actually increased from 1915 to 1923. For example, the pressure head 

dropped farther during this period at Ellendale, N. Dak., than at 

the margin of the area of artesian flow 10 to 13 miles farther west. 

(See fig. 7.)

It is at least interesting to recall that in 1890, when the artesian 

wells still had tremendous pressure and flow, Major Powell, at that 

time Director of the United States Geological Survey, estimated in 

a hearing before a congressional committee, on an entirely different 

basis, that the total recharge amounted to about 475 gallons a minute 

for each row of townships and the recoverable recharge to one-half 

that amount.81

WITHDRAWAL OF STORED WATER AND COMPRESSION OF THE DAKOTA

SANDSTONE

The foregoing considerations raise the question as to the source of 

the artesian water that has been discharged during the last 38 years 

and that is being discharged at present. If the rate of discharge in 

the area of artesian flow has been more rapid than the rate at which 

water percolated into the sandstone underlying this area, some of the 

water discharged must have been derived from storage in the sandstone underlying the area. This requires a reduction in the inter -

80 Dake, C. L., The problem of the St. Peter sandstone: Missouri Univ. School of Mines 

and Metallurgy Bull., August, 1921, pp. 152-177. See also Meinzer, O. E., U. S. Geol. 

Survey Water-Supply Paper 489, pp. 119, 120, 1924.

a Powell, J. W., op. cit, p. 274.
68 EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

stitial space occupied by water. Either the water was replaced in 

some of the interstices by gas, or else the sandstone has a volume 

elasticity, so that, as the buoying force of artesian pressure within 

the sandstone was relieved, the sandstone underwent a certain amount 

of compression in which its total interstitial space was reduced by 

a volume equal to the volume of the stored water that was discharged. The theory of gas accumulation is believed to be untenable. 

Hard states that the gas discharged by some of the wells seems to 

occur as an unsaturated solution in the artesian waters of the Dakota 

sandstone and apparently is released from solution by the reduction 

of pressure incident to the rise of the water to the surface (p. 76). 

There is no indication that gas occurs in the sandstone in the gaseous 

state at the present time.

If the theory of gas accumulation is dismissed the theory of volume 

elasticity and resulting compression of the sandstone is supported by 

two other lines of evidence the apparently rapid dying out toward 

the west of the decline in artesian head, and the long period required for a flowing well to recover its full pressure after it has 

been, closed and a pressure gage has been attached.

If a perfectly tight and inelastic tank were filled with water under 

great pressure and were then tapped, only a minute quantity of 

water, equal to the expansion of the water itself, would have to be 

discharged in order to relieve all the pressure. On the other hand, if 

the tank were made of elastic material, such as rubber, the discharge 

would continue, at a constantly diminishing rate, until the strain 

of the walls of the tank would be almost completely relieved. For 

this reason pressure tanks used in waterworks are always kept partly 

filled with air, which furnishes the necessary elasticity. If the 

Dakota sandstone were perfectly incompressible, any considerable 

withdrawal of water ought to have resulted in a rapid drop in head 

and a prompt readjustment of the hydraulic gradient all the way 

from the area of artesian flow to the outcrop from which the water 

is derived, hundreds of miles away. This readjustment ought to 

have occurred with only slight movement of the artesian water. 

After the readjustment had been made conditions ought to have 

remained nearly constant, or if the water level at the outcrop had 

declined there ought to have been a gradual flattening of the hydraulic 

gradient.

The changes that actually took place seem to have been of very 

different character. The head did not drop off suddenly but has been 

declining gradually for about 40 years. The survey made in 1923 

showed that there has been only comparatively small decline in the 

water levels in the wells near the western margin of the area of artesian flow, suggesting that in all these years there has not been much
ABTESIAN CONDITION'S AND PEOSPECTS 09

readjustment of the hydraulic gradient beyond the area in which 

artesian water was withdrawn. Moreover, near the west end of the 

area of artesian flow for which data are available the hydraulic 

gradient has not flattened out but instead has become steeper. (See 

fig. 7.)

In order to reach conclusive results more data are needed as to 

the head in the large region between the area of flow and the outcrop, but the data at hand certainly point to the conclusion that the 

Dakota sandstone has not behaved like an inelastic reservoir and that 

the water discharged by the flowing wells has largely been derived 

locally from storage and not by transfer of water all the way from 

the outcrop.

In testing the pressure in flowing wells in the Dakota artesian 

basin, Mr. Hard found that after a well was closed and the gage was 

attached the pressure would run up quickly at first and would then 

continue to increase for some time at a constantly diminishing rate. 

These observations confirmed the reports of earlier investigators. 

Nettleton,32 in his investigations in 1890 and 1891, found that the 

wells differed greatly in regard to the time required for them to 

recover their full head. In some the recovery was very prompt, but 

in others it was notably slow. In regard to the well at Frederick, 

S. Dak., Nettleton stated that "the pressure increases for several 

hours or even days after the flow is shut off, and when opened the 

flow decreases in the same way until the normal flow is reached, 

which corresponds somewhat to the time required to gain its maximum pressure." In regard to several other wells with slow recovery he made the following comments:

Plankington, S. Dak.: " When the flow is shut off the pressure quickly runs 

up to 50 pounds and in three hours it reaches its maximum, 91 pounds per 

square inch." Wolsey, S. Dak.: "If the well has been discharging freely for 

some time it takes about 18 hours for it to reach its maximum pressure after 

the water is shut off." Woonsocket, S. Dak.: " The pressure is 125 pounds per 

square inch when the flow is shut off. * * * The well was allowed to flow 

freely for 48 hours and was then closed, when it showed a pressure of 85 

pounds. *' * * A few hours afterward the closed pressure was 93 pounds." 

Ellendale, N. Dak.: " When the flow is shut off the pressure rises quickly to 80 

pounds and in a few hours it reaches its maximum, which is 115 pounds."

The explanation of the slow recovery seems to be that the waterbearing bed has a certain amount of volume elasticity, that it becomes compressed when the artesian pressure is relieved, and 

that before the pressure in the well can again reach the pressure that is general in the formation sufficient time has to elapse 

to allow the water to percolate into the depleted and compressed part 

of the formation immediately surrounding the well and to expand

82 Nettleton, E. S., Artesian and underflow investigation : 52d Cong., 1st sess., S. Ek. 

Doc. 41, pt. 2, pp. 40-74, 1892.
70 EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

the interstitial space. So long as the pressure in the shut-down well 

has not reached the maximum there is obviously a hydraulic gradient 

from all directions toward) the well. But wherever there is a 

hydraulic gradient in the water in a permeable rock there is movement of the water in the direction of the gradient. Throughout the 

period of recovery water is therefore percolating toward the well. 

But if the well is tightly cased this water has no means of escape. 

It must be stored in the interstices of the formation in the vicinity 

of the well. If there are no unfilled interstices at the beginning of 

the period of recovery, as the conditions seem to require, the conclusion must be reached that the inflowing water is stored in space 

made available by the expansion of the sandstone. If the sandstone 

were perfectly inelastic the recovery would be nearly instantaneous 

and would occur without the transfer of any appreciable quantity of 

water toward the well.

