Water-Supply and Irrigation Paper No. 164 Series { Jj

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

UNITED STATES GPX)LOGICAL SURVEY

CHARLES D. WALCOTT, DIEECTOE

UNDERGROUND WATERS

OF

TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY WEST

OF TENNESSEE RIYER

AND OP

AN ADJACENT AREA IN ILLINOIS

BY

O. G-LENN"

PROPERTY OF 

U s. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1906

CONTENTS.

Page.

Introduction............................................................. 7

Source of underground water......__....._........_... .................... 7

Artesian conditions................ ....................................... 8

General statement...........................................'......... 8

Water-bearing beds.................................................... 9

Confining beds....................................................... 10

Dip .._._............."..._...._.__._......._...._.................... 10

Exposure of porous strata............................................. 11

Rainfall ............................................................. 12

Absence of lower escape .............................................. 13

Eutaw and Ripley formations ..................................... 13

Lagrange formation .............................................. 14

Physical features of region ................................................ 14

Embayment area in Tennessee and Kentucky .......................... 14

Topographic types................................................ 14

General character ............................................ 14

Hills of erosion..................... .......................... 15

Residual ridge .'............................................... 15

Flatwoods ................................................... 15

Tennessee-Mississippi divide .................................. 15

Alluvial region.............................................. 16

Origin of the topography.. .... .:^................................ 17

Stream activities ...................... r ....................... 17

Nature of erosion in sandy and clayey strata ................... 17

Relation of geology to surface topography...................... 18

Surface warping.............................................. 18

Seismic disturbance........................................... 19

Elevation along the bluffs................................... '.. 19

Embayment area in Illinois........................................... 20

Flood plain...................................................... 20

Cache 'River Valley............................................... 20

Uplands......................................................... 20

Geology ................................................................. 21

General statement..........................'.......................... 21

Descriptions of the rocks.... .......................................... 21

Paleozoic floor................................................... 21

Cretaceous system ................................................. 23

Eutaw sand.............................................. 23

Extent .............................................. 23

 Lithologic character.................................. 23

Section .............................................. 24

Dip and thickness......-...-..-.--...... ............ 25

3
4 CONTENTS.

Geology Continued.

Descriptions of the rocks Continued.

Cretaceous system Continued. Page.

Selma clay............................................... 26

Extent .............................................. 26

Lithologic character.................................. 26

Thickness ............................................. 26

Eipley formation......................................... 27

Extent .............................................. 27

Lithologic character.................................. 27

Fossils............................................... 28

Section.............................................. 28

Dip and thickness.................................... 29

Tertiary system.................................................. 29

Eocene series ................................................ 29

'Porters Creek formation .................................. 29

Extent .............................................. 29

Lithologic character......................... ........ 30

Thickness and dip.................................... 31

Age and nomenclature................... ............ 32

Lagrange formation .......... ........................... 33

Extent .. '. ........................................... 33

Lithologic character.................................. 33

Section.............................................. 35

Age ................................................. 37

Nomenclature........................................ 48

Thickness ........................................... 40

Pliocene series ............................................... 40

Lafayette formation ...................................... 40

Extent ............:................................. 40

Character............................................ 41

Thickness............................................ 42

Ironstone conglomaate............................... 43

Section at Eipley, Tmm............................... 43

Quaternary system............................................... 43

Pleistocene series......................:...................... 43

Columbia formation ...................................... 43

Sands ............................................... 44

Loess,.........._.._.........-..--....-..-...--..---. 44

Loam ............................................... 46

Recent deposits .............---...-.-.........-.-..-...-..--. 47

Alluvium .................................... ^..... .^. 47

Geologic structure.................................................... 50

Underground-water resources ............................................. 51

Resources of Tennessee, by counties ................................... 51

Benton County .................................................. 51

Carroll County .................................................. 53

Chester County .................................................. 58

Crockett County ................................................. 61

Decatur County.....-.....................-.-......-----.-.-...-. 63

Dyer County..................................................... 64

Fayette County ..........................-...----.-...-. .-..--..- 70

Gibson County............."......................-..........-.... 72

Hardeman County ............................................... 76
CONTENTS. 0

Underground-water resources Continued.

Resources of Tennessee, by counties Continued. Page.

Hardin County .................................................. 80

Hay wood County ................................................ 81

Henderson County............................................... 85

Henry County ................................................... 89

Lake County..................................................... 92

Lauderdale County............................................... 92

Madison County ................................................. 96

McNairy County ................................................. 99

Obion County.................................................... 101

Shelby County.................................................... 104

Tipton County ................................................... 115

Weakley County................................................. 117

Mineral waters of western Tennessee .............................. 120

Resources of Kentucky, by counties ................................... 122

Ballard County .................................................. 122

 Calloway County................................................. 126

Carlisle County .................................................. 129

Fulton County................................................... 131

Graves County................................................... 134

Hickman County................................................. 137

McCracken County............................................... 138

Marshall County ................................................. 142

Mineral waters of western Kentucky....................................... 145

Resources of southern Illinois ......................................... 146

Properties of the water ............................................... 153

Uses of the water..................................................... 156

Static level of underground water...................................... 158

Methods and cost of well drilling.......................................... 160

Acknowledgments........................................................ 162

Bibliography....__..................................................... 163

Index .....______................................................... 165
ILLUSTRATIONS.

PLATE I. Geologic map of area discussed ................................... 26

II. A, Eipley sand in the "big cut," Tennessee; B, Tubular sandironstone mass in Bipley sand in the "big cut," Tennessee...... 28

III. A, Eapid erosion in Lagrange formation at Lagrange, Tenn.; B, 

Lagrange and Lafayette formations and loess in cut at Eipley, 

Tenn ......................................................... 36

IV. A, Cut at Curve, Tenn.; B, Loess bluff at Memphis, Tenn.......... 44

V. Artesian well at Jackson, Tenn................................... 96

VI. Comparative sections of wells at Memphis, Tenn................... 104

VII. A, Artesian well at Wickliffe, Ky.; B, Lagrange, Lafayette, and

Columbia formations at Mayfield, Ky........................... 126

FIG. 1. Section showing principal requisites of artesian wells............... 9

2. Section illustrating thinning out of porous water-bearing bed....... 9

3. Section showing transition from porous to impervious bed.......... 9

4. Diagram showing graphically the average monthly rainfall in the

area discussed ................................................. 12

5. Diagram showing local water-bearing basins at various levels above

dry sand ...................................................... 43

6. Section showing sand deposited in eddy of wind current on top of

bluff.......................................................... 47

7. Section from Tennessee River westward to Memphis, Tenn......... 51

8. Diagram showing location of wells at Memphis, Tenn.............. 106

9. Diagram showing variation in texture of sand and its effect on depth

and success of a well........................................... 109

10. Section of well, drift, tunnel, and shaft at Memphis, Tenn........... 110

11. Diagram showing increase of population and decrease of death rate

in Memphis, Tenn., after the extension of sewers and water mains. 112

12. Diagram showing slope of artesian hydraulic surface and probable

effect of a second pumping station at Memphis, Tenn............ 114

13. Sketch map showing hydrostatic levels............................ 159
UNDERGROUND WATERS OF TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY

WEST OF TENNESSEE RIVER AND OF AN

ADJACENT AREA IN ILLINOIS.

By L. C. GLENN.

INTRODUCTION.

In this r6port is described an area in western Tennessee and Kentucky and southern Illinois in which the surface formations are for 

the most part unconsolidated deposits that were laid down in an 

embayment of the great sea that once existed in the Mississippi Valley. In Tennessee this embayment area includes the portion of the 

State between Mississippi and Tennessee rivers with the exception of 

a narrow strip along the west bank of Tennessee River. In Kentucky 

it includes all of the State west of Tennessee River with the exception 

of a narrow strip that extends along the west bank almost to Paducah. 

In Illinois it includes a large part of Massac, Pulaski, and Alexander 

counties.

A part of the summer of 1903 was spent in field work, and since 

that time several trips have been made across various portions of the 

area. Much information has been obtained by correspondence with 

owners of wells and springs and with well drillers. The Illinois portion of the area did not receive as much study as the others, but the 

data obtained are of sufficient value to warrant their inclusion.

SOURCE OF UNDERGROUND WATER.

With the exception of deep underground supplies from porous beds 

that have received their water where they rise to the surface, perhaps 

many miles distant, the water supply of any region is abundant or 

 deficient, constant or variable, in accordance with the character of the 

rainfall. Only a part of the rainfall contributes to the underground 

water supply. The total precipitation may be divided most conveniently into three portions. One portion runs down the surface slopes 

and flows into the streams and to the sea. A second portion is 

absorbed by the soil and fills the pores and cracks in the solid rocks 

and the interstices in the loose sands and clays, and thus saturates all 

the strata that are at no great depth beneath the surface. The upper 

limit of this saturation, or the.water table, is not a plane, but a modified reproduction of the actual surface. It rises beneath hills, though

7
8 IlNDEEGEOUND WATEESI TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

not so steeply as the hills, and sinks beneath valleys, though often so 

much less abruptly that it intersects the valley slope. Where the 

water table does not lie too far beneath the surface it may be reached 

by digging wells. Where it intersects the surface it produces springs 

or marshes. From these springs a part of the absorbed portion of the 

rainfall flows to the streams in the same manner as the portion that 

runs off directly during and for a short time after rains, and except 

this amount furnished by direct run-off, the supply from springs is 

the sole dependence of the surface streams. A third portion of the 

rainfall is temporarily absorbed by the earth or held by the covering 

of leaves and vegetation to be evaporated again by the sun either 

directly or by transpiration through plant growth.

The water resources of the region discussed in this paper are very 

largely dependent on its rainfall. The springs and shallow wells 

derive their supplies exclusively from the rain falling in their immediate vicinity, while the strata from which the deep wells obtain water, 

though in many cases not reached by the immediately local rainfall, 

are supplied by rain that falls within the limits of the region or in 

the region just west of Mississippi River in which Gulf embayment 

deposits also occur. In only a very few cases do deep wells pierce 

the hard rocks that lie beneath the soft sands and clays of the embayment deposits and derive their water from rain which has fallen 

where these hard rocks outcrop, beyond the Gulf embayment area.

ARTESIAN CONDITIONS.

GENERAL STATEMENT.

The requisite conditions for the occurrence of artesian wells in any 

region are few, simple, and easily understood. It is often difficult, 

however, to ascertain whether a given region meets all the necessary 

conditions. In applying the principles of artesian-well occurrence to 

particular localities numerous subsidiary problems may arise that may 

greatly modify results and much uncertainty may exist as to the exact 

geologic conditions present. The requisite conditions have been formulated by T. C. Chamberlin ° as follows:

1. A pervious stratum to permit the entrance and the passage of the water.

2. A water-tight bed below to prevent the escape of the water downward.

3. A like impervious bed above to prevent escape upward, for the water, being under 

pressure from the fountain head, would otherwise find relief in that direction.

4. An inclination of these beds, so that the edge at which the waters enter will be higher 

than the surface at the well.

5. A suitable exposure of the edge of the porous stratum, so that it may take in a sufficient supply of water.

6. An adequate rainfall to furnish this supply.

7. An absence of any escape for the water at a lower level than the surface at the well.

a Fifth Ann. Kept. U. S. Geol. Survey, 1885, pp. 134-135.
AKTESIAN CONDITIONS.

WATER-BEARING BEDS.

In close-grained strata like limestones water is found in cracks, 

fissures, and irregular cavities; in open-grained rocks like sandstones, 

sands, and gravels it occurs in the pores and interstices between the 

rock particles. In the region under consideration all the rocks 

through which waters freely pass are open-grained sands and gravels. 

The size of the rock particles varies greatly, however, ranging from

FIG. i. Section showing principal requisites of artesian wells. A, a porous stratum; B, C, impervious beds below and above A, acting as confining strata; F, height oi water level in porous 

beds A, or, in other words, height in reservoir or fountain head; D, E, flowing wells springing 

from the porous water-filled bed A.

fine silty sands, through which water flows slowly and with difficulty, 

to very coarse sands, fine gravels, or even cobbles in exceptional 

cases, which yield their water supplies freely. The loose, porous 

water-bearing beds of the region are the Lagrange sands, the Ripley 

sands, and the Eutaw sands, each of which is described in detail. 

The areal occurrence of each is shown by the geologic map (PL I).

FIG. 2. Section illustrating thinning out of porous water-bearing bed A, inclosed between impervious beds B, C, thus furnishing conditions for artesian well at D, but not at E.

As the dips are westward each formation occurs as an underground 

bed in all of the area west of its outcrop.

Immediately underlying the entire area is a floor of hard, closegrained rocks which in some places are sufficiently seamed and 

fissured to furnish a supply of artesian water. The drill has pierced 

these hard beds underlying the loose embayment deposits in only a

FIG. 3. Section showing transition from porous to impervious bed. As the bed A is inclosed 

between impervious beds B and C, an artesian well is obtained at D. At E, however. A is irnpervious and water can rot be obtained.

few places around the edges of the area, where the old rock floor is 

not deeply covered by the later deposits, as at Corinth, Miss.; Lexington, Tenn.; Paducah and Wickliffe, Ky.; Cairo, 111.; and Morehouse, Mo. At some of these places the underlying hard beds are 

fissured and yield water; at others they are without notable fissures 

and yield little or none.
10 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

CONFINING BEDS.