If the foregoing calculations were accurate, they would afford a 

basis for computing the amount of compression which, according 

to this theory, was involved. If in the last 38 years the average 

rate of discharge was 3,000 gallons a minute and the average rate 

of recharge only 500 gallons a minute, the average withdrawal from 

storage amounted to 2,500 gallons a minute. If the area of depletion 

consists of the 18 townships described as T. 129 N., Ks. 48-65 W., a 

total discharge of 3,000 gallons a minute for 38 years would amount 

to a layer of water 5.3 inches deep over all of this area, and a withdrawal from storage of 2,500 gallons a minute would amount to a 

layer of water 4.4 inches deep.

The first well at Ellendale, according to Figure 3 (p. 14), reached 

the Dakota sandstone at a depth of 1,035 feet and penetrated 

the Dakota 52 feet. The beds above the Dakota are chiefly soft 

shale, which, with the water they contain, must have a specific 

gravity of about 2. Hence these beds, owing to their weight, exert a 

pressure equal to that of a column of water about 2,070 feet high, 

or 898 pounds to the square inch. If the original head of the artesian 

water in this well was 333 feet at the surface (145 pounds to the 

square inch), then the artesian pressure at the top of the Dakota 

sandstone was that of a column of water 1,368 feet high, or 594 

pounds to the square inch. Therefore, 594 pounds to the square inch 

of the pressure exerted by the beds that overlie the Dakota sandstone 

was supported by the water in the sandstone, and only 304 pounds 

by the sandstone itself. If at any point within the area of artesian 

flow the head at the surface was as great as the depth to the Dakota 

sandstone, the artesian pressure must have been great enough virtually 

to float the overlying beds. As the head at Ellendale has declined 

approximately 333 feet (145 pounds to the square inch) the burden 

placed on the sandstone has increased from about 304 pounds to 449
ARTESIAN CONDITION'S AND PEOSPECTS 71

pounds, or 471/2 per cent. If the original pressure in the Ellendale 

well was 175 pounds, the burden has increased 61^ per cent. It has 

long been known that at least slight compression of water-bearing 

beds may result from additional loads at the surface, such as tides or 

even railroad trains.88 It is also well known that, other things being 

equal, the porosity of rocks decreases with depth because of increase 

in the weight they must support.84 It seems within the range of 

possibility, therefore, that the upper part of the Dakota sandstone, 

which is here being considered, should have undergone a compression 

of a few inches probably less than 1 per cent as a result of the 

release of the expansive force of artesian pressure and a consequent 

increase of about one-half in the load upon the formation.

In order to obtain a more adequate basis for conclusions as to the 

behavior of the artesian water precise data are greatly needed (1) 

as to the mechanical composition, porosity, and permeability of the 

sandstone in each stratum of the Dakota sandstone and (2) as to 

the fluctuation of the artesian head in flowing wells and of the 

water level in nonflowing wells that end in the Dakota sandstone 

in the areas of artesian flow, at the outcrops, and so far as possible at 

intermediate points. These observations on artesian head and water 

levels are needed not only to determine the hydraulic profile and its 

progressive modification but also to ascertain to what extent seasonal 

fluctuations in the water table at the outcrops are transmitted to 

the remote parts of the formation.

BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF THE CONSERVATION POLICY ADOPTED BY THE STATE

OF NORTH DAKOTA

All the theoretical considerations above set forth have an intensely 

practical bearing on the policy of conservation of the artesian water 

that has been adopted by the State of North Dakota. The great and 

progressive decline in artesian head is well established, and the 

desirability of preventing further decline and of saving the wells 

that are still flowing is generally recognized. The only question 

that remains is whether the decline can be stopped by the measures 

that are being put into effect. Although satisfactory data as to the 

rate of recharge are lacking, enough information has been obtained 

on the subject to indicate that the conservation already effected and 

the further conservation outlined by Howard E. Simpson, the water 

geologist of the State Geological Survey, will tend to keep the wells 

flowing.

83Veatch, A. C., Fluctuations of the water level in wells, with special reference to Long 

Island: U. S. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 155, pp. 65, 75, 1906.

84 Sorby, H. C., On the application of quantitative methods to the study of the structure 

and history of rocks: Geol. Soc. London Quart. Jour., vol. 64, p. 214, 1908. Meinzer, 

0. E., U. S. Geol., Survey Water-Supply Paper 489, p. 8, 1924. The theory of compression is discussed in a more recent paper (Meinzer, 0. E., Compressibility and elasticity 

of artesian aquifers: Econ. Geology, vol. 23, pp. 263-291, 1928).
72 EDGELEY A'ND LA MOTJKE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

Decline in artesian head will cease when a balance is reached between the discharge from the artesian wells and the natural recharge. 

Apparently this balance has not yet been reached. Between 1920 

and 1923 there was considerable decline, and a number of wells ceased 

flowing. The annual recharge for each row of townships across the 

area of artesian flow east of the Coteau du Missouri is probably less 

than the 1,000 gallons a minute that was being withdrawn in the 

T. 129 row in 1923. The decrease in flow from 2,000 to 1,000 gallons 

a minute from 1920 to 1923 has been due only in part to natural decline. In large part it is due, according to the observations of Siinpson and Turnbaugh, to the reduction of discharge openings in the 

artesian wells which have been made by the well owners since the 

artesian-water law went into effect, March 10, 1921. The reductions 

were made in part as a result of education and the influence of the 

drillers through the North Dakota Well Drillers Association. It 

was also estimated by Simpson that in T. 129 N., Es. 63, 64, and 65 

W., largely owing to the detailed work done in these townships by 

Hard, the reduction from 1920 to 1923 amounted to fully two-thirds. 

It is probably no exaggeration to say that the saving that has been 

accomplished in this row of townships through the reduction of the 

discharge openings of wells since the law was enacted is as great as 

the waste that was still going on in 1923 in other words, that onehalf of the possible conservation had already been accomplished in 

1923, largely through the intelligent, reasonable, and helpful campaign of education conducted by the State Geological Survey. Obviously so great a saving must have an appreciable effect in checking 

the rate of decline and in keeping wells flowing that would otherwise have failed by this time or would fail in the near future.

Although the rate of recharge is not definitely known, it probably 

amounts to a few hundred gallons a minute for each row of townships but not to as much as 1,000 gallons a minute. For the sake of 

seeing more clearly what will be the beneficial effect of carrying out 

the recommendations for further reductions made by the State water 

geologist, let it be assumed that the rate of recharge is equal to the 

417 gallons a minute of flow recommended by him. In 1923 this 

amount of water was being discharged by the 48 strongest wells 

among the total number of a little more than 330 wells that were inspected. Obviously with this amount of recharge and no further 

attempt at conservation, most of the available supply will ultimately be discharged by a few of the strongest wells, and a large 

majority of the wells that are now flowing will either fail entirely 

or will not yield enough for practical purposes. On the other hand, 

with this amount of recharge, if all reductions are made as recommended, there will be no further decline and all the existing flowing 

wells will be saved. The basal assumption may be inaccurate, but
ARTESIAN CONDITION'S AND PROSPECTS 73

the principle illustrated by it is sound. It is possible that the 

recharge is so small or that the underground leakage is so considerable that the ultimate failure of most of the flowing wells can not be 

prevented even if the program of the State Geological Survey is 

faithfully carried out, but the conditions are certainly hopeful 

enough to justify a thorough trial of this program. Every owner of 

a flowing well in this artesian basin should, for his own good and 

that of his neighbors, give his utmost support to this program for 

saving the artesian water.

EFFECT OF WASTE IN SOUTH DAKOTA

The question is often asked whether conservation in North Dakota 

can be effective without conservation in South Dakota. It is highly 

desirable that the States should cooperate in this movement. However, the present investigation has shown that the effects of depletion 

in one area are not rapidly transmitted to other areas. Doubtless 

wells near the State line in North Dakota will suffer by waste from 

near-by wells in South Dakota, but this should not deter the State 

of North Dakota from proceeding with its well-planned program 

of conservation. Such a program is of course equally desirable in 

South Dakota.

HEAD OF THE DEEP ARTESIAN WATER

The entire foregoing discussion of depletion has related to the 

upper part of what is generally regarded as the Dakota sandstone, 

in which all except a very few of the artesian wells in this region 

end and which yields relatively soft but saline water. The deeper 

artesian stratum, which has been tapped by the 1,385-foot well at 

Ellendale (p. 80), yields very hard water that is generally regarded 

as of even poorer quality than the water from the upper strata, 

although it contains less common salt and is less injurious if used for 

irrigation.

The striking difference in the chemical character of the water 

from these two sources is shown by analyses of samples from the two 

city wells at Ellendale. The water from the 1,087-foot well is reported to have total solids amounting to 2,736 parts per million and 

that from the 1,385-foot well 1,967 parts per million. The upper 

water contains only 15 parts of calcium, whereas the lower water 

contains 204 parts; the upper water contains 1,224 parts of chloride, 

whereas the lower contains only 70 parts; the upper water contains 

only 142 parts of the sulphate radicle, whereas the lower contains 

1.177 parts. (See p. 74.)

So few'wells have been drilled into this deeper stratum that in 

1923 it still had a strong artesian pressure, more comparable to the 

pressure in the upper strata in 1902 than to that in 1923. The
74 EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

1,385-foot well in Ellendale is reported to have had an original 

pressure in 1908 of 193 pounds to the square inch, or a head of 

1,895 feet above sea level, which is greater than the original head of 

the first well in 1886. It was also reported to have had an original 

flow of 800 gallons a minute. In 1923 it still had a strong pressure 

and flow. The deep well at La Moure was tested in 1923 and was 

found to have a pressure of 97 pounds to the square inch.

The radical differences in both pressure and chemical composition 

of the water show that this lower stratum must be separated from 

the upper strata by an effective and widespread confining bed.

QUALITY OF THE WATER

The water from the artesian wells that end at the first horizon 

of the Dakota sandstone is generally usable for all purposes except 

in the region west of a line from Monango to Grand Eapids, where 

much of it is too bitter for drinking by man. Water from the second 

and third horizons contains too much mineral matter for drinking 

or for boiler use. It is used mostly for fire protection and sewage 

flushing. The following analyses of artesian and shallow-well waters 

at Ellendale were supplied by the Electric Light Co. of that town:

o

Analyses of water from wells at. Ellendale, N. Dak. 

[Parts per million." Analyzed by Dearborn Chemical Co., Aug. 12,1914]

Silica (Si02).. ................. . . ....... .. ..... 

Carbonate radicle (COs) _______________________

Sulphate radicle (S04)..... ........ ......... ................. ........

Chloride radicle (Cl).-.......,......... ............................

Total hardness as CaCOs'.. .. .... . ....... ...............

Artesian 

well (first 

horizon) <>

5.6

.39

15

7.0

1 054

288

142

1,224

2,736

66

Artesian 

well (deep 

horizon) «

6.4

1.6

204

58

345

105

1,177

70

1,967

748

Shallow 

well*

47

3.4

363

338

404

2,012

554

4,297

2,290

0 Recalculated from hypothetical combinations in grains per U. S. gallon.

> Old city well, 1,087 feet deep, 3% inches diameter.

«New city well, 1,385 feet deep, 3}i inches diameter. 

<i 20 feet deep.

 Computed.

The waters represented by these analyses contain more dissolved 

mineral matter than is generally considered desirable.

The artesian water from the first horizon is for most purposes the 

least objectionable. It is not very hard and is comparatively free 

from iron, so that it should be satisfactory for laundry work and 

other household use. Sodium and chloride, the constituents of 

common salt, make up more than two-thirds of the mineral matter 

and give a salty taste to the water. The presence of so much salt
QUALITY OF THE WATER 75

makes it improbable that the water could be used successfully for 

irrigation.

The artesian water from the deep well is characterized by the large 

proportion of sulphate and the comparatively large quantity of calcium that it contains, although more sodium than calcium is 

present. The calcium and magnesium make the water very hard. 

This hardness decreases its value for domestic and boiler use, but 

it might be used with success for irrigation on loose, well-drained 

soil.

The analysis of water from the shallow well indicates that this 

water is almost too bad for any use affected by the dissolved mineral 

matter. The main constituents of the water are sulphate, magnesium, 

and calcium. The magnesium and calcium cause excessive hardness. 

The water might cause corrosion if used regularly in steam boilers. 

All three waters may require attention to prevent foaming in boilers.

The following analyses of artesian water from the deep well at 

Aberdeen, S. Dak., and the well at Westport, S. Dak., which draws 

from the first horizon, were made by the Department of Chemistry 

of the State College at Brookings, S. Dak., in 1895, and show the 

composition of water in the region just south of the EdgeleyLa Moure area:

Partial analyses of water from wells at Aberdeen and Westport, 8. Dak. 

[Farts per million.0 Analyzed in 1895 by Department of Chemistry, State College, Brookings, 8. Dak.]

Aberdeen

35

23

635

116

Westport

8.0

10

966

348

Sulphate radicle (S0<)- __ - ___

Chloride radicle (Cl)_..............

Total hardness as CaCO»i>. ....

Aberdeen

1,118

144

2,247

182

Westport

282

911

2,525

61

 Recalculated from hypothetical combinations in parts per thousand. 

6 Computed.

From these and hundreds of other analyses it is found that the 

mineral content of waters of both shallow and deep wells in the 

region is very high, too high in some waters to permit them to be 

used regularly for drinking. Some wells yield water that has proved 

to be positively injurious. On the other hand, most people drink the 

waters with impunity, especially the salty artesian water. It is 

a well-known fact that people become accustomed to the artesian 

water and later find waters containing less mineral matter in solution 

insipid. Livestock generally refuse artesian water at first, but after 

becoming accustomed to it prefer it to less highly mineralized 

water.

Comparison of the analyses of these waters with those of artesian 

waters given in the previous table shows that the chemical composi6147 29 6
76 EDGELEY AND LA MOURE QUADKANGLES, N. DAK.

tion of the waters is similar. The water from Westport is very 

much like that from the first horizon at Ellendale. The artesian 

water at Aberdeen resembles that from the deep well at Ellendale in 

that both are sodium-sulphate waters, but the calcium and magnesium 

content and therefore the total hardness of the former is very much 

less than that of the latter.