Both above and below the water-bearing bed there must be beds of 

impervious material that prevent the escape of the water by natural 

means. The imprisoned water thus accumulates under pressure until 

the impervious cover is pierced by the drill.

The presence of an impervious bed directly beneath the porous 

water-bearing stratum is not so important as that of one over it, 

since, if the underlying bed does permit the passage of water through 

it, the escape is downward and lower impervious beds are almost sure 

to be reached in a short distance, so that usually the ultimate escape 

of the water is prevented.

In the region under discussion the loVest water-bearing bed of 

the embayment deposits over a considerable though as yet not accurately delimited portion of the area is the Eutaw sand. Beneath it 

are cherts, limestones, shales, or sandstones of Paleozoic age that at 

some places are impervious. At other places they'are seamed or 

fissured, but -the water received from overlying beds does not escape 

either along the seams or downward, as is shown by the great, rise 

of the water in wells that enter these fissured beds.

The fine close-grained clays of the Selma clay form an impervious 

cover above the Eutaw sand and an impervious floor for the overlying Ripley sands. The Porters Creek clays form both an impervious 

cover for the Ripley sands beneath them and an impervious floor 

for the pervious Lagrange sands above them.

DIP.

The dip of the Paleozoic floor upon which the embayment sands 

and clays rest is westward in Tennessee; but to the north, toward 

the head of the embayment, the dip gradually changes to southwestward in Kentucky, and finally becomes southward in southern 

Illinois, at the northern margin of the deposits. Farther west, 

across southeastern Missouri and eastern Arkansas, it is southeastward. The rock floor in the northern part of the embayment is 

consequently spoon-shaped, with the tip of the spoon extending 

northward into southern Illinois and its eastern half underlying 

western Tennessee and Kentucky.

While not much is known of the structure of this Paleozoic floor, 

because few borings have penetrated it, a study of the borings and 

of the beveled surface in visible contact with the embayment deposits 

around their margin indicates that the shape of the floor is not the 

result of downward folding of one stratum or series of strata, but 

is due, at least mainly, to erosion which occurred while the Paleozoic 

rocks formed the actual surface of the region, before the embayment
ARTESIAN CONDITIONS. 11

deposits had been laid down. The sands and clays of the northern 

half of the embayment were deposited in successive strata upon this 

rock floor. They accordingly dip westward in Tennessee, westward 

and southwestward in Kentucky, and southward in Illinois, in conformity with the dips of the underlying Paleozoic surface.

The rocks dip somewhat more steeply near their outcropping 

edges than they do farther out in the embayment area. The dip of 

the Selma clay from its eastern edge near Tennessee Kiver westward 

to Selmer, Tenn., is about 25 feet per mile. The westward dip of 

the Lagrange beds from their eastern edge east of Saulsbury, on the 

Southern Railway, to Memphis is about 22 feet per mile. The southwestern dip of the Paleozoic floor from Paducah to Hickman, Ky., is 

about 27 feet per mile, and its southern dip from a point near Ullin 

to Cairo, 111., is about 27 feet per mile.

EXPOSURE OF POROUS STRATA.

The porous strata that may furnish artesian water are the Eutaw 

sand, the Ripley sand, and the Lagrange sand. The Eutaw sand 

lies immediately on the Paleozoic floor and outcrops along the eastern edge of the area discussed in a belt that varies from less than a 

mile to about 8 miles in width and extends northward from the 

Mississippi line about halfway across the State of Tennessee.

The Ripley sands outcrop in a belt that varies from 5 to 15 miles 

in width. This belt is situated some distance west of and parallel to 

the outcrop of the Eutaw sand as far north as the Eutaw and the 

intervening Selma clay extend as surface formations. About halfway across the State of Tennessee the two older formations disappear, and thence northward across "western Kentucky and into southern Illinois the Ripley sands rest on the underlying Paleozoic rocks, 

and consequently outcrop in a belt immediately west of them. In 

Kentucky this belt averages about 6 miles in width, but it narrows 

considerably near Paducah before passing into Illinois. In Illinois 

exposures are poor and rare, so that the width of the Ripley outcrop 

is difficult to determine, but it would seem to be as great as the average in Kentucky.

Though the Eutaw and Ripley formations outcrop in narrow belts, 

these belts are wide enough to absorb many times as much water 

as will be required to supply any prospective demand.

The Lagrange sand forms the surface of more than half the entire 

area under cons'. eration, so that there can be no question as to the 

sufficiency of the supply of water absorbed by it. This formation, 

however, does not conform strictly to the conditions of a porous 

artesian stratum, as do the two lower formations, the Ripley and
12 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

Eutaw, since, except locally in the western part of the area, as at 

Memphis, it is not overlain by an impervious bed to prevent the 

upward escape of the water, but forms the surface of the country in 

the area of its occurrence save for the thin and, as confining beds, 

unimportant deposits of Lafayette gravel and Columbia loess and 

loam.

RAINFALL.

As the supply of underground water is dependent on the rainfall, 

the amount and distribution of the latter is very important. The 

following table has been prepared from the records of the United

FIG. 4. Diagram showing graphically the monthly average rainfall in the area discussed.

States Weather Bureau to show the average monthly rainfall at a 

number of places in and near the area here discussed. The monthly 

averages are shown graphically in fig. 4.

Monthly rainfall, in inches, at Weather Bureau stations in the embayment area.

Station.

Illinois :

Kentucky : 

Blandville .....

Missouri: 

Caruthersville . 

Tennessee : Arlington......

Covington ..... 

Dyersburg.....

Milan ..........

Savannah ..... 

-Springville. ....

Wildersville . . .

Length 

of record 

(years) .

34

11

13

5-6

14-23 

18-21

91 93

17-23 

8-23 

13

4

16

35

18-23

19-22 

........

9

Jan.

3.82

4.56 

4.17

4.08

3.99

's.'ss'

5.08 

~4." 52

4.72

5.46

4.85 

3.99 

5.79

6.26

4.76

Feb.

3.89

3.12 

2.09

3.50

4.07

"S.'TS"

.98

4.35 

3.90 

3.01

2.53

5.20

4.98 

1.92 

4.60

3.69

3.48

Mar.

3.79

5.44 

6.48

4.93

5.65 

"5."46"

6.68

5.83 

4.87 

4.80

5.06

5.86

5.78 

6.30

5.30

5.48

Apr.

3.82

3.49 

2.34

3.92

3.20

3.65 

5.09

4.33

4.34 

5.24 

4.91

4.03

5.47

4.44 

3.22 

4.41

4.21

4.15

May.

3.78

3.70

2.86

3.67

4.23

3.83 

3.58

3.46

3.93 

3.66 

3.78

2.32

4.53

4.09

4.10 

2.55 

3.68

4.31

3.67

June.

4.42

4.77 

3.83

5.18

4.80

4.36 

4.01

4.49

4.26 

4.08 

4.36

2.74

4.66

4.94 

2.67 

4.41

5.62

4.34

July.

4.97

4.19 

6.93

3.94

3.60

3.90 

3.74

3.52

3.37 

3.60 

4.60

3.10

3.54

3.74

4.17 

1.66 

3.45

3.45

3.86

Aug:

2.83

1.82 

3.00

2.75

2.67

3.24 

2.39

2.83

3.10 

2.95 

2.53

2.15

3.57

3.93

3.60 

1.60 

3.26

5.18

2.97

Sept.

2.54

3.23 

2.89

3.20

3.72

2.45 

3.13

2.66

2.63 

3.09 

2.26

2.92

3.05

3.16

3.83 

4.08 

3.09

3.05

Oct.

2.70

2.52 

.84

2.32

1.53

2."02 

2.24

2.21

1.87 

2.28 

2.15

.94

2.72

2.21

2.22 

'2.70

2.68

2.12

Nov.

4.10

3.22 

.57

3.75

Trace 

'3~76'

4.39

4.13 

4.55 

3.93

.70

4.06

4.58

3.77 

1.33 

4.51

3.75

3.24

Dec.

3.32

4.12 

4.19

3.68

4.52 

' "4."31

4.91 

3.89 

5.12

7.43

4.35

4.93 

7.19 

4.34

5.22

4.77

Monthly average, 3.82 inches; yearly average, 45.89 inches.
ARTESIAN CONDITIONS. 13

The average annual rainfall varies from a minimum of about 43 

inches yearly, as at Center Point, Tenn., and Cairo, 111., to a maximum of about 52 or 53 inches, as at Savannah and Memphis, Tenn. 

The general average for the entire region is between 47 and 48 inches.

The monthly distribution is not uniform throughout the year. 

While the monthly average for the year is 3.92 inches, from July to 

October it is only 2.17 inches, and from November to March it is 5.&0 

inches. The driest part of the year is the late summer and fall; the 

wettest is the winter, especially the latter part of it. Streams and 

ponds are in consequence lowest in the late fall and in some cases 

become entirely dry. They are highest in late winter and very early 

spring. In many cases shallow wells are also affected almost as 

directly as the ponds and streams. During the long, dry fall the 

water may get low or fail altogether, while during winter and spring 

the supply is most abundant, and in some wells the water rises to the 

surface.

Deep wells receiving their supply from surface sources which may 

be many miles distant are not measurably affected by the seasonal 

variations in rainfall, and furnish an almost unvarying supply. 

Springs may, like deep wells, be unaffected by variations in the rainfall, or the ground-water level from which they derive their supply 

may be so near the surface that when it is lowered during prolonged 

dry weather the flow of the springs naturally diminishes or even 

entirely ceases.

ABSENCE OF LOWER ESCAPE.

Eutaw and Ripley formations. For water to rise and flow from a 

deep well there must be no means of escape at a lower level. The 

Eutaw and Ripley formations are not known to outcrop except along 

their elevated edges on or near the margin of the embayment deposits. 

To the south, toward the Gulf of Mexico, along the deepest portion of 

the erosion trough in which they are deposited, the dip carries them 

farther from the surface; but it is highly probable that they either 

pass into finer grained impervious beds or are overlapped and sealed 

up by other fine-grained strata, so that there is no free escape south 

ward of the waters that enter their exposed edges along the belt of 

outcrop. The waters thus imprisoned fill the pore space in the beds 

up to the level of the ground water in the area of their outcrop, and so 

exert a pressure on all lower parts of the beds that forces the water in 

deep wells up nearly to the outcrop level. The amount by which the 

water in a well falls short of this level depends on the friction or resistance to the flow through the water-bearing bed, which is determined 

by the distance the water flows from its point of entrance into the bed 

and by the coarseness or fineness of the materials of which the bed is 

composed.
14 UNDERGROUND WATERS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

Lagrange formation. The Lagrange either outcrops over much of 

the region or is covered by only a few feet of Lafayatte or Columbia 

deposits. Its contained waters consequently escape wherever the 

ordinary ground-water level intersects the surface, and they rise in 

deep bore holes to about the level of the ground water. The formation contains beds of close-grained sands and impermeable clays that 

may extend over considerable areas and confine the waters beneath 

under such pressure that they may rise, when these beds are pierced 

by the drill, to a level somewhat lower or higher than that of the local 

ground water, owing to the local lack of free vertical communication 

and circulation and to the more intimate connection of the lower 

coarser beds with some distant part of the formation whose elevation 

determines the pressure at the boring. Hence a partial escape only is 

found for the contained waters of the Lagrange. Under certain conditions wells sunk to porous strata in this formation may flow with 

slight heads. No great surface pressure is obtainable anywhere in it, 

or indeed in any of the other water-bearing formations in the area 

under consideration, since the difference in level between the distant 

source and the surface exit at the well mouth can not anywhere be 

great, because there are no great differences hi surface elevation in the 

general region. The relation of these various beds to artesian conditions is shown in fig. 7.

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF REGION.

EMBAYMENT AREA IN TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY. 

TOPOGRAPHIC TYPES.

General character. The surface of the part of Tennessee and Kentucky under discussion varies from a very flat flood plain along the 

main rivers and their principal tributaries to a gently rolling or hilly 

surface along the sides of the valleys and in the interstream areas. 

Occasionally the interstream areas are level and plateau-like and are 

fringed with hills that have been carved by the tributaries of the adjacent streams. Generally the surface is rolling or moderately hilly 

and is cut into bolder hills near the valleys of the larger streams. 

These valleys vary from a fraction of a mile to several miles in width, 

and a large part of each is the present-day flood plain. In most of the 

valleys there are also considerable portions of an older, higher flood 

plain which is from 2 to 20 feet or more above the present flood plain, 

and which, especially along the larger tributaries of Mississippi River 

in Tennessee, is several miles in width. This old flood plain is commonly known as the "second bottoms/' and is generally separated 

from the present flood plain by a steep, well-marked scarp.

The types of surface described below have in their respective areas
PHYSICAL FEATURES. 15

an influence on the local problems relating to water resources, the 

nature of which is set forth in some detail on later pages of this report.