As the waters at Aberdeen and Westport are thus so similar in 

composition to those at Ellendale practically the same economic relations hold, and the statements made in the discussion of the waters 

at Ellendale are doubtless applicable to the entire area covered by 

this report. Less scale would form in boilers in which the waters at 

Westport and Aberdeen were used, but such large quantities of sodium and potassium are present in solution that trouble from foaming 

would be experienced. Neither of these waters is corrosive.

TEMPERATURE OF THE WATER

One reason for unpalatableness in the artesian water is its high 

temperature, which ranges from 50° to 70°. In a region of long cold 

winters the uniformly warm water proves a great boon for livestock. 

The wells ,are unaffected by the air temperature, and water flows 

away from them many rods before freezing. The highest temperatures reported for wells in the Edgeley-La Moure area are 69° and 70° 

at Ellendale and the Taylor farm. Very few temperature records 

have been kept. The following are available:

Temperature in wells in Edgeley-La Moure area

J. B. Taylor................................. .....................

C. C. OlthofL.-...........--....... ._... .- ... ..... 

F. W. Morse.. _ . _____________ . _ ...... __ ...........

Sec.

35

23

13

30

10

12

18

26

20

32

T.

131

131

131

134

134

131

132

132

131

133

R.

63

61

65

62

62

61

59

59

59

60

Depth

Feet 

937

1,087

1,125

1,013

1,400

1,250

1,257

1,236

980

966

875

902

910

Temperature

°F. 

62

69

±70

62

65

64

65

66

48

55

62

62

60

NATURAL GAS

Small flows of natural gas are obtained within the Edgeley and 

La Moure quadrangles from the artesian wells indicated by special 

symbols upon the accompanying maps. Here, as in north-central 

South Dakota, the gas seems to occur as an unsaturated solution under 

pressure in the artesian waters of the Dakota sandstone and ap-
NATURAL GAS 77

parently is released from solution by the reduction of pressure incident to the rise of the water to the surface. As might be expected 

in view of its mode of occurrence, the gas seems to be distributed 

areally without reference to minor structural features. It does 

not have an even regional distribution, being most plentiful in 

the area east of Edgeley and north of a line connecting Merricourt 

and Grand Rapids, although it is probable that all wells west of 

the area of natural flow once emitted gas. It is doubtful if any 

appreciable amount of the gas originates locally, most of it probably 

having been taken into solution in areas farther west during the 

underground flow of the artesian waters. This assumption may 

possibly account for the general absence of gas in the southeastern 

part of the area comprising the Edgeley and La Moure quadrangles, 

as this district may be supplied by waters that come from the eastern catchment areas of the Dakota sandstone rather than from 

the western.

The gas is largely methane or marsh gas and burns with a hot 

blue flame, giving excellent results with mantle burners and in 

ranges. The expense of installing the necessary equipment has deterred a number of persons from availing themselves of their gas 

supply, but this first cost seemingly might be more than offset by 

the scarcity and high price of other fuels locally available.

The quantity of natural gas available has never been measured 

accurately, but the yield of the most productive well probably never 

exceeded 20,000 cubic feet daily, and the yields have dwindled more 

or less with the decrease in rate of artesian flow that has prevailed 

throughout the area. Perhaps 50 wells have yielded volumes of 

gas sufficient for the domestic needs of single families. The supply 

afforded by eight wells within the area has been so utilized in the 

past, but not much is being used now, although 30 to 40 wells are 

believed still to afford quantities adequate for such use. The only 

home found equipped so that the gas could be lighted was that of 

F. B. Peek, sec. 21, Wano Township. Other persons who formerly 

used the gas are Charles Sturgeon, Miss Libby Soby, and the Electric 

Light Co., all in Edgeley; R. R. Davis, in sec. 24, Nora Township; 

A. H. Carrow, in sec. 18, Wano Township, W. J. Pritchard, 1 mile 

southeast of Edgeley; and the former owner of sec. 31, Russell 

Township.

Perhaps the first to use the gas was Mr. Sturgeon, who was permitted to tap the water main of the Edgeley town well. His home 

and store were lighted, his cooking was done, and a heating stove was 

operated for a few years with the gas so obtained. When a town 

settling tank was installed this supply was diverted and used by 

the town electric lighting company until, owing to faulty construction, the tank exploded. This tank has not been replaced.
78 EDGELEY AND LA MOTJRE QUADRANGLES, N. DAK.

In 1906 Miss Soby installed a lighting system, in the Northern 

Hotel, and 15 lights and a heater were maintained for two years, 

The type of tank used here as elsewhere was a sheet-iron cylinder 

of about 15 feet dimensions, water-sealed in a wooden-stave tank, 

which served as container for the water supply. The well pipe conducted the water directly underneath the inner tank, where the gas 

escaped from the water and was caught. The tank once filled, the 

surplus gas readily escaped. The top of the tank was sufficiently 

weighted to produce the pressure requisite for forcing the gas into 

the house. A$ nearly as could be ascertained these tanks could be 

filled several times a day by the more productive wells. A large 

tank was erected at the Pritchard well, near Edgeley, and gas collected in it was used until the well ceased to yield water.

One of the most complete gas-lighting plants was installed in sec. 

24, Nora Township, and used for more than seven years by E. R. 

Davis. The well is 1V4 inches in diameter and 1,280 feet deep, and 

when drilled it yielded a flow of 29 gallons a minute with 75 pounds 

pressure. Forty feet of perforated pipe admitted the water at the 

bottom of the well, The gas was sufficient to fill a cylindrical tank 

5 l/2 by 51/2 feet in two hours, and its pressure lifted a 150-pound 

weight on the top of the tank. The gas supplied 13 burners day and 

night, a gas range, and a gas heater. In a stove burning lignite it 

was found very effective to direct a stream of gas on the burning fuel. 

A. H. Carrow, in sec. 18, Wano Township, had a similar plant in use 

for 13 years, supplying six lights and a range. It fell into disuse 

when Mr. Carrow's first well stopped flowing. The former owner 

of sec. 31, Eussell Township, caught gas in large barrels and used it 

in a simple way. Another complete gas-using system is that of Mr. 

Peek, who has a 30-gallon tank and has used the gas for about 13 

years. Here as elsewhere the blue gas flame shot from a freshly 

opened water faucet to the ceiling when a match was applied. In 

a Welsbach burner the flame brought the mantle to dazzling incandescence.

DATA ON ARTESIAN WELLS

The following is a list of the larger wells in the area, with their 

original pressures and flows:
Records oj artesian wells in or near the Edgeley quadrangle, North Dakot

Owner

Edward B. Olson..

Gust Schumack. _ . . 

Mrs. Nellie Moore. - W. H. Woodall _ .. 

E. E. Strand.-.. _

John E. Kabrud .... 

C. E. & Olive Richards. 

William Wachter...

C. F. Hargitt... ....

C. E. Scaggs..----

D. W. Coleman.... 

M. W. Griffin....-

F. J. Hill. ......-

W. H. Fleming __ . 

Thomas M. Fleming. 

Mrs. M. L. Fleming.

Frank W. Learner ..

Location

Quarter

SE.

SE. 

NW. 

SE.

NW.

sw.

NE.

SE. 

SW.

NE.

NE. 

NE.

NW. 

NW.

NW.

NE.

NW.

Nlti

Sec.

3

11 

13 

14 

15 

2

6 

22

30 

35

8 

15 

12 

8 

1

6

7 

7 

8 

9

9

9 

' 10

T.

N.

127

127 

127 

127 

127 

128

128 

128

128 

128

128 

128 

128 

129 

129

129

129 

129 

129 

129

129 

129

m

R.

W.

66

67 

67 

67 

67 

65

66 

66

66 

66

66 

66 

67 

62 

63

63

63 

63 

63 

63

63

63 

63

Approximate 

altitude 

(feet)

1,490

1,570 

1,520 

1,580 

1,580 

1,480?

1,615 

1,520

1,575 

1,490

1,570 

1,510 

1,610 

1,430 

1,450

1,495

1,490 

1,490 

1,480 

1,480

1,470

1,470 

1.460

Depth 

of 

well 

(feet)

1,180

1,180 

1,248 

1,320 

1,300 

1,160

1,250 

1,200

1,400 

1,300

1,250 

1,300 

1,340 

1,040

1,100

1,180 

1,150

1,200 

1.160

Diameter 

of 

well 

(inches)

\Vi

IX 

1M 

1J< 

1M 

IK

Ui 

1M

»

!M

1M

1M

IK

1

1M

Year 

well 

was 

drilled

1904

1916 

1918 

1908 

1909 

1907

1916 

1913

1903 

Old-..

1914 

1906 

1905 

1905

1904

1911 

1905 

1916 

1919

1904

1902 

1911

Flowing or 

not 

flowing 

in 1923

Yes...

Yes 

Yes...

Yes...

Yes 

Yes 

No 

Yes 

Yes___

Yes...

Yes--

Yes. -

No 

No - 

Yes.. .

Yes...

Yes...

Yes...

Yes 

Yes--

Year

well 

ceased 

flowing

1920

1920? 

1922

Artesian head (+) 

to water level ( 

Original

+207

-4-46

1915

191

or 

192

+

+2

+
Records of artesian wells in or near the Edgeley quadrangle, North Dakota, show

Owner

Ellendale city well 

Do-._ 

Ellendale Electric 

Light Plant.

F. W. Fuller..- 

R. E. Griffin. -----

L. R. Leet 

Mason Goldberg . 

Forbes village wellW A "Flnrpv

M. T. Halte & SonE. J. Williams __ ..

Mary L. Cannon... 

William Tsudi -

Emil RetzlafE .. ..

Edward Byer ___

J. A. Gray .. __

Location

Quarter

SW.

SW. 

SE.

NE. 

SE.

NE.

SE.

SW.

SE. 

SE. 

SW. 

NE. 

SE. 

SE. 

NE.

NW. 

SE. 

SE. 

NE.

Sec.

12

12 

11

12 

25 

30

5 

7 

9 

12 

2 

4

24 

32 

33 

35 

1 

30 

31 

2 

6

6 

7 

9 

10

T.

N.

129

129 

129

129 

129 

129

129 

129 

129 

129 

129 

129

129 

129 

129 

129 

130 

130 

130 

130 

130

130 

130 

130 

130

R. 

W.

63

63 

63

63 

63 

63

64 

64 

64 

64 

65 

65

65 

65 

65 

65 

63 

62 

62 

63 

63

63 

63 

63 

63

Approximate 

altitude 

(feet)

1,450

1,450 

1,450

1, 450 

1,430 

1,480

1,540 

1,540 

1,530 

1,500 

1,590 

1,660

1,560 

1,630 

1,600 

1,560 

1,460 

1,420 

1,440 

1,470 

1,510

1,520 

1,510 

1,490 

1,480

Depth 

of 

well 

(feet)

1,087

1,385 

1,050

1.060 

1,085

1,250

1,160 

1,080 

1,100 

1,120 

1,165

1,170 

1,180 

1,165 

1,125

Diameter 

of 

well 

(inches)

m

3^ 

2

ij*M

m

ix

1M

IM

1M

*y*

VA 

IK

1M

V/4.

Year 

well 

was 

drilled

1886

1908 

1920 

1910

mo

1905

1909 

1902

1902 

1908

1910 

1907 

1916

1908 

1903 

1902 

1915 

1915

1909 

1904 

1902 

1918

Flowing or 

not 

flowing 

in 1923

VOK

Yes--

Yes 

Yes

Voa

VA«

Yes_-

No. _ 

NoNo 

NoYes...

Vac

Yes.-.

Yes.-

Yes...

Yes...

Yes...

Yes...

Yes...

Yes_-

Year 

well 

ceased 

flowing

1914

1919

Artesian head (+) 

to water level ( 

Original

"+265 

+444

+172

+276

+161

+207 

+138

1915

-80

1919 

or 

1920

+3

+3

-13

-24 

-4

+2
C. E. Chesebro..... 

E. A. Durey __ ...

Ida Letson... ......

E. Spencer... ......

Chris. Hanson ......

E. Byer.. ..........

G. T. Radtke.. -

Herman Wedell .... 

John Byer __ .. ...

John Janett __ ...-

John Byer ..........

G. R. EMiott 

Matthew Bainbridge. 

Northwestern Land 

Co.

W. A. Wheelihan.. 

W. M. Townsend.. 

Herman Gentz.. ...

Emil Dathe.. ......

Herman Gentz.. ...

R. H. Pomplun.... 

Mary L. Gannon ... 

E. R. Rietsch... ...

G. W. Dean........

Fred Zinter _ ......

Christ Maack.. __

Henry Schaller. ....

E. RetzlafE-... __ .

Herman Tiegs ......

August Noess .......

Fred Kalbus. .......

Chas. McEntee. _ 

Mrs. Wm. Retzlaff. 

E. H. Heine _ .

Marshal Fleming ...

F. S. Phelps ........

SB. 

NW.

sw.

NE.

SE.

NW.

SW.

SE.

NE.

NE.

NW.

SE.

NE. 

SE.

NE. 

NE. 

NW.

NE.

SE.

SE. 

NE. 

SE.

SE.

SW.

SE.

NE.

NW.

SE.

SW.

NE.

NE. 

SE. 

SE.

SW.

SW.