Hills of erosion. An unusually hilly belt in the eastern part of the 

Lagrange area extends across Tennessee and Kentucky, though it is 

most prominently developed in Hardeman and Henry counties, Tenn. 

The materials are soft sands with lenses of clay that are easily eroded. 

Gullies and ravines form rapidly in abandoned fields. These ravines 

average not over 20 or 30 feet in depth, but under especially favorable conditions they may become 100 feet deep or over.

Residual ridge. A ridge half a mile wide and between 100 and 150 

feet high extends northward from Mississippi into the southwestern 

part of McNairy County, Tenn., but gradually dies out to the north in 

this county. It is composed of Ripley sands and clays and owes its 

existence to the large amount of concretionary ironstone into which 

its sands have been cemented in many places and which has protected 

it from erosion while the areas on either side have worn away. This 

ridge is crossed by the Southern Railway in what is known as the "big 

cut" just west of Cypress station.

East of the ridge the Eutaw sands and clays that outcrop along the 

eastern edge of the embayment in the southern half of Tennessee are 

in many places cut into steep hills, both because of the nature of their 

materials and because of their situation on the short, steep drainage 

slope of Tennessee River.

Flatwoods. The surface of parts of the belt underlain by the 

Porters Creek clays, in both Tennessee and Kentucky near the line 

between the two States, is of more than average flatness. In Mississippi this formation has so marked a tendency to produce flat topography that it is there known as the Flatwoods clay and the surface 

underlain by it as the flatwoods. Aside from the area mentioned 

above, its surface in Tennessee and Kentucky is not notably flat. In 

Illinois it is not known to form any portion of the actual surface, being 

there overlain and concealed, except along the Ohio River bluff at 

Caledonia, by Lafayette gravels and the loess.

Tennessee-Mississippi divide. The most elevated part of western 

Tennessee is found in eastern McNairy County in a narrow belt 

extending north and south and forming the divide between the Mississippi and the Tennessee drainage. This divide has been called by 

Safford the Tennessee Ridge. It averages from 450 to 500 feet in 

height, though in places it reaches an altitude of about 600 feet above 

sea level. It extends northward parallel to Tennessee River and 

from 10 to 25 miles west of it. As this ridge is near Tennessee River 

it divides western Tennessee and western Kentucky into two drainage slopes of very unequal size. The one to the east, tributary to 

Tennessee River, is steep and narrow, and streams that flow directly 

into the Tennessee are short. In the northern half of the belt, how-
16 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

ever, the main tributaries, such as the Big Sandy in Tennessee and 

Blood and Clarks rivers in Kentucky, instead of entering the Tennessee direct, flow parallel to it, and hence are much longer than would be 

expected from the width of the slope. West of Tennessee Ridge the 

general surface slope to the Mississippi is much longer and gentler. 

The main streams, such as Wolf, Loosahatchie, Hatchee, and Obion 

rivers in Tennessee and Bayou de Chien, Obion Creek, and Mayfield 

Creek in Kentucky, flow more directly into the Mississippi, though 

Mayfield Creek makes a notable bend so that its upper part parallels 

the Mississippi, but flows in the opposite direction. The fall per mile 

in all these streams tributary to the Mississippi is small, and thay do 

not as a rule furnish opportunities for developing water power. In 

places, indeed, their flood plains are undrained cypress swamps.

From Tennessee Ridge eastward the surface slopes gently, but 

along the edge of the Tennessee Valley there is a rather abrupt drop 

of 150 to 250 feet to the river flood plain. Westward from the divide 

the general surface slope is toward the Mississippi; but this statement 

is true in only a very broad sense/ Everywhere the appreciable slope 

is toward the main drainage ways. As stated in the. preceding paragraph, a high narrow ridge extends northward from Mississippi some 

distance into Tennessee along the outcrop of the Ripley sands and 

interrupts locally the general westward slope. Another higher belt 

that extends northward from the region of Grand Junction, past 

Jackson toward Milan, reaches elevations of over 500 feet on the 

divides between the streams that flow westward across it. This 

interruption in the general westward slope is not a single ridge, but 

rather a belt a number of miles in width. It coincides with the eastern part of the outcrop of the soft Lagrange sands with then- interbedded clay lenses that give in detail the hilly topography already 

described.

Alluvial region. West of the line of bluffs which terminates the 

uplands of western Tennessee and Kentucky, along Mississippi and 

Ohio rivers, there is a variable width of alluvial bottom lands, which 

belong to the flood plains of these streams, though under present conditions portions of them rise as low ridges or swells high enough not 

to be submerged during floods. The surface of these bottoms is 

either flat, broken by low ridges a few feet high, or intersected by narrow 

sloughs and partly filled channels in which water is found. It is spmewhat higher near the river bank and this part is largely cleared and 

cultivated. Back from the river, near the bluffs, the surface is lower 

and much of it is swampy and uncleared. The slope of the surface is 

about the same as that of the-high-water level of the Mississippi. 

This has an elevation at Cairo of about 320 feet and at the Mississippi 

State line of about 215 feet. Above Cairo the Ohio flood plain is 

well developed and wider on the Kentucky side of the river and has
PHYSICAL FEATURES. 17

much the same characteristics as the Mississippi flood plain jus£ 

described. Its elevation at Paducah is about 340 feet and at Cairo 

about 320 feet.

ORIGIN OF THE TOPOGRAPHY.

Except in the area adjacent to Reelfoot Lake, in the northwest 

corner of Tennessee, where there were surface disturbances during 

the New Madrid earthquake of 1812, all surface inequalities found 

in the region are due to erosion. The surface was originally a plain 

of marine deposition formed beneath the waters of. the Gulf when it 

extended into southern Illinois. If several minor episodes of uplift 

and depression probably with tilting or warping are disregarded 

it may be said that ;his Gulf bottom was subsequently uplifted and 

has since been thoroughly but not deeply dissected by the streams 

that have established themselves on every part of it.

Stream activities. Because the elevation was not great, erosion 

has not been profound. The streams soon cut as deeply into the 

surface as they coulc and then began widening their valleys. S nee 

the materials are mostly soft sands and clays, valley widening and 

flood-plain formation have been relatively rapid. Flood plains on 

streams like the Wo'f, the Forked Deer, and the Obion had grown 

in places from 3 to 5 miles or more wide when a further slight uplift 

caused the streams to incise themselves, from a few feet to 20 feet 

beneath this level and begin the cutting away of the old flood plain, 

now called the second botoms, and the building of a new one which

has attained a width

Between the formation of the broad ancient flood plain and the uplift,

which permitted the

brief and slight depr

with a deposit of loe;

As a rule the hills

s.

there they have been

Nature of erosion i

gullies or ravines, the

as that of the region

of from a few hundred yards to a mile or more.

cutting of the present flood plain, there was a 

jssion during which the old plain was sheeted

carved from the old surface by stream erosion

are higher, but of gentler slope near the main drainage ways, because 

they have been weathering away there longest; they are lower but 

of steeper slope along the upper waters of the tributaries, because

most recently cut.

i sandy and clayey strata. While strata of soft

sands are easily eroc ed into steep-sided hills separated by narrow

tops of these hills do not waste away with equal

ease but remain at a] most their original altitude. In a climate such

under discussion, two parallel outcrops of sands

and clays, at the same original elevation, will erode very differently. 

The clays are apt to retain a reasonably flat surface which is slowly 

lowered by erosion, ajs, for instance, in the belt of Porter's Creek or 

"Flatwoods" clays inimediately east of the Lagrange sands. Nearly 

all of the rain falling on the clay area must run off in surface streams.

IRK 164-
18 UNDERGROUND WATERS'. TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

Down any steep slopes that tend to develop by stream cutting the 

rain wash would be great and such quantities of material would 

be furnished to the streams as would not only prevent their cutting 

deep channels but tend to make them build flat flood plains. Time 

would witness only a gradual lowering of the general surface, whose 

gentle slopes would maintain the equilibrium between rain wash ancj 

stream transportation.

The sand area will be cut into hills, but the general level of the hilltops will remain almost unchanged. All of the rain falling on the 

surface would be directly absorbed as if by a blotter and streams 

would not be formed until the ground-water level rose to the surface 

in some low place. The stream thus originating would at once begin 

eroding the soft sands along its way. Since even during rams such 

a stream would be fed by percolation through the sands rather than 

by run-off from the surface, it would be left free to deepen its channel 

and carve the surface into hills, whose tops and sides would be almost 

free from surface rivulets during rains, and hence would not be subject 

to rapid wasting and lowering. Soft sands dredged from the proposed 

Nicaragua Canal and left in steep piles with surfaces in many cases 

at the angle of rest have remained for several years almost untouched 

by surface erosion, although the annual rainfall is over 250 inches, 

simply because the rain does not run off on the surface but soaks in.

Relation of geology to surface topography. In some areas the character of the topography is determined largely 'by the geologic formation outcropping. Along the Mississippi bluffs, for instance, the 

surface rises abruptly from 100 to 180 feet above the alluvial flood 

plain. These bluffs are cut by narrow ravines, or "gulfs," as they 

are locally called, into steep-sided hills whose upper portions are 

largely prevented from weathering back into gentler slopes by a 

capping of 20 to 80 feet of loess, which may stand under favorable 

circumstances, as in the bluffs overlooking the river, in vertical 

cliffs.

Surface warping. West of the outcrop of the Lagrange sands the 

general surface sl6pes gently toward Mississippi River, having an 

average elevation of about 400 feet along a north-south belt midway 

between Tennessee and Mississippi rivers in Tennessee and Kentucky. West of this belt, but some distance east of the Mississippi 

bluffs, in an area about halfway between the northern and southern 

boundaries of Tennessee, the average elevation is only about 350 

feet. From this area northward the surface rises until along the 

Kentucky line and for some distance northward into Kentucky it 

has an average elevation of from 400 to 450 feet. South of the same 

area the general surface elevation declines until near Memphis it is 

about 300 feet. The uniformity of the general westward slope of 

the embayment deposits in Tennessee and Kentucky is thus inter-
rupted toward Miss

the southern part o

Seismic disturban

issippi River by a warping that has depressed 

the belt and raised the northern part. 

. The fact that this more elevated portion is

quake of 1811 and 

especially since it is 

plain of the Mississ

as the normal eleva

PHYSICAL FEATURES. 19

near the area of maximum disturbance in the New Madrid earth812 suggests a causal relation between the two, 

known that changes of level in the alluvial flood 

ppi at that time raised a considerable area of it

into a broad, low dome. If 350 feet be somewhat arbitrarily assumed

ion in this higher area the objection might reasonably be made that from all of the facts known in regard to the 

detailed topography of the valleys and flood plains of the streams of 

this region tributary to the Mississippi, it is improbable that scarcely

a hundred years ago 

feet, else terracing 

probable to the writ

the region underwent an elevation of 50 or 100 

and ponding would reveal it. It seems more 

sr that the region may Have been elevated some

few feet during the ] \ew Madrid earthquake and that during perhaps 

many previous earthquakes similar changes of level occurred whose

aggregate effect has 

level. As stated in 

Gulf eriibayment reg 

as1 late Eocene time 

down to the present

been to raise the general surface to the present 

detail on page 31, there is evidence that this

ion was subject to earthquakes perhaps as early 

and probably they have continued at intervals 

day. In the same way, although there are no

records of sudden c epressions or other changes of level since the 

advent of the white man, the general low level of the region near 

Memphis may be due to depressions during the same series of earthquake disturbances.

the elevation of the Tertiary and more recent 

the Mississippi bluffs at Memphis and at points

The differences in 

strata as exposed in

farther north to beyond Hickman, Ky., indicate that the region near 

Mississippi River has undergone differential elevation in other 

words, has been warped and if earthquake movements be thought 

inadequate to produce the effects seen, more quiet and slowly acting 

but more general and powerful crustal movement must be assumed 

as the cause, for the c ifference in elevation of £he strata of these bluffs 

does not seem due to < iifferences in surface erosion.

Elevation along the Huffis.- In the middle and northern part of 

Tennessee and into ] Kentucky the general surface rises somewhat as 

the bluffs of the Mississippi are approached. At Hickman, Ky., 

for instance, at the lop of the bluff the elevation is 461 feet; while 

to the east it is from 50 to 100 feet less.

This does not seem to be the case at either Memphis on the south 

or Wickliffe on the n^rth. The general surface at both these places 

seems either to be flat toward the east or to rise gently in that 

direction. The westward rise of the surface in northwestern Tennessee as the Mississippi bluffs are approached may possibly be due
20 UNDERGROUND WATERS'. TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

to doming caused by the earthquake activity in this region, as 

already alluded to or to some more general crustal movements.

EMBAYMENT AREA IN ILLINOIS.

In Illinois the Gulf embayment area includes the southeastern part 

of Alexander County, all of Pulaski County south of the swamps of 

Cache River above Ullin, all of Massac County south of the chain 

of swamps in its northern portion, and a very narrow strip in Pope 

County along its southern boundary.