10 

11

12

14

14

15

17

19 

21

22

22

25

26 

26

27 

28 

28

29

29

30 

34 

35

369

10

11

13

13

13

15

19 

22 

24

27

28

130 

130

130

130

130

130

130

130 

130

130

130

130

130 

130

130 

130 

130

130

130

130 

130 

130

130

130

130

130

130

130

130

130

130 

130 

130

130

130

63 

63

63

63

63

63

63

63 

63

63

63

63

63 

63

63 

63 

63

63

63

63 

63 

63

63

64

64

64

64

64

64

64

64 

64 

64

64

64

1,480 

1,470

1,470

1,470

1,470

1,490

1,500

1,500 

1,490

1,480

1,480

1,440

1,460 

1,460

1,470 

1,480 

1,490

1,490

1,490

1,500 

1,460 

1,450

1,450

1,550

1,540

1,520

1,520

1,520

1,520

1,540

1,550 

1,520 

1,500

1,520

1,550

1,120 

1,150

1,100

1,180

1,100

1,165

1,160

1,120 

1,165

1,180

1,236

1,210

1,180 

1,050

1,165 

1,260 

1,180

1,160

1,180

1,160 

1,180 

1,180

1,380

1,320

1,180

1,280

1,180

1,180

1,242

1,400

1,300 

1,100 

1,260

1,227

1,280

IK

IX

IK

IX

IX

IK

IX

IX

IX2

IX

IX 

IX

i 

IX

IX

^x

1 

IX 

IX

""iX

IX

IX

IX

IX

IX

IX&IX

IX

1009 

1908

1903

1914

1905

1918

1903

1912 

1905

1902

1920

1910

1910 

1907

1907 

1909 

1904

1913

1916

1902 

1916 

1912

1914

1905

1908

1912

1905

1906

1906

1908

1913 

1910 

1909

1920

1910

Yes...

Yes--

Yes. _.

Yes...

Yes 

Yes...

Yes 

Yes...

Yes-_.

Yes...

Yes...

Yes...

Yes 

Yes...

YesYes...

No 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes...

Yes...

Yes...

Yes 

Yes...

Yes--

Yes-..

Yes...

Yes 

Yes ...

Yes...

No....

No 

Yes--

Yes. 

Yes1920

1921

1922

+161

[Footnotes at end of table]
Records of artesian wells in or near the Edgeley quadrangle, North Dakota, show

Owner

F. A. Bobbe. 

Farmers & Mechanics Savings 

Bank.

S. A. Bristol --

T. B. Clark........

Fullerton village 

well. 

John Thorn.-.-..-.

Location

Quarter

SE.

SW. 

SE.

SW. 

SE.

SW. 

NW. 

NE. 

NE. 

NE.

SE.

SW.

NE.

NW.

NE. 

NE.

Sec.

29

30 

32

34 

1

1 

2 

12 

14 

15

22

25

25 

29

7 

13 

15

4

T.

N.

130

130 

130

130 

130

130 

130 

130 

130 

130

130 

130

130 

130

131 

131 

131

131

R. 

W.

64

64 

64

64 

65

65 

65 

65 

65 

65

65 

65

65 

65

62 

62 

62

63

Approximate 

altitude 

(feet)

1,540

1,560 

1,540

1,540 

1,580

1,600 

1,640 

1,570 

1,600 

1,640

1,610

1,590 

1,700

1,470 

1,420 

1,440

1.490

Depth 

of 

well 

(feet)

1,165

1,320 

1,230

1,156 

1,400

1,400 

1,440 

1,470 

1,420 

1,375

1,600

1,400 

1,600

1,230

1,160 

1.180

Diameter 

of 

well 

(inches)

IX

2 

IX

V/4.

IX

2

VA

2

1M

VA

2 

IX.

Year 

well 

was 

drilled

1910 

1910

1918 

1909

1903 

1913 

1904 

1913 

1905

1914 

1915

1910 

1909

1906 

1908 

1904

Flowing or 

not 

flowing 

in 1923

YesNo - 

Yes 

Yes 

No... .

No 

No . 

NoNo 

No .

No... . 

No .

NONO 

Yes 

YesYes. .-

Year 

well 

ceased 

flowing

1920

1915

1915 

1914(?) 

1917 

1914 

1913

1914

1916 

1909

Artesian head (+) 

to water level ( 

Original

Strong

+172

+ 65

+69

+ 67

+1

+184

1915

2

18?

191

or 

192

-

-

-
Do.............

Monango village 

well. 

W. E. Simpson __ 

W. R. Dickenson...

Fred Duncanson ... 

W. L. Caldwell .

W. A. Caldwell estate. 

Do...... .......

V. S. Collard- ..

H.J.Keller.. ......

Do. ............

Edward Bennet. ... 

Do.-....... .

Mrs. Joseph Newton. 

William F. Brown..

J. B. Taylor .....

Do. .

H. O. Chiltree 

Northwestern Land 

Co.. ..........

Jacob Gephardt.--- 

H. C. Peek.. . ......

Daniel Bartel .......

Do.. ...........

W. A. Caldwell estate........ ......

E. A. Caldwell-. 

John T. Olson ......

O. L. Strobeck. ....

SW.

NW.

SE.

NW.

NE. 

NE.

SE.

NE.

NW. 

NW.

NE.

NW.

NW.

NW.

NW.

SE.

NW.

NE.

NE.

NW.

SE.

SE.

SW.

SW.

SE.

SE.

NE.

NE. 

NE.

SW.

SW.

NE.

NE.

NW. 

NE. 

NE:

4J58

11

12

13

15

18

18

18

19

19

21

22

23

24

24

24

25

26

27

27

29

31

35

35

3679

11

18

18

18

32

36

13

25

25

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

131

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

64

64

64

64

64

64

64

64

65

65

65

1,500

1,500

1,500

1,470

1,460

1,480

1,480

1,510

1,520

1,520

1,520

1,520

1,500

1,490

1,480

1,470

1,470

1,470

1,480

1,480

1,490

1,490

1,500 

1,520

1,480

1,480

1,460

1,600

1,550

1,520

1,600

1,610

1,610

1,560

1,520

1,640

1,620

1,620

1,180

1,280

1,380

1,150

1,130

1,130

1,170

1,200

1,240

1,220

1,210

1,175

1,180

1,140

1,180

1,280

1,170

1,160

1,150

1,140

1,140

1,200 

1,180

1,120

1,130

1,160

1,330

1,300

1,280

1,320

1,320

1,340

1,180

1,390

1,480

1,480

1M

IX

2J£

IX

IX2

IX

IX

IX

IX2

IX

IX

IX

2 4

IX

IX

IX22

IX 

IX11

IX2

IX

IX2

IJi

IX

IX

IX22

1914 

W09

1905

1909

1907

1915

1907

1916

1909

1902

1916

1910

1902

1913

1906

1916

1909

1910

1907

1919

1915

1908

1915

1902

1918

1908

1904

1909

1921

1915

1906

1914

1914

1916

1907

1917

1913

Yes--

Yes--

Yes--

Voo

Yes 

Yes

Yes 

NoNo 

Yes

Yes

Voa

VPS

Yes

Yes

YesYes

Voc

Yes 

Yes

VOQ

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes...

Yes-..

NoYes 

YesNo 

No 

NoYes.. .

YesNo.... 

No. _

No 

[Footn

1917

1920

1915

1917

1913 

1917

1914

1917 

otcs at

+161

+150

+50

+161

+«6

-17

+1

+1

-

+1

+2

-1

end of table]
Records of artesian wells in or near the Edgeley quadrangle, North Dakota, sho

Owner

Daniel Squashnick.

J. M. Andersen.-.-

T. J. Kelsh ....

R. N. Youngquist..

J. P. Clancy estate. 

S. Y. Eggert.. ...

S. Y. Eggert- ...

E. Witt 

Bank of Monango.. 

George Chambers .. 

Christ Rempfer .....

E. J. Wipft -

A. Webb 

Location

Quarter

SE. 

SW. 

SW. 

SE.

NE. 

SW.

NW. 

NE.

SW. 

SW. 

SE. 

SW. 

SE. 

SW. 

SE. 

SW. 

NE. 

SW.

NW. 

SW. 

NW.

NW.

SW. 

SW.

NW.

NE.

Sec.

25 

35 

1 

7 

14 

23 

26 

32 

32

35 

3 

3

11 

11 

13 

14

15 

22 

23 

26 

27 

27 

34

35 

36 

6 

26

30 

31

23 

24

25

T.

N.

131 

131 

132 

132 

132 

132 

132 

132 

132

132 

132 

132

132 

132 

132 

132 

132 

132 

132 

132 

132 

132 

132

132 

132 

132 

132

132 

132

132 

132

132

R. 

W.

65 

65 

62 

62 

62 

62 

62 

62 

62

62 

63 

63

63 

63 

63 

63 

63 

63 

63 

63 

63 

63 

63

63 

63 

64 

64

64 

64

65 

65

65

Approximate 

altitude 

(feet)

1,620 

1,630 

1,440 

1,460 

1,440 

1,440 

1,440 

1.460 

1,460

1,475 

1,500 

1,500

1,500 

1,480 

1,480 

1,480 

1,480 

1,480 

1,480 

1,480 

1,480 

1,480

1,480 

1,470 

1,610 

1,540

1,620 

1,600

1,690 

1,620

Depth 

of 

well 

(feet)

1,434 

1,020 

1,145 

1,040

1,150 

1,040

1,200 

1,199 

1,180

1,180 

1,160 

1,180 

1,180 

1,180 

1,200 

1,180 

1,140 

1,170 

1,400

1,200 

1,150 

1,380 

1,250

1,370 

1,390

1,420 

1,380

Diameter 

of 

well 

(inches)

2 

2 

IK 

l>i 

1M

H 

M

2

$

1H 

IK 

IK

IK

IK 

wIK 

IK 

IK 

1H

IK 

1H

Wi w\

IK

IK

IK 

IK

Year 

well 

was 

drilled

1920 

1916 

1909 

1906 

1912

1903 

1908

1906 

1915 

1915

1908 

1910 

1907 

1906 

1913 

1915 

1905 

1908 

1906 

1913 

1905

1910 

1910 

1910 

1907

1907 

1909

1905 

1904

1909

Flowing or 

not 

flowing 

in 1923

No -

No. _

Yes 

Yes...

Yes--

No...- 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

Yes 

VPS

Yes 

YesYes. ..

YesYes. ..

Yes 

No . 

Yes 

No . 

Yes 

NONO. 

No. 

Year 

well 

ceased 

flowing

1920

1911

1911

1906 

1909

Artesian head (+) 

to water level ( 

Original

-21 

+80 

+115 

+115

+138

+"7

+°8 

+«24

1915

-20

191

or 

192

-1

+

-2
Q. T. Webb 

R. F. Beeber. _ ...

Carl Earl...- __ .-

Frank Everson. __

Frank Fradet .......

Mrs. Frank Carrow.

Do___-_ ... ... ..

D. H. McCulloch.. 

Henry Frizland .....

Ludwig Nelson ..... 

M. W. Meachen .... 

James Caldwell ... .. 

Sofle E. Anderson.. 

James Caldwell ..... 

Edgeley city well ...

Daniel Weller......

O. W. Murphy..... 

Nicholis Shockman. 

Rev. O. H. KohleifEaton & Eaton 

Loan Co. 

M. K. Frosland.' 

W. M. BlatchfordMrs. Ole Horsager..

Frank JohH. .......

SE.

SE.

NW.

NE.

SE.

SW.

NE.

NW. 

NE.

NW.

NE.

NE.

SE.

SE.

SW. 

SE.

NE.

NW.

NW. 

SW. 

NW. 

SE. 

NW. 

SE.

NW. 

NE. 

SW. 

NE.

SE. 

SW.

SE. 

SW.

NE.

SW.

65

62

62

62

fff:

mt

W.

62

63

63

as

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

63

64

64

64

6?

6?

6?

6?

M,

6?,

6?

62

62

as

1,640

1,480

1,490

1,490

1,470

1,480

1,470

1,490

1,490

1,500

1,500

1,520

1,520

1,520

1,500

1,490

1,490

1,510

1,490

1,540

1,540

1,520

1,490

1,550

1,550

1,550

1,480

1,480

1,480

1,480

1,480(7)

1,490

1,480

1,480

1,420

1.500

1,385

1,200

1,185

1,100

1,200

1,160

1,200

1,201

1,165

1,200

1,160

1,240

1,200

1,200

1,160

1,365

1,380

1,370

1,172

1,170

1,160

1,165

1,190

1,160

1,200

1,180

1.200

IK11111

IK1

iKl

IX21

IK221

IK

IK62

IK

IK

IK

IKl

IK2

IX1

IK

1905

1903

1909

1907

1909

1920

1908

1903

1909

1908

1905

1915

1914

1917

1917?

1919

1902

1908

1917

1892

1906

1905

1916

1922

1909

1908

1909

1919

1908

1909

1910

1914

No .

Yes...

Yes...

Yes...

Yes...

Yes...

Yes...

No .

Yes...

Yes--

NoNo -

Yes...

Yes 

Yes 

Yes...

NoNo. ...

Yes 

No.-

No. 

No -

Yes...

VP«

NoYes 

YesYes...

Vos

NoYes...

1908 (?)

1919

1920

1916

1918

1914

1916

1916

1920

+"20

+32

+138

+32

+28

[Footnotes at end of table] 
Records of artesian wells in or near the Edgeley quadrangle, North Dakota, sho

Owner

Kanalson Co -------

Mrs. Thomas Luce. 

A. H. Carrow------

Do..... ........

F. B. Peek... 

Do. --J-- .......

Mrs. L. B. Ferine. . 

Henry Horsager....

Harry Strating. ....

John M. Owen.-..-

William P. Frahm. 

Louie Bethke _ ---

Otto Bethke ___ ..

 E. R. Davis ___ ..

Do.. . ..........

Kreutsberg estate.. - 

O. F. Grashan 

Charles Brown.. ...

Location

Quarter

NW.

SW. 

SE. 

SE. 

SW. 

SW. 

SW. 

SW.

SW. 

NE.

NE.

SW. 

SW.

SE.

SE.

NW. 

NW. 

SW.

Sec.

6

8 

18 

18 

21 

21 

22 

26

27 

28

30

3 

3 

24

24

28 

28 

30

T.

N.

134

134 

134 

134 

134 

134 

134 

134

134 

134

134

134 

134 

134

134

135 

135 

135

R. 

W.

63

63 

63 

63 

63 

63 

63 

63

63 

63

63

64 

64 

64

64

63 

63 

63

Approximate 

altitude 

(feet)

1,520

1,500 

1,530 

1,530 

1,520 

1,520 

1,510 

1,500

1,510 

1,510

1,530

1,550 

1,550 

1,540

1,540

1,510 

1,510 

1,520

Depth 

of 

well 

(feet)

1,360

1,350 

1,360 

1,271

1,360 

1,235 

1,200

1,200 

1,210

1,300

1,400 

1,615 

1,284

1,264

1,220 

1,250 

1, 380

Diameter 

of 

well 

(inches)

IK

IK 

IK 

IK 

IK 

IK 

IK 

1

1 

IK

i

iJi 

IK 

IK

2

IK 

iK 

IK

Year 

 well 

was 

drilled

1905

1906 

1903 

1914 

1903 

1914 

1914 

1903

1908 

1908

1905

1903 

1903 

1903

1916

1907 

1903 

1903

Flowing or 

not 

flowing 

in 1923

Yes...