This area in Illinois may be divided into two portions that differ 

from each other in their surface topography and elevation. One 

portion comprises the low, flat alluvial plains of Mississippi and Ohio 

rivers. The other portion is a rolling to hilly upland.

Flood plain. The alluvial plains extend as a broad belt from 

Santa Fe down the Mississippi to Cairo and thence as a narrow belt up 

the Ohio to a point a few miles above Mound City, where the upland 

bluffs on the Illinois side close in on the river and continue with but 

slight interruption to a point a short distance north of Metropolis. 

There the flood plain again begins and widens as it extends up the 

river until it attains a width of several miles in the bend above 

Paducah. This "flood plain extends up the Ohio beyond the limits 

of the Gulf embayment region.

The elevation of this low plain is about 320 feet at Cairo and about 

340 or 350 feet along the edge bordering the upland. In places the 

alluvial plain and the upland meet along a sharply defined line, the 

upland surface rising abruptly as a steep-sided bluff. In other places 

the two types of surface meet and merge with gentler slopes.

Cache River Valley. The flood plain of Cache River below Ullin 

is a part of this alluvial plain and is covered by backwater during 

floods. Above Ullin the valley of the Cache is a continuation of the 

same plain, though it is bordered on the south by a rolling upland 

that rises a hundred feet or more above it.

The Cache River valley is an abandoned valley of Ohio River and to 

this fact it owes its width, flat surface, and low grade. The Ohio 

formerly turned westward 3 or 4 miles below Golconda and followed 

the valley of Big Bay Creek for some distance, then continued westward to the present Cache River through the depression now occupied by the chain of swamps in northern Massac County. The Cumberland and Tennessee rivers then united at Paducah and followed 

the present course of the Ohio from there to Cairo.

Uplands. The upland region includes all of Pulaski County lying 

southeast of the Cache River valley and north of the Mississippi and 

Ohio flood plain, which extends, as has been stated, a short distance 

north of Mound City. It also includes all of Massac County south 

of the chain of swamps which crosses its northern part, except the
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE BOOKS. 21

strip of Ohio flood p ain in its southwestern part, and a small area of

Pope County adjacent to the Massac County line. The upland has 

a rolling to hilly surface whose average elevation is 375 to 450 feet 

above sea level.

GEOLOGY.

GENERAL STATEMENT.

The rocks of the region under consideration consist of sands, clays, 

and gravels that range in age from Cretaceous to Recent, though the

record is not one of continuous sedimentation. These deposits

are for the most pstrt uncOnsolidated. Here and there the sands 

may be locally cemented in part into an ironstone or ferruginous 

sandstone and in drilling a well one or more layers of such indurated sandstone are usually found somewhere in the section. These 

layers are as a rule from a few inches to a foot thick, rarely as much 

as 2 feet, and are usually found at the bottom of a stratum of sand 

resting immediately on a bed of clay. Their origin is simple. They 

are merely the lower portion of the bed of sand, once loose, but now 

cemented into a firm rock by iron oxide carried there in solution in 

water and prevented from descending farther by the underlying 

impervious clay. These thin layers are not thick enough or hard 

enough to offer any serious obstacle to the driller using tools primarily 

fitted for work in soft sand and clay. Usually a few blows from a 

heavy iron rod breaks them to pieces or a chisel point soon cuts 

through them.

In numerous places, especially on the eastern side of the region, 

gravels lying on or near the surface have been cemented by iron into 

a firm ironstone conglomerate. Ledges of this may be several feet 

thick, but as it lies at or near the surface in the higher parts of the 

region much of it has been undermined by erosion and either broken 

into loose blocks or removed entirely, so that it does not form a 

continuous stratum and rarely offers serious interference to well 

drilling.

DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ROCKS.

The geologic formations represented in the embayment deposits of 

this region, given in order from the oldest to the youngest, are the 

Eutaw sand, the Selma clay, and the Lagrange formation, of the Cretaceous; the Porters Creek clay and the Lafayette formation, of the 

Eocene; the Lafayette formation of the Pliocene; the Columbia sand, 

loess, and loam, of the Pleistocene, and the river alluvium, of Recent 

age. These rest on a floor of Paleozoic rocks.

PALEOZOIC FLOOR.

The rocks that undeilie the unconsolidated deposits along their 

eastern edge near the southern line of Tennessee belong to the Miss-
22 UNDEKGKOUND WATEESI TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

issippian series of the Carboniferous; in the deep well at/Corinth, 

Miss., chert that apparently belonged to this series was struck at a 

depth of 450 feet. Northward in Tennesssee the Mississippian series 

soon disappears and Silurian limestones become the floor of the 

embayment. These were entered in the well at Lexington at a depth 

of 500 feet. No other deep wells in Tennessee, however, reach the 

limestones beneath the embayment sands and clays and their exact 

depth at other points in Tennessee is not known. To the north, in 

Benton County, the floor belongs to the Mississippian series, while 

still farther north, in Henry County, it is again Silurian, but the 

Mississippian rocks reappear near the Kentucky line and underlie 

the edge of the embayment through its entire extent in Kentucky 

and through southern Illinois at least as far west as Ullin. From 

Ullin westward to Mississippi River part of the marginal floor is Mississippian, part probably Devonian, and part Silurian.

In Kentucky three deep wells have passed through the embayment deposits and entered the Paleozoic rocks beneath. The deep 

well at Paducah reached the Mississippian at a depth of 324 feet. 

The one at Wickliffe is reported to have entered the same series at 

a depth of 1,000 feet. At La Center Mississippian chert was encountered at a depth of 387 feet. In southern Illinois deep wells at Cairo 

entered the underlying Mississippian chert, or Elco gravel, as it is 

locally known, at a depth of 525 feet. At Mound City the depth to 

the chert is reported to be 605 feet. The depth to the Paleozoic 

floor over the rest of the area under consideration is of much interest 

in connection with water-supply problems. No direct measurements can be had at present because no other deep wells have gone 

through the embayment deposits. The well that has penetrated 

these deposits farthest is the deep well at Memphis, a record of which 

is given on page 114. The bottom of the well, at a depth of 1,147* 

feet, is down 121 feet in the Porters Creek clay. If it. is assumed 

that this formation has there its maximum thickness of 175 feet, as 

observed elsewhere, and that the Ripley formation, Selma clay, and 

Eutaw sand have their maximum observed thickness, the Paleozoic 

floor would be reached at Memphis at a depth of about 1,160 feet 

below the bottom of the deep well, or about 2,300 feet from the surface. At no one place, however, have these formations been found to 

have each its maximum thickness, but where one is thicker than the 

average another may be thinner or even entirely absent, so that if 

there is not an aggregate thickening of these beds as compared with 

their development in other places, the depth to the Paleozoic floor at 

Memphis will be considerably less than 2,300 feet perhaps several 

hundred feet less.

It should, however, be as clearly borne in mind that one or more of 

these lower beds may thicken materially or that other formations not
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE BOOKS. 23

appearing as surface outcrops in this area may be present in the section and make the distance to the hard-rock floor greater than that 

given above. While deep drilling in loose sands and clays is attended 

with difficulties, yet if it were thought desirable to explore to further 

depth the water-bearing deposits underlying Memphis, the boring 

might easily be carried to a depth of 2,500 feet or more. At Galveston, Tex., a few years ago, a well was successfully sunk through loose 

sands and clays to a depth of 3,070 feet.

CRETACEOUS SYSTEM.

EUTAW SAND.«

Extent. The Eutaw sand is the oldest of the embayment formations and rests upon the hard rocks of the Paleozoic floor. It outcrops along the eastern edge of the embayment deposits in Hardin 

and Decatur counties and the extreme southern part of Benton 

County, Tenn., in a belt whose width varies from 2 to 8 miles and 

averages somewhat less than 4 miles. In the deeper part of the 

embayment it very probably extends somewhat farther north than 

its extreme northern outcrop, but that it does not underlie the entire 

embayment is shown by its absence in deep borings in the northern 

part of the area, at Paducah, La Center, Hickman, and Cairo. It 

is impossible to determine its northern limits beneath the later 

deposits in the absence of wells deep enough to reach the Paleozoic 

floor, but it may be fairly assumed that it probably underlies all of 

the embayment area in Tennessee west of its outcrop. Under most 

of this area, however, it is at such a depth that there is not much 

likelihood of wells reaching it, because water will probably be obtained 

at less depths from overlying beds.

Lithologic character. The Eutaw beds are composed predominantly 

of sand, which is, however, interbedded with a subordinate amount 

of clay. The deposit was formed in shallow water characterized 

by weak but constantly and rapidly changing currents so that the 

sand and clay are ever varying in their interbedding. The conditions 

were not marine, but probably those of brackish water. In a continuous exposure of several hundred yards beds of sand or clay may be 

seen to grade wholly or partly from one to the other several times, or 

in a bed of one material a lens of the other may appear and rapidly 

thicken or may remain a thin layer and disappear in a short distance. 

In places the sand and clay are interlaminated in very thin layers 

and in many such cases the laminae are cross-bedded. The crossaThis formation is here identical with the Coffee sand of Safford, and, while direct tracing to Eutaw 

localities in Alabama has not been done, it is most probably the close equivalent of the Eutawof that 

State. In the Tennessee area it is not thought to include any beds equivalent either to the Tombigbee 

sand above or the Tuscaloosa below. If the Tombigbee has an equivalent in this area it is most probably included in the basal part of the Selma clay. The Tuscaloosa is not believed to be represented here.
24 UNDERGROUND WATERS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

bedding is weak, being usually at a gentle angle only and dying out 

in a few feet. At no place seen by the writer does it involve a large 

mass of material in any one spot.

As a result of this abrupt variation in lithologic character no two 

sections of the Eutaw sand taken a few rods apart will agree in 

detailed thickness of beds. Just east of Parsons, Tenn., in the railroad cut, there are at .the base about 4 feet of conglomerate with 

angular and rounded chert cobbles up to 8 or 10 inches in diameter, 

overlain by very dark blue lignitic sandy shales in thin papery layers. 

These shales are locally interbedded with several layers 4 to 8 inches 

thick of coarse material, which contains rounded chert masses 4 to 6 

inches in diameter and numerous similar-sized angular pieces of 

Devonian black shale that must have been derived from some Devonian exposure very near by, along the shore at that time. Some rods 

to the west the lignitic shale passes beneath cross-bedded sands that 

contain a sprinkling of rounded gravel up to an inch in diameter. 

These sands are variable in texture and contain occasional thin layers 

of leaden-gray clay that are persistent for only short distances. Farther west this layer of sand and gravel seems almost to wedge out as 

it passes beneath track level, and over it lies a fine leaden-gray to 

dark-blue or purplish clay about 20 feet thick, overlain by about 10 

feet of lighter colored sandy clay. Owing to variations in their 

thickness and the lowness of the banks of the cut, the average thickness of several of the lower beds described above can not be determined, but is perhaps 10 to 20 feet each.

Section. The best exposure of the Eutaw sand is found at Coffee 

Bluff, on the west bank of Tennessee River in Hardin Country, Tenn. 

The river washes the foot of the bluff for nearly 2 miles, but at no 

point is the base of the formation shown, so the exact thickness there 

can not be ascertained. At the point jwhere the highway reaches 

the top of the bluff the following section was obtained:

Section at Coffee Bluff. Tennessee.

Feet.

1. Back half a mile west of the edge of the bluff, red and yellow chert gravels of

Lafayette age with overlying reddish sandy clay........................... 15

2. Along descending slope of road from above point to the edge of the bluff are 

poorly exposed light-colored sands and leaden-colored clays interbedded in 

thin layers which are usually minutely laminated-....................... 120

3. At top of bluff, light-colored sands similar in color, texture, and structure to those

below................................................................ 12

4. Dark slate-colored clay in thin laminae, usually a very pure and fine-grained clay, 

but in places with thin, sandy layers. It contains small fragments of indistinct 

plants and shows at its base local unconformity with the underlying beds.... 25

5. Fine gray sand interbedded with slaty or leaden-colored clay in fissile papery 

laminae. The sand and clay are often interlaminated and more or less crossbedded; in places a .relatively pure bed of sand or clay several feet thick 

grades over along the bedding plane into the other within a few yards. 

On the surface of the thin fissile shales are indistinct leaf impressions.
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ROCKS. 25

Feet.

The sand and clay alike carry more or less lignitized wood, which is in small 

pieces except in the lower part of this division, where logs of it are found. 

Decomposing pyrite is associated with the lignite. Two logs of petrified 

wood projected from this sand and clay when Safford made the measurements recorded on page 412 of his Geology of Tennessee. These have since 

disappeared by ths recession of the bluffs from undercutting by the river, 

Some of the sand i flecked with fine mica particles. In places a tendency to

induration is notic sable in the sands, though generally they are rather soft. 

The cross-bedding is always on a small scale and frequent reversals of direction are to be seen

6. Sand varying in colo

7. Sand, gray and lignit

The more lignit 

yellowish-brown incrustations, due to efflorescence by the sulphates

and other salts re:

charged with iron 

which covered the 

At Crump and

sand. These secti 

in appearance to

from light gray to canary yellow, micaceous

c, with much decomposing pyrite, to water's edge.

40

3

15

c sand and clay showed in many places white and

ulting from the decomposition of the pyrite. The

water trickling from these beds along the face of the bluff was

salts and was precipitating hydrated iron,oxide, 

ground as a red or yellow slimy scum. 

Pittsburg Landing, 4 and 8^ miles, respectively,

south of Coffee Bluff, are imperfectly exposed sections of the Eutaw

ons show interbedded sands and clays very similar 

those in the lower part of Coffee Bluff. Some of

the sand at Pittsburg Landing is locally cemented into a loose ferruginous sandstone.

Dip and thicks 

and passes benea

thickness has been made. The best partial section is that at Coffee

Bluff given abov 

thickness is not 

half mile that th 

bluff. The base

Over 215 feet are exposed there, but the exact 

:nown, as the strata dip slightly westward in the 

upper part of the section stretches back from the 

is not exposed at low water, but the underlying

Paleozoic limestones outcrop some distance

above, at Savann 

Bluff. It is- prob 

the sand are ben 

made for the low 

formation is not 

Lexington passes 

of its top could 

memory, as usua 

to have entered i 

according to ano 

either 360 feet or 

at 450 feet. Oth

quently 360 feet

ss. The Eutaw sand dips westward at a low angle 

h the Selrna clay. No exact measurement of its

h, on the opposite bank, almost in line with Coffee 

ble that at the bluff not more than 25 to 50 feet of

sath low-water level, and i 

westward dip in the upper

downstream and also

a slight allowance be 

part of the section the

!ar from 250 to 275 feet thick. The deep well at 

entirely through it, but unfortunately the position 

not be determined from the record given from 

 by the driller. A well ap Corinth, Miss., seems 

at 90 feet according to ond record and at 150 feet 

:her record. This would make the Eutaw sand 

300 feet thick, as the underlying rock was reached 

records at Corinth make it more likely that the

formation was entered at a, depth of 90 feet and that it is conse-

/Tin f\tr\4' t TT Q RC\ T^\/\4- n irtl?' 4- V» f\-r*f\ tiick there.
26 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

SELMA CLAY.

Extent. The Selma clay rests upon the Eutaw sand and outcrops 

in a belt 6 or 8 miles wide that enters Tennessee from Mississippi 

and extends northward about halfway across the State. (See PL I.) 

Like the Eutaw sand, it then disappears, and while it may extend 

some distance farther north beneath the later Gulf embayment 

deposits there are no means of proving such to be the case. The 

problem of its northward extension corresponds to the similar problem discussed under the Eutaw sand (p. 23). The wells at Paducah, 

La Center, Hickman, and Cairo show the absence of both the Eutaw 

and the Selma.

Liihologic character. The term Selma chalk, applied aptly enough 

in Mississippi and Alabama, is scarcely appropriate in Tennessee, 

where the formation is a clay that is light leaden gray or greenish 

when dry and somewhat darker colored when wet. Certain parts 

are a darker green from the presence of grains of glauconite. Fossil 

shells are common and in some places are so large and abundant 

that they have often been gathered and burned for lime. Throughout the formation, which is very uniform in character, the clay contains a considerable amount of lime, derived from the decay of the 

fossil shells, and very near or just at the base are usually found one 

or more thin layers of clay or greensand, indurated by the presence 

of the lime. Some layers are nearly free from the glauconite or 

greensand; in others it is fairly abundant. The formation was 

deposited under marine conditions.

When this clay is wet and unaffected by surface weathering it is 

often blue and is described by the well drillers as "blue dirt." Near 

the surface in natural exposures it weathers to a yellowish-green 

clay, that is exceedingly sticky when wet and that on drying shrinks 

and cracks open, so that it is known as "joint clay."

The clay is somewhat sandy, but no beds even approaching a pure 

sand were found in it. Water percolates through it slowly. Very 

much of the rainfall runs off on the surface and this is believed to 

explain the absence in so much of its outcrop area of beds of surficial gravel and sand, such as rest on the adjacent formations both 

to the east and to the west. The removal of these surficial gravel 

deposits is discussed more fully under the heading "Origin of the 

topography" (p. 17).

Thickness. Near the Mississippi line the formation is between 350 

and 375 feet thick. At Selmer, Tenn., it is 375 feet thick. To the 

north it thins to 100 feet or less before it disappears. In the deep 

well at Lexington, Tenn., the Selma clay and the underlying Eutaw 

sand are together 300 feet thick. The driller did not note any change 

in passing from one to the other, but this is not greatly to be wondered at, since east of Lexington along the railroad to Parsons the 

Eutaw sand contains much dark-gray clay.
U.S.GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO.164- PL.[

90°

37°

90°

GEOLOGIC MAP OF THE GULF EMBAYMENT IN TENNESSEE,KENTUCKY,AND ILLINOIS

Contour interval SOt'eet 

1906

Compiled byL.C.GIenn after J. M.Safford 

R.H. Lou^hridge, and ft.H.Worthen.with 

personal observations

DESCRIPTIONS OP THE BOOKS. 27

RIPLEY FORMATION.

Extent. The Ripley formation extends across both Tennessee 

and Kentucky into southern Illinois and there curves westward. Its 

exact western extent in Illinois was not determined, partly from 

lack of time, but mainly because of the scarcity of outcrops due to 

the thickness of the overlying Lafayette and loess deposits on the 

uplands and of the alluvium on the Mississippi River flood plain. It 

is probable that the Ripley formation extends across to the Mississippi at Thebes, 111., and is the sand described as overlying the 

Silurian limestone just above that place, though this sand may be a 

part of the Lagrange formation.

The belt occupied by the Ripley outcrop is about 12 miles wide at 

the southern boundary of Tennessee. To the north it narrows to 

about 8 or 9 miles in the center of the State and to 6 miles along the 

northern boundary. This width is maintained in Kentucky and is 

exceeded in southern Illinois.

Lithologic character. Lithologically this formation bears considerable resemblance to the Eutaw sand. It is, however, composed 

more largely of sand and, at least in surface exposures, is predominantly lighter in color. The stratified sands of the Ripley show in 

some sections a considerable variety of colors, usually red, pink, 

light yellowish brown, and gray. With the sands are found beds of 

gray, leaden, or slate-colored clay 10 to 20 feet or more thick. In 

places the sand and clay are interbedded in thin layers. The sands 

are usually medium to fine-grained, and soft and incoherent. Induration by iron is, however, a prominent feature in certain places.

Many of the clay beds contain lignite, either in separate pieces or 

in thin beds of local development. Partly rotted and unidentifiable 

leaf remains are common. In a few places well-preserved leaf impressions were found, e,s, for instance, on the "sandhill" road east 

of Benton, Ky., about halfway up the ascent from the bottoms of 

East Fork of Clarks River to the uplands.

The sands contain a larger proportion of iron than any other formation in the region except the Lafayette. Part of this iron near 

the surface is peroxidized and colors the sands a deep red, which is 

very much like the color so often found in the sands of the Lafayette 

formation (see p. 42). This makes it difficult to determine the contact between the Ripley and the Lafayette, which generally overlies 

all the older formations. For instance, the contact is very obscure 

in the "big cut" (PL II, A) on the Southern Railway and has been 

a source of uncertainty and error in the interpretation of the section 

found there."

The larger part of the iron occurs as a cement for the sands at ceroSee Hilgard, E. W., Geology and Agriculture of Mississippi, 1860, p. 16; Saflord, J. M., Geology of 

Tennessee, 1869, p. 418.

PROPERTY OF 

U. S, 6E6LOG1CAL SURVEY
28 UNDERGROUND WATERS I TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

tain horizons and has converted them into sand ironstone that 

assumes a variety of shapes, some of which are unusual. A common 

form is the firm sandstone made by the cementing of several feet of 

sand by iron. Thin platy layers of ironstone also occur. Some of 

these are flat; others are curved into odd and fantastic shapes. At 

certain horizons concretionary ironstone tubes or pipes are found. 

These may be long, straight, separate pipes' of uniform size and 

thickness or somewhat irregular and more or less flattened and 

united into a honeycombed mass, in which the tubes are parallel. 

Several horizons of such honeycombed ironstone concretions are 

to be seen in the "big cut," of which a section is given (see PI. II, B.) 

Here these concretions form ledges that hold up the sides of the cut 

from caving.

In general, the sandstone layers or the plates or tubular masses 

become exposed by erosion and then act as a protection against 

further erosion. It is partly for this reason that the outcrop of 

the Ripley sand forms an elevated ridge that is very conspicuous in 

northern Mississippi and extends for a number of miles into Tennessee 

before it dies down into an elevated belt that usually forms the divide 

between the Tennessee and Mississippi River drainages. Another 

reason for the greater elevation of this and other sandy belts as compared with adjacent clay areas is the fact that a much larger proportion of the rainfall soaks into the sand than into the clay and so does 

not erode the surface. (See p. 17.)

In deep wells the sands are not usually so oxidized as in surface 

outcrops and so show grays or dark colors instead of the light ones 

mentioned above.

In some places, especially in Kentucky and in Massac County, 111., 

the Ripley contains beds of clay suitable for pottery purposes.

Fossils. No fossils other than plant remains are found in this 

formation in the area under consideration.

From this fact and from its lithologic character it is believed to be 

of nonmarine origin. It was deposited in fresh or brackish water 

here, but farther south in Mississippi marine conditions prevailed. 

The beds of impure limestone just east of Middleton, Tenn., containing remains of marine fossils and tentatively assigned by Safford to 

the top of the Ripley, are now known to belong to the Eocene. The 

plant remains found in the Ripley are usually fragmentary and 

unrecognizable. Its stratigraphic relations, however, and its continuity with strata in Mississippi that contain marine fossils make 

its Cretaceous age evident. It is the youngest Cretaceous formation 

of the region.

Section. The best section of the Ripley formation is to be seen in 

the deep cut through the ''big hill," 1J miles west of Cypress station,
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 164 PL.

A. RIPLEY SAND IN THE BIG CUT, TENNESSEE.

B. TUBULAR SAND-IRONSTONE MASS IN RiPLEY SAND IN THE BIG CUT, TENNESSEE.

DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ROCKS. 29

Term., on the Southern Railway. This section from the top downward is as follows:

Section of Ripley formation near Cypress, Tenn.

Feet.

1. Red case-hardened Lafayette sand and clay, with a few broken pieces of ferruginous sandstone and scattering quartz pebbles marking the contact with 

the underlying Ripley.-...--..-....__.._.._.._........__....-....._.... 8

2. Fine red sand and clay, with rolled clay pellets and thin streaks of white clay.. 20-25

3. Concretionary tubular sand ironstone in single pipes or in masses of parallel ones,

with soft sand cores.................................................... 2-8

4. Fine variegated sand, having, as a whole, a light grayish color, but showing in 

detail red, white, brown, yellow, and purple streaks or mottling. Casehardened, so that it breaks off in large masses............................ 20

5. Ferruginous sandstone pipes and fluted masses as above...................... 0-5

6. Fine sand and clay interbedded in thin laminse; yellow, brown, cream, or gray; 

sands micaceous; leaf and other plant markings common but indistinct and 

unidentifiable, exposed down to 15 feet below track level................... 35

Dip and thickness. The dip of the Ripley in Tennessee and southern 

Kentucky is, like that of the older formations, at a low angle to the 

west. In northern Kentucky it is southwest and in Illinois it is 

south. Its exact thickness in southern Tennessee is not known, but 

it is probably 500 feet. At Paducah, Ky., 204 feet of it were found 

in the deep well, and to get its entire thickness there probably 100 

feet should be added to this for its eroded upper part. At Cairo, 111., 

it is only 25 to 54 feet thick. At Wickliffe, Ky., it is reported to be 

400 feet thick.

TERTIARY SYSTEM.

EOCENE SERIES. 

PORTERS CREEK FORMATION.

Extent. The Porters Creek formation, the oldest of the Eocene 

rocks of the region, rests unconformably on the Ripley sands of the 

Cretaceous and outcrops immediately west of the Ripley in a belt that 

is about 8 miles wide, in southern Tennessee, but averages only about 

4 miles in width across the State. In Kentucky it widens out again, 

reaching 10 or 12 miles in northern Calloway County. The outcrop 

narrows much as it curves westward beyond Paducah and is concealed by the alluvial deposits of Ohio River before crossing into 

Illinois. In Illinois it is known to outcrop only along the bank of the 

Ohio, at Caledonia Landing, and for some distance to the north 

toward the Grand Chain. The exposures are for the most part poor, 

however, and its identification is made partly by a few indistinct 

fossil casts but mainly by the presence of greensand, which is absent 

from the Ripley below and the Lagrange above, but which is found in 

the lower part of the Porters Creek. Farther west across southern 

Illinois its outcrop is obscured by either the Lafayette gravels and the
30 UNDERGROUND WATEESI TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

loess or by the alluvial deposits of the Cache and Mississippi River 

bottoms.

Lithologic character. The formation is composed mainly of a finegrained clay that is very dark gray or in places almost black when 

wet, but which becomes a light gray on drying. It is familiarly 

known in the region as soapstone. Interbedded with this clay are 

sometimes found, especially in the lower part of the formation, 

beds of fine, micaceous, silty sands, which are usually indurated into 

soft sandstones. The lower part of the formation also contains, 

interbedded with the gray clay and micaceous sand, beds of greensand 

that may contain enough calcareous matter to cement certain layers 

into impure limestone. The calcareous matter has doubtless been 

derived from marine shells, the hollow impressions of which are abundant in some of the more calcareous beds. Such beds have been 

found near the base of the Porters Creek formation at intervals from 

a point just east of Middleton, Tenn., nearly to Paducah, Ky.

At several places the leaden-gray clays and the greensands of the 

Porters Creek formation are intersected with sandstone dikes. 

These dikes vary in width from a fraction of an inch to as much as 2 

feet, though the average width is only a few inches. In places they 

seem to occur singly and the few thus seen were wider than the 

average and ran in straight lines. , More commonly a large number of 

small dikes occur together. These may run in any direction and 

are apparently without any system in their orientation. Some members of a group are persistent in direction and fairly constant in 

width, while others vary in direction and width and throw off branches 

that may end blindly or may curve and unite again with the main 

dike. The various dikes of a group intersect at almost any angle.

Some of the dikes show slickensided surfaces with vertical striations, and a few of the slickensided dikes show cracks produced by 

shearing that resulted from the differential movement of the rocks 

on either side of the dike. The faulting thus indicated is believed to 

have been of very small amount. In only two cases was it possible 

to ascertain by any discontinuity of beds that faulting had occurred. 

In these the amount of movement was between 1 foot and 2 feet only.

The sandstone filling these dikes is a soft, fine-grained, micaceous, 

silty rock similar to that interbedded with the clays of the formation. 

The dikes contain casts of marine invertebrate fossils similar to those 

found in the sandstone beds. In both cases all trace of shell substance has disappeared, but distinct impressions are left.

From the lithologic similarity and from the identity of the fossil 

casts it is believed that the material of the dikes was derived from 

the micaceous sandy beds of the formation, and that it was injected 

into the openings where it is now found while still an unconsolidated 

sand, whose mica particles would in the presence of water convert
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE EOCKS. 31

it into a very mobile quicksand and enable it to flow into the fissures 

without crushing to pieces the delicate shells it contained. This 

injection very probably occurred shortly after these beds were 

deposited, as it was evidently before the sand had become consolidated into a sandstone and before the calcareous matter of the shells 

contained in it had been removed by leaching.

The size, number, and relations of the fissures to each other lead 

to the belief that they are not the result of shrinkage of the sediments 

during consolidation, but that they were produced by earthquake 

disturbances in Eocene time not long after these beds were deposited, 

and that the micaceous sand was forced upward along with water 

into these cracks during the disturbances, just as in this same region 

the embayment deposits were much fissured during the New Madrid 

earthquake of 1811 and 1812 and sand and water, often in large 

quantities, were forced up through these fissures to the surface.

The sands in the Porters Creek tore off pieces of the clay from the 

walls of the fissures as they were forced up, and these pieces of clay, 

some rounded slightly but most of them still sharply angular, are 

found to-day as inclusions in the sandstone dikes. The sand thus 

injected became indurated, and it is probable that the slight faulting 

that produced the slickensiding and the shearing seen in some of 

the dikes was the result of another and later period of earthquake 

disturbance. »

In Mississippi McGee a has recognized and described similar dikes. 

In Kentucky Loughridge b saw in a number of places dikes of sandstone in the Porters Creek, though he failed to recognize their true 

nature. Safford 0 apparently did not recognize them, nor did 

Harris ,d though both evidently saw them Safford near Wade 

Creek, where the writer first saw them, on the road from Bolivar to 

Purdy, and Harris at Crainesville, a few miles a'way. Harris describes 

them as sandstone concretions.

Thickness and dip. The thickness of the Porters Creek, according 

to the best measurement available that in the well at Jackson, 

Tenn. is about 175 feet. At Wickliffe, Ky., it is 158 feet thick, and 

farther north, near the northern edge of the area, where it has probably suffered from erosion, its thickness is 124 feet at Cairo and 100 

feet at Mound City, 111. At Huntington, Tenn., the wells show 65 

to 70 feet of it, but this may not be the full thickness there, as the 

wells probably start below the top. Just south of Paducah, Ky., a 

well has gone 140 feet into it without getting through it, and the deep 

well at Memphis, after penetrating 121 feet of it, stopped without 

getting through. It is very probable that the underlying Bipley

a McGee, W J, Bull. Geol. Soc. America, vol. 1, 1890, p. 440.

& Loughridge, R. H., Jackson Purchase Region, 1888, pp. 44, 252, 287.

c Safford, J. M., Geology of Tennessee, 1869, p. 423.

d Harris, G. D., The Midway stage: Bull. Am. Paleontology, vol. 1,1896, p. 18.
32 UNDERGKOUND WATERS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

sands would be reached in this well in less than 100 feet more. The 

dip is at a low angle to the west in Tennessee and averages for the 

section east of Memphis 22 feet per mile. It changes in Kentucky 

and southern Illinois to the southwest and the south, Tespectively, 

and increases in amount a few feet per mile.

Age and nomenclature. Marine invertebrate fossils from the band 

of impure limestone and the calcareous greensand near the base 

show the fauna to be of lower Eocene age. A few casts from the 

Huddleston farm, near the mouth of Wade Creek, 8J miles east of 

Bolivar and 2J miles west of Crainesville, Tenn., were sent to J)r. 

W. H. Dall for identification. He reported Crassatellites productus 

Con., Protocardia lenis Con., Venericardia alticostata var. Con., and 

Cucullsea macrodonta Con. as recognizable and referred it to the upper 

portion of the formation, called by Harris and older authors the 

Lignitic, probably about E. A. Smith's Bashi series.

From the locality just mentioned Harris made a larger collection than the writer and has also collected extensively from the same 

beds at several other localities in the immediate neighborhood. The 

description of these localities and lists of the forms found are given in 

his monograph on the Midway stage.*

In 1860 Safford sent Gabb collections from these same beds made at 

three points in the vicinity of Middleton, Tenn. They were described 

by Gabb,6 the impression then being that they were of Cretaceous age.

Occasional plant remains have been reported from the clays of this 

formation. In a cut on the Southern Railway at milepost 480.5, about 

a mile east of Middleton, Tenn., the writer found, in a bluish sandy 

clay containing some greensand, both casts of marine invertebrates 

and scattering leaf impressions, the latter somewhat fragmentary, 

but well enough preserved for identification. From want of time 

and from the fact that the geologic horizon was definitely known 

from the invertebrate remains, no collection of these leaves was made, 

though the locality would be a favorable one for correlating this 

Eocene fauna and flora, which were evidently contemporaneous.

Safford later recognized the Eocene age of the thin limestone east of 

Middleton at or near the base of this formation and proposed for it the 

name Middleton formation. 0 No definite upper limit, however, was 

set for the formation, though it apparently was meant to include only 

the calcareous beds. Since these calcareous beds are not sharply separable from the more purely argillaceous beds above, and since both 

together form a unit so far as all water-supply problems are concerned, it is thought best to regard as one formation the impure limestones, greensands, silty sandstones, and light leaden-colored clays

a Harris, G. D., The Midway stage: Bull. Am. Paleontology, vol. 1,1896, pp. 18-22. 

6 Jour. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., new ser., vol. 4, pp. 375-406.

c Safford, J. M., Notes on the Middleton formation of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama: Bull. 

Geol. Soc. America, vol. 3,1892, pp. 121-123.
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ROOKS. 33

that extend from the Ripley sands below to the Lagrange sands 

above and for these rocks to retain the geographic name Porters Creek, 

early proposed and used by Safford. It is the equivalent of the 

Flatwoods of the Mississippi geologists.

LAGRANGE FORMATION.

Of all the deposits in the area discussed the Lagrange is the thickest, 

covers the largest area, shows proportionally the least actual surface 

exposure, and is the most variable in composition and the most doubtful as to its exact age.. It has in the past been the most puzzling to 

geologists and has led to the most errors on their part. Aside from the 

interest these facts give it, it is and always will be the most important 

of these formations as a source of water supplies because of the wide 

area underlain by it, the unusually good quality and quantity of the 

water it contains, and the moderate depth at which the water may 

usually be obtained.

Extent. The eastern edge of the Lagrange formation extends from 

the southwestern part of Hardeman County, Tenn., north-northeastward through Chester, Madison, Henderson, Carroll, and Henry counties, Tenn., and southwestern Calloway, northeastern Graves, middle 

McCracken, and northern Ballard counties, Ky. It then passes westward into Pulaski County, 111., not far south of Caledonia Landing. 

It is not possible to follow it westward across Pulaski and Alexander 

counties, because it is concealed beneath later deposits.

All of the area under consideration in this paper lying west and south 

of the line thus traced is underlain at no great depth by the Lagrange 

formation. The territory thus embraced is somewhat over two-thirds 

of the total area discussed. Although underlying so large a territory 

it forms the actual surface of but a small part, since on the uplands it 

is concealed by the Lafayette and the loess and loam, and in the 

Mississippi bottoms its upper part has been cut away to some extent 

by the river and then covered with alluvial deposits. At many places 

on the uplands the thin overlying deposits are cut through by 

streams and railways, so that abundant opportunities are presented 

for studying it and determining its extent.

Lithologic character. The formation consists of interbedded sands, 

clays, and lignitic material. Much the larger part is sand, which is 

mostly fine grained, though here and there throughout the formation beds of medium or coarse sand or even gravel may b3 found. 

Such coarser beds do not seem to be continuous over any large area. 

While it is probable that if a coarse bed is struck in one well at any 

given depth it will also be found in other wells in the immediate vicinity, yet at Memphis beds reached by one well have not been found in 

other wells only a block or two distant. 

IRR 164 06 3
34 UNDERGROUND WATERS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

The sands exposed to view are usually strongly cross-bedded and 

were deposited under brackish-water conditions in a sea characterized 

by strong and ever varying currents, so it is not strange that coarse 

sand or gravel found in one spot should be wanting a short distance 

away. The sand is usually sharp grained and much of it is so fine that it 

can not be kept out of deep wells even with the finest strainers. The 

color of the sand is usually a cream or light orange, though in many 

places streaks of it show rusty browns, light pinks, or light purples. 

In exposed sections these colors may wash out during rains and color 

all of the surface beneath them so as to give erroneous impressions as 

to the real color of much of the section unless it is examined by digging 

into it. In places the sand is darkened by lignitic material and may 

appear gray or grayish black.

The clays of the Lagrange vary from pure, fine-grained plastic 

material to sandy, silty clays that are often dark from organic matter 

or black from lignite. The clays of the lower part of the formation 

are characteristically fine grained, pure, plastic, and either very light 

colored or white. Chemically they are highly siliceous. Without 

doubt they have resulted from the thorough disintegration of the 

cherts of the surrounding Paleozoic land surface, which furnished the 

waste to the sea of that day.

The plastic, siliceous clays occur as lenses embedded in the sands and 

are found outcropping in a belt along the eastern part of the Lagrange 

area in both Tennessee and Kentucky. At numerous places they are 

mined and either used in local potteries or shipped in the raw condition to other States. Many of the beds contain great numbers of 

beautifully preserved leaf impressions and numerous collections have 

been .made of these remains. The writer made collections at Grand 

Junction, Tenn., and at Hickman and Wickliffe, Ky. These were submitted to F. H. Knowlton for identification, and his detailed report 

is given on page 38, in the discussion of the age of the beds here 

included in the Lagrange. The clays mined in Pulaski and Massac 

counties, 111., appear to belong not to this but to the Ripley formation, since they are .found north of the outcrop of the Porters Creek 

formation along the Caledonia bluff.

The Lagrange is here made to include all of the beds between the 

Porters Creek clay beneath and the Lafayette gravel above. In contrast to the white plastic clays which characterize the lower part of it 

and outcrop near its eastern margin, dark-colored lignitic clays are 

often very prominent in its upper part and are exposed along the 

Mississippi bluffs or are penetrated in wells in the western portion of 

the area. At Memphis, for instance, there is a bed of blue clay about 

150 to 200 feet thick at the top of the formation. At Randolph, 

Tenn., the lower part of the bluff is composed of dark lignitic clays 

with beds of lignite. At Hickman, Ky., the upper part of the for-
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE BOOKS. 35

mation is composed of fine-grained leaden-gray siliceous clays underlain by darker lignitic sandy clays. Wells at several other places 

near the Mississippi bluffs report dark clays or silts in the upper part 

of their sections. The dark-colored clays found at these various places 

are not, however, lithologically similar, and wells here and there in 

the area just east of the Mississippi bluffs fail to report it, but give 

sands instead in the upper part of the section. This indicates that 

there is not a uniform bed of clay overlying the light-colored crossbedded sands familiar in Lagrange outcrops farther east, but that 

there are several clay or sandy-clay lenses, the one at Memphis being 

unusually thick and uniform in character, overlying the more purely 

sandy part of the formation and making up its upper portion.

The writer attempted to separate this upper clay portion from the 

lower part of the Lagrange and treat it as a distinct formation. It 

could not be traced by means of well records, and as the Lafayette 

gravel almost everywhere conceals all underlying beds in a belt 10 to 

30 miles wide east of the Mississippi bluffs, it was impossible to trace 

it by surface exposures, except perhaps by such an amount of 

detailed work as was clearly out of the question in the time available. 

The effort to establish the clay as a separate formation, therefore, had 

to be abandoned. It is entirely possible or even probable that the 

upper part should be separated from the middle and lower parts and 

after very detailed work criteria may be forthcoming for this discrimination. At present it is impracticable and all the beds are lumped 

together, though certain facts brought out under the discussion of the 

age of the Lafayette (p. 40) render it probable that the upper clay is 

considerably younger than the plant-bearing clays in the lower part of 

the formation at Grand Junction, Tenn., and elsewhere.

Lignitic material is found throughout the formation, but is more 

abundant in the upper part, in the dark clays just described. In the 

clay pits in the lower port of the formation macerated and unidentifiable leaf remains occur in certain layers in such quantities as to make 

them look like rotten strawboard, as, for instance, in the pits just east 

of Grand Junction, Tenn. In places thin beds of lignite are reported 

in the lower part of the formation. Beds of lignite several feet 

thick near the top of the formation have been reached in numerous 

deep wells in the western parts of Haywood and Weakley counties, 

Tenn., and a number of natural exposures are known along the Mississippi bluffs. Years ago attempts were made at several places to mine 

the lignite, but were unsuccessful.

Section. Admirable exposures of this formation are to be found at 

and near the town of Lagrange, Tenn., from which it takes its name. 

Lagrange is situated on a high divide running east and west, with a 

steep southward slope that forms the northern valley wall of Wolf 

River and overlooks both the river, flowing a mile away and 200 feet
36 UNDEKGKOUND WATEKS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

below it, and the gently rising surface on the south side of the river 

which stretches back for miles befor attaining the elevation of the 

north side.

Erosion is rapidly attacking this steep southern slope and ravines 

100 to 150 feet deep are eating northward into the divide and undermining houses in the town of Lagrange. These ravines branch and 

rebranch a number of times, and in their ramifications present admirable opportunities for study not only of the Lagrange but also of the 

overlying Lafayette and Columbia formations. A view taken here is 

shown in PI. Ill, A. The section exposed in these ravines in the 

southern edge of the town, on either side of the road leading south of 

Wolf River, is as follows:

Section at Lagrange, Tenn. 

Columbia: Feet.

1. Soft, loose, light-yellow to light-gray sands, cross-bedded................. 15-18

2. Soil layer, dark with organic matter.................................... 1

Lafayette:

3. Massive bed of brick-red sand, case-hardened, showing very even top but very

irregular lower surface and resting unconformably on the underlying sand. 4-15 

Lagrange:

4. Soft cross-bedded sands, mostly fine but in places coarse, of various light 

colors such as nearly white, light yellow, faint pink, and faint purplish with 

a few thin crusts and small rounded or short tubular concretions of sand 

ironstone in places. Near the top there is a clay lens of irregular shape 

ranging up to 8 or 10 feet thick...................................... 100

The lower part of the section is included by McGee ° in the Lafayette, which throughout northern Mississippi and western Tennessee 

he considers as usually tripartite, the upper division being massive, 

case-hardened, loamy, brick-red sand, and the middle and lower divisions being softer, brighter-colored sand, often with clay lenses or beds 

containing leaf impressions. He would place the lower 100 feet of the 

above section in the middle and lower divisions of the Lafayette and 

regard the entire Lafayette at Lagrange as 200 feet or more in thickness. Elsewhere in the same paper, however, he expresses some 

doubt as to the correctness of this conclusion.

In the writer's studies of the Lafayette from Maryland southward 

across the intervening States into Georgia, thence westward at intervals into Tennessee, and thence northward in more detail into Illinois, he has never found it to contain clay lenses with plant impressions, nor indeed any fossils, except those of other ages mechanically 

introduced into it. The Lafayette proper should doubtless be limited, as Hilgard and others limit it in northern Mississippi, to the 

uppermost of McGee's three divisions, and his lower divisions recognized as belonging to some older formation, which in the section 

given above is the Lagrange. Further remarks concerning the lima McGee, W J, The Lafayette formation: Twelfth Ann. Kept. U.S. Geol. Survey, pt. 1,1891, p. 462.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 164 PL. Ill

A. RAPID EROSION IN LAGRANGE FORMATION AT LAGRANGE, TENN.

B. LAGRANGE AND LAFAYETTE FORMATIONS AND LOESS IN CUT AT RIPLEY, TENN.
v'.f

 ; p-
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ROCKS. 37

itations of the Lafayette are given under the head of that formation 

(p. 42), and under the Columbia (p. 46) reference is made to the soil 

layer and overlying sands seen in the Lagrange section.

Good exposures of these Lagrange sands and clays may be seen at 

many other points. The clay pits and ravines near Grand Junction, 

Pinson, and Paris, Tenn., and Boaz and Mayfield, Ky., afford good 

opportunities for examining them. Exposures of a few feet are found 

at numerous places near Wickliffe, Ky., and an excellent section of 

80. to 90 feet is presented in the bluff at Columbus, Ky., showing all 

of the characters of the typical Lagrange.

At Hickman, Ky., the bluff is composed almost entirely of finegrained, jointed, blue to leaden-gray siliceous clay that extends from 

30 feet above ordinary water level in the Mississippi upward 75 feet 

and is overlain by 10 feet of Lafayette gravel, and that by 65 feet of 

loess. This leaden-gray clay contains numerous small calcareous 

concretions, but no fossils of any kind were found in it. Beneath it 

and extending down to and below water level are 30 feet of s$ft 

sandy clay, containing much disseminated vegetable matter and 

identifiable leaf impressions. A collection of these leaves was made 

and sent to F. H. Knowlton, whose determinations are given on 

page 38.

The 75 feet of leaden-gray clay in the Hickman bluff differ lithologically very markedly from the usual type of Lagrange sediments. 

The underlying 30 feet are more nearly like the material commonly 

seen in the Lagrange in this vicinity, as, for instance, in the lower 

part of the Illinois Central Railroad cut at Curve, Tenn., a section of 

which is given under the Columbia (pp. 44, 93), and in the lower part 

of the section at Randolph, Tenn.

Age. Nowhere in the region under discussion have marine fossils 

been found in the Lagrange. At various places, however, the abundant plant remains found often so beautifully preserved in the clays 

of the formation have been collected and studied by paleobotanists, 

and paleontologic evidence as to the age of the formation is limited 

to the results obtained from such study. The writer made collections from four localities while in the field. One of these was from 

a clay lens in the lower part of the bluff at Columbus, Ky. The second was from the 30 feet of sandy clay just above water level in the 

bluff at Hickman, Ky. The third was from a light-colored indurated 

clay found in the south bank of the small stream in the southern 

edge of Wickliffe, Ky. This spot is the one from which a collection 

was made for the Kentucky Geological Survey and pronounced by 

Lesquereux to belong to the Lignitic. a The fourth locality is a 

southward sloping hillside on the road about halfway between Lagrange and Grand Junction, Tenn., where leaf-bearing clays are well

a Loughridge, R. H., Jackson Purchase Region, 1888, p. 198.
38 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

exposed in numerous recently cut gullies. These collections were 

sent to F. H. Knowlton, whose report on them is as follows:

The present collection consists of - a large number of leaves very beautifully preserved, 

for the most part in fine-grained plastic clay, occasionally in a more sandy clay. The collection has been very carefully made, and the collector is to be congratulated on the highly 

satisfactory, manner in which it comes to hand for study.

Fossil plants from this general region have long been known, the first collection to which 

scientific attention was directed being apparently that described by Lesquereux from near 

Somerville, Fayette County, Tenn., obtained by J. M. Safford, and from the banks of 

Mississippi River near Columbus, Ky., collected by Owen and Lesquereux.a The species, 

of which several were described as new, were not figured in Lesquereux's paper, but ten 

, years later (1869) were incorporated by Safford into his Geology of Tennessee & and a single plate devoted to them. Not all the new species were figured even at this time, but in 

working up a collection of plants from the Tertiary of Mississippi Lesquereux took occasion 

to describe and figure several species from Lagrange, Tenn., which were regarded as of the 

same age as those from Mississippi, c Nearly twenty years later two small collections made 

in the interest of the Kentucky Geological Survey were described by Lesquereux. d One 

of these was from Boaz station, Graves County, Ky., and the other from Wickliffe, Balla^d County, Ky. Remarks on the age of the beds at these localities will be made later.

The present collection embraces fossils from four localities, as follows:

1. Columbus, Ky. This material, a white sandy clay, contains two species of Quercus 

and apparently a single species of Salix, none of them, so far as I can make out, being 

identical with the forms mentioned by Lesquereux from this locality. Probably a more 

extended search among living species would show affinities with these, but this I have not 

been able to give at this time.

2. Hickman, Ky. This is also a sandy clay, and embraces three forms a single leaf 

each of a Salix? and Menispermum canadense L. and the balance a compound leaf of what 

appears to be Tecoma radicans L., or something near it.

3. Wickliffe, Ky. The largest and best lot, affording the following forms:

Salix angusta Al. Br. Quercus n. sp. ?

Salix sp. Myrica copeana Lesq.

Quercus saffordi Lesq. Eucalyptus n. sp.

Quercus neriifolia Al. Br. Sapindus angustifolius Lesq.

Quercus moorii Lesq. Sapindus dubius ? Unger.

4. Near Grand Junction, Tenn. The same kind of material as the last, containing the 

following:

Monocotyledonous plant (fragments). Sapindus sp. 

Salix angusta Al. Br. Cinnamomum? sp.? 

Quercus (2 species). Ceanothus meigsii Lesq. 

Juglans saffordiana? Lesq. Acacia sp. (nov.?). 

Sapindus angustifolius? Lesq.

In Lesquereux's original publication the beds at Somerville and Columbus were referred 

to the Pliocene, as was that at Boaz station, but later he regarded the deposits at Somerville as "most intimately related to the Miocene of Europe." Safford in his Geology of 

Tennessee inclined to the opinion that the Orange sand, which included the Somerville bed, 

should probably be regarded as Eocene, and apparently Lesquereux accepted this determination, for in his report on the Mississippi plants he referred them to the so-called 

Eo-Lignitic. -The Wickliffe deposit was referred by Lesquereux directly to the lower Eocene.

Coming to the present .collections, I see no reason to question the correctness of referring 

the Columbus fossils to the Pliocene, although I have not been able to identify any of the

a Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., vol. 27, 1859, pp. 363-366.

b Op. cit., pp. 425-428, PI. K.

cTrans. Am. Philos. Soc., vol. 18, 1869, pp. 411-530, Pis. XIV-XXII.

dProc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 11, 1888, pp. 11-13, PI. IV.
DESCRIPTIONS Off THE BOCKS. &

forms present with those mentioned by Lesquereux. The apparent preponderance of 

living species would make it unlikely that the age should be older than Pliocene. The 

plants from Hickman, Ky., although not identical with those from Columbus, are so 

modern in appearance that I regard them as Pliocene in age.

The plants from Wickliffe and near Grand Junction are similar in appearance and I 

regard them as of the same age, but their exact position is at present a little uncertain 

in my mind. That they are of the same age as those from Mississippi is hardly to be 

questioned, and I suppose they are to be regarded as " Eo-Lignitic" or Eocene, but they 

are so well preserved and in general so modern in appearance that I can not rid myself 

of the notion that they should be placed in the Miocene. However, I have not seen any 

of the field relations and so can not well define this impression. They are the same forms 

as those from Mississippi and belong to what has been called Orange sand or Eo-Lignitic, 

but they seem quite unlike other Eocene floras with which I am familiar.

There would seem to be no question that the bed near Grand 

Junction, the more eastern locality from which collections were 

made in Tennessee, and that at Wickliffe, the more northern one in 

Kentucky, each representing deposits that are typical of the Lagrange, 

are of the same age as those carrying the fossils described from 

Mississippi. These are generally regarded as belonging to the 

"Lignitic" and are consequently of Eocene age.

The beds at Columbus and Hickman are undoubtedly in the 

upper part of the Lagrange formation as defined here. Whether 

they are both of the same age, and also whether they may be correlated with the clays just beneath the Lafayette at Memphis or 

are older or younger, can not be determined from the data at hand. 

Lithologically the Columbus beds are not distinguishable from 

other exposures of typical Lagrange deposits, but they differ in 

appearance from the beds at Hickman, and if the two are of different 

age the Columbus beds are probably slightly older.

Loughridge 0 thought the Hickman beds to be the oldest Eocene 

deposits in Kentucky and placed them provisionally as a distinct 

group the Hickman beneath the Porters Creek, though he recognized and stated that their exact position with reference to the 

other divisions of the Eocene had not been positively ascertained. 

From a study of their field relations and of well sections made since 

Loughridge's work was done there can be no doubt that the Hickman 

beds are younger than the main body of the Lagrange, and are among 

the youngest of the pre-Lafayette deposits of the region.

The question then arises whether they are of the same age as 

the rest of the Lagrange beneath, or whether there is an unconformity 

in the Lagrange as here defined and the upper part should be separated and regarded as of distinctly later age. There is not at present 

sufficient stratigraphic evidence for such a separation, but the 

character of the plants would seem to favor it and it may be established by more detailed stratigraphic work and additional confirmatory paleobotanical evidence, so that the Hickman deposits

a Loughridge, R. H., Jackson Purchase Region, 1888, p. 37.
40 UNDEBQKCKTND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

and other beds similarly situated along the Mississippi bluff, including 

perhaps the 200 feet of clay at Memphis, would be assigned to the 

Miocene or Pliocene.

Following the example of Safford in recording his belief as to the 

age of the leaf beds near Lagrange,0 and that of Knowlton in the 

report given on pages 38-39, in speaking of the age of the Wickliffe 

and Grand Junction beds, the writer can not refrain from also 

recording his impression that these upper Lagrange beds are not of 

Pliocene age but belong to the Lignitic, and so are Eocene, though 

he recognizes that this is but an impression gained during field studies 

and that the evidence of the plants would seem to be against it. 

Until conclusive evidence is obtained for one view or the other it 

seems best to include the deposits in question in the Lagrange.

Nomenclature. The terms Orange sand and Lagrange have both 

been applied by Safford to these deposits.. So much confusion has 

arisen from the different usages of the term Orange sand by different 

geologists that by common consent it has been discarded.6

Thickness. In the deep well at Memphis the Lagrange is 963 

feet thick. The well at Dyersburg penetrated 678 feet of it and one 

at Hickman 750 feet without in either case reaching its base. In 

the Jackson well, near the eastern edge of the formation, its base was 

reached at a depth of 160 feet. At Wickliffe it is 430 feet thick and 

at Cairo 325 feet. The base of the formation dips from the margin 

of the deposit toward the center of the basin at from 22 to 27 feet 

per mile.

PLIOCENE SERIES. 

LAFAYETTE FORMATION.

Extent. Over all the -above-described formations of the embayment region, and extending for miles farther eastward over the 

adjoining Paleozoic rocks, there is a thin blanket of sand and gravel 

that averages not over 20 feet in thickness, but may in places 

thicken to 40 feet or more.

This blanket is unbroken over much of the area, especially in the 

more level region away from the streams. The main streams have 

generally cut through and removed it, but in ascending the sides 

of their valleys one usually crosses the outcrop of the Lafayette 

before reaching the general upland surface.

In certain areas, however, it has been largely removed by erosion. 

Such areas are generally those containing the outcrop of one of the 

relatively impervious clay formations already described, such as 

the Selma clay or the Porters Creek, while the more pervious sandy 

formations on either side retain their Lafayette capping, only

a Safford, J. M., Geology of Tennessee, 1869, p. 426.

& See Hilgard, E. W., and Saflord, J. M., Orange sand, Lagrange, and Appomattox: Am. Geologist, 

vol.8,1891, pp. 129-131.
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE BOCKS. 41

.slightly affected by erosion. An explanation of this selective removal 

has already been given (p. 17).

In Illinois the Lafayette is revealed beneath the loess in the 

deeper ravines and road and railway cuts and in the upland portions 

of Massac and Pulaski counties. Round Knob, 5J miles north of 

Metropolis, in sees. 11 and 12, T. 15 S., R. 4 E., is capped by Lafayette 

ironstone conglomerate, 4 or 5 feet being visible. The deeper cuts 

on the Big Four Railroad near New Grand Chain station show 

Lafayette gravel under the loess, and the highways at intervals cut 

into it. The cut on the Illinois Central Railroad in the southern 

edge of Villa Ridge shows, beneath 15 to 20 feet of loess, 15 feet of 

Lafayette gravel resting on sands that may be of Cretaceous age. 

No effort was made to trace the Lafayette to the north beyond the 

edge of the embayment deposit, so that its northward extent in 

Illinois, just as its eastward extent in Tennessee, was not determined.

It has not been possible in the time devoted to this work to attempt 

to discriminate in detail the areas in which the formation is mainly 

absent from those in which it is present. Even in areas where it is 

predominantly absent small scattered remnants of it are often found. 

On the geologic map (PI. I, p. 26) it is represented as a surficial 

deposit covering the entire area.

Character. The sand which makes the larger part of the formation is usually orange or brick red in color and is often case-hardened 

and massive. Locally it is cemented by ferruginous matter into a 

firm red or rusty-brown sandstone and, instead of'being massive and 

structureless, is distinctly stratified or cross-bedded.

The sands are often accompanied by gravels, which usually form 

the basal part of the formation, though locally they may occur in 

any part of the sand as narrow bands or be scattered irregularly 

through it. These gravels are especially prominent near Tennessee, 

Ohio, and Mississippi rivers. At many places along or near these 

streams the formation consists solely of a thick gravel bed. A^ay 

from these streams, as a rule, the amount of gravel is much less and 

the average size is smaller, showing very plainly that the streams 

have had an important influence in determining the distribution 

of the gravel.

The gravel phase is somewhat prominent in the region just west 

of Tennessee River, though there is apparently a decrease in the 

average size of the gravel as one goes downstream. The gravel 

in the Lafayette of Hardin County, Tenn., for instance, is coarser 

than that in Galloway County, Ky. The gravel pit on the Shiloh 

National Park road just south of Snake Creek shows 15 feet of wellrounded gravel that averages from 1 inch to 2 inches in diameter, 

though much of it is 3 inches and an occasional piece reaches 12 

inches. Most of this deposit is chert stained yellow by iron, but
42 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

there are some pieces of sandstone, quartzite, and vein quartz, and 

a piece of dark-purplish porphyry containing red jasper was seen.

At Memphis the gravel is well rounded and almost entirely of 

chert. The thickness of the bed varies from a feather edge up to 

45 or 50 feet. At Columbus, Ky., the Lafayette is 45 feet thick, 

the lower 20 feet consisting of yellow chert gravel with average 

maximum diameters of 1 inch to 1 \ inches, but with a 4-inch layer 

of 3 to 4 inch pebbles. The upper 15 feet consist of a clayey sand 

at the base, grading into a gravel bed in the upper part. A few of 

the smaller and best rounded pebbles are of vein quartz, but a very 

careful search here and at other places along the Mississippi failed 

to reveal any pebbles of granitic or other crystalline rocks that 

might have had a northern origin.

Where the Lafayette contains an abundance of gravel the line 

of unconformity at its base is easily recognized, but where gravel 

is absent and the formation consists of materials very similar to 

those of the underlying beds and probably formed from them by a 

slight reworking it becomes a matter often of much difficulty to 

determine the contact.

While variations of material occur in the Lafayette, not only in 

different sections but even in the same section, the formation can 

not be divided, at least in the area under consideration, into two or 

more members, but must be regarded as a unit one of whose prominent characteristics is its variability. Its composition at any one 

place is at once a result and an index of the underlying materials 

from which it has principally been derived, the greatest exception 

to this rule being in those areas where the larger streams have added 

to it their tribute of foreign gravel.

Thickness. It has already been stated in the discussion of the 

Lagrange section (p. 36) that of McGee's three divisions of the 

Lafayette only the uppermost is really Lafayette, while the lower 

two are Lagrange. Nowhere in the region is there evidence that 

the Lafayette reaches any notable thickness. If it is anywhere 50 

feet thick it is exceptional, while half this amount, or even less, 

would be nearer the average.

The Lafayette usually contains an abundance of ferruginous matter, 

which gives it the deep-red color so characteristic of the formation 

and which in many places has cemented the gravels into an ironstone 

conglomerate that, where erosion has been especially vigorous, may 

be seen in remnants capping the hills, while blocks from the undermined portions strew their sides. In some places the sands are similarly cemented into a red sandstone. Where the gravel is loose, as 

is more commonly the case, the ferruginous matter is usually present 

in large quantities and makes the Lafayette gravel a most excellent 

road-building material by binding it together, so that it soon packs 

into a firm, hard road. Often a thin shell or plate of ironstone makes
DESCKIPTIOK3 OF THE ROCKS, 43

'. ' ' " ' .°i^.'.N^V ' ' .' ' ' ; 

:::'

ins

the very base of the Lafayette, and in some cases is thick enough to 

prevent the downward passage of percolating waters and thus form 

a local impervious stratum above which the sands may be saturated 

with water, while the underlying sands may be practically dry.

Ironstone conglomerate. From inequalities of elevation of the basal 

impervious layer the water above it may be in small basins separated 

by areas where wells would fail to find water and two neighboring 

basins might not have water at the same level. If the impervious 

bottom of one of these be dug through, the water in it at once drains 

downward into the dry sand below. These relationships are shown 

graphically in fig. 5.

Section at Ripley, Tenn. In the center of the deep railway cut at 

Ripley, Tenn. (PI. Ill, B), Lagrange sands and clays extend up 25 

feet, but disappear beneath track level toward each end of the cut. 

On the crest of the hill of

Lagrange material thus ^^£^^ ??^>-JZ-£ d 

revealed there are 4 or 5 

feet of red case-hardened 

Lafayette sand that 

thickens on the flanks of 

the hill to 8 or 10 feet 

near the end of the cut. 

Over this sand in the center of the cut are 4 feet of 

gravel in soft, loose, lightcolored sand which grades 

up into a dark-colored, 

damp, clayey loess 10 feet 

thick, overlain by a lightcolored, dryer, more pulverulent loess 18 feet 

thick. At many points in 

the cut it is impossible to be sure of the existence of a Tine of unconformity between the Lafayette and the underlying Lagrange sands. 

The soft light-colored sand and gravel between the Lafayette and the 

loess belong to the Columbia (as does the loess) and are referred to 

again in the discussion of that formation (pp. 44, 46).

QUATERNARY SYSTEM. 

PLEISTOCENE SERIES. 

COLUMBIA FORMATION.

Three kinds of deposits in this region will be grouped together 

under the Columbia formation. The first and oldest is a loose sand 

which overlies the Lafayette and underlies the loess, which is the 

second of the deposits here included. The third is a loam that overlies the loess in the area where the latter is found and extends east of 

that area for miles as a thin mantle spread over the Lafayette.

FIG. 5. Diagram showing local water-bearing basins at 

various levels above dry sand. Well a obtains water 

from a local water-bearing basin at /. Well d struck a 

similar but slightly deeper local basin, but pierced the 

underlying impervious layer and allowed the basin to 

be drained downward. The well was abandoned before 

permanent water was reached. Wells & and c failed to 

find water at either the / or the g level; 6 was abandoned as a dry hole; c was continued slightly farther 

to permanent water level. Basins like g are sometimes 

drained by fissures caused by earthquakes in this region.
44 UNDEKGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

Sands. At some places along the Mississippi bluffs and in'a belt 10 

to 20 miles wide east of the bluffs the loess seems to rest unconformably directly on the Lafayette sands or gravels. At other places, 

however, there is a distinctly differentiated bed of soft, loose, lightcolored sand between the two. This sand often contains rounded 

pebbles similar to those of the Lafayette beneath, from which they 

have evidently been derived. Like the sand, which may also have 

originated from the Lafayette, the pebbles are usually bleached to a 

light gray. This difference in color and the softness of the sand 

serve to differentiate the deposit at once from the red, case-hardened 

Lafayette beneath. This sand may range in thickness up usually to 

4 or 5 and exceptionally to 10 or 12 feet, and may attain its maximum 

and disappear again in 100 or 200 yards.

It commonly though not everywhere shows distinct unconformity 

on the Lafayette beneath and as a rule seems to grade upward into 

the lower, darker part of the loess without any perceptible break. 

Where the sand seems to be absent, the lowest part of the loess is 

usually somewhat sandy and may contain a small pebble here and 

there for several feet upward from its base. It is likely that in such 

cases the sandy basal part of the loess is the representative of the 

sand found elsewhere.

In the railway cut at Ripley, Tenn., a section of which is given on 

page 43, the soft sand and gravel over the Lafayette is usually sharply 

limited below, but in a few places seems to grade into the Lafayette. 

Near the ends of the cut the gravel in it practically disappears. 

Another excellent exposure of this sand is found some miles north of 

Ripley in the deep railway cut at Curve, Tenn., where the Lafayette 

is overlain by a soft, light-colored, loose sand with gravel that varies 

from a knife-edge to 3 feet in thickness and grades up into a dark 

silty loess. A view of this cut is given in PL IV, A.

It seems very probable that this bed of soft sand and gravel is not 

confined to the narrow belt in which the loess occurs, but extends 

eastward over much of the region in which later deposits overlie the 

Lafayette, as the section at Mayfield (p. 135) shows the presence of 

such a layer between the Lafayette gravel and the surface loam, and 

similar conditions were seen at other places. In many exposures, 

however, such differentiation of the material over the Lafayette in 

the middle and eastern parts of the area can not be satisfactorily