Yes--

No. 

NoNo. 

No.- 

Yes-..

Yes 

NoYes...

NoNo 

No.... 

NoNo. 

NoNoNo. 

Year 

well 

ceased 

flowing

1920 ' 

1920

1920

1918

1921

1910 

1920

1920

1915 

1915 

1918

Artesian head (-f-

to water level ( 

Original

+184

+80

+172

1915

i'

19

o

19

Slig
L. J. Graham __ ..

La Moure city well

Do.............

Do.............

Judge Davis, La

Moure. 

S. Brandt, La

Moure. 

Ludden town well.

Cothoff . _____

Oakes city well _ _.

Dobler, Kulm ___

NW. ?A 13,1) M 1,500 1,385

1,323

906

913

1,050

886

919

1,236

977

2,000

IK

4H

2

2

IX

3

2 lAX

l>i-3

1908

1909

1905

1891

1906

1909

1905

1890

No.... 1923

« See p. 52.

6 Estimated by C. E. Turnbaugh or other driller or by the owner of the well. The estimates of both pres

some wells. In general they were not used in making the various calculations given in the text.

INDEX

Page

Aberdeen, S. Dak., analysis of water from_ 75 

Acknowledgments for aid_________... 57 

Alkali, occurrence of. 43-44 

Alluvium, features of. 34 

Altamont moraine, description of.__..__ 25-27 

Antelope morainic system, description of._ 28-29

till plains adjoining...........__ 27-28,29-30

Artesian flow, original head and area of.__ 58-59

shrinkage in area of..........-.-.-.... 60-61,62

Artesian water, depth, head, and quality of. 73-74

natural gas in______________ 76-78

temperature of........................_ 76

Artesian wells, beneficial flow of 66 

data on........................ 78-87

decline in head of............... 54-56,59-60,62

features and yields of.. .. 50-51 

flowing, decline in yield of............... 62-63

specific capacities of..._____... 63-64

total discharge of... . . 64-66

history of, in the Edgeley quadrangle__ 57-59

original head of....___________ 53-54

pressure in..._______.......... 50,51-53

quality of water in....._________ 74-76

rate of recharge for...__________ 66-67 

scope and methods of testing. _____ 47-49

Bear Creek, features of... 10 

Bedrock, configuration of. 22-23 

Benton shale, nature and thickness of.. __ 15-16 

water in____...________.. 45-46 

Boulders, glacial, material of._____.. 21-22 

Building materials, deposits of.......____ 42

Clay, possible uses of. .. 42 

Climate of the quadrangles. _ . 12-13 

Color of the till..........................._ 20

Colorado group, formations of.... ... 15-17

Coteau des Prairies, features of....... 3

Coteau du Missouri, description of.... 22-23,26,27

terminal moraine on, plate showing...... 26

Cretaceous formations, presence and features

of................................ 13-17

Cretaceous period, events of.... .......... 35-36

Dakota epoch, events of..__......__... 35-36

Dakota sandstone, compression of, from withdrawal of stored water._...... 67-71

nature and thickness of._.............. 14-15

water in.___.__._.____....... 47-56

Drainage, preglacial, of the Dakotas, probable course of.__________ 37-38 

Drainage of the quadrangles_. __. ___ 8-11 

Drift, age of................................. 20-21

surface form of._........._........... 22

thickness and composition of............ 18-20

water in.._................._....._ 44-45

Page

Edgeley, N. Dak., analyses of water from 45 

Edgeley quadrangle, map of, showing areal

geology.....______... In pocket, 

map of, showing thickness of glacial drift 

and artesian-water conditions...

In pocket.

Ellendale, N. Dak., analyses of water from.. 74 

Elm River, features of.__________ 11 

Erosion, post-Cretaceous, results of.____ 36-37

Gary moraine, description of............._ 25-27

fill plain east of.............. .... - 27-28

Olaciation, history and effects of____ 6-8,38-40 

Gravel, economic deposits of._____. 42

Hydraulic gradient, increase in. 61

James River, description of... . ... 9 

terrace1: of......___...... ...... 33-34

James River valley, description of 7,9-10 

early events in._____ 41-42

Jamestown quadrangle, limit of artesian flow

in...................... ...... 59

Lake Dakota, glacial, deposits of.__ 33,41

glacial, floor of... 7

origin of________.__.___.. 40-41

Lakes of the quadrangles 11

La Moure quadrangle, map of, showing areal

geology-.... ....... In pocket.

map of, showing thickness of glacial 

drift and artesian-water conditions____________ In pocket. 

Location of the quadrangles..... _ 1-2

Maple River, description of___ _____ 10-11 

Meinzer, O. E., Artesian conditions and 

prospects as shown by the survey 

of 1923...-.-............ 57-74

Merricourt Valley, slope of_______ 8 

Moraines, correlation of.....'______. _. 30-31

plates showing_._........ 26

Natural gas, occurrence and utilization of. 76-78

Nettleton, E. S., quoted.............. ... 69

Niobrara shale, nature and thickness of_... 16-17

water in................................. 45-46

North Dakota, bedrock surface in_____ 4

conservation of artesian water by........ 71-73

drainage of..._______._ . .. 3

preglacial......... ... .. .... 37-38

stratigraphy and structjorejOf _.. ____ 4-5

topography of...___ ..V....___ 2-3

Oakes moraine, description of_._...>../..* 31-32 

location of....._..............1__... 7

plate showing.._____________. 26

89
90 INDEX

. Page 

Peat, deposits of........... .. .. 34-35

Pierre shale, nature and thickness of ____ 17

water in_ ___..____...___ 45-46

Plains of the quadrangles__________ 7

Pleistocene epoch, events of..___ .._ 38-42

Quaternary period, events of.__ ....... 38-42

Relief of the quadrangles... ________ 6-8

Sand, economic deposits of. ____.____ 42

Sand dunes, occurrence of...___.____ 34

Sand Prairie deposits, features of...____ 32

Settlement of the quadrangles.. ______ 5-6

Soils of the quadrangles.___________ 43-44

South Dakota, effect of waste of water in__ 73

Springs of the quadrangles_________ 12

Page

Tertiary period, events of........ .... 36-38

Topography of the quadrangles. __ 6-12

Upham, Warren, quoted_._ __ 30-31 

Uplands of the quadrangles__ ...__ 7-8

Vegetation in the quadrangles. 13

Water, analyses of.. 45

occurrence of, in glacial drift _____ 44-45

in the Pierre and Benton formations. 45-46

Water-bearing beds, position of. _.. 49,51

Wells, kinds used__ ... __.. 44-45

Westport, S. Dak., analysis of water from... 75

Whitestone Hill, battle of................... 5

Wisconsin drift, description of______.. 23-33

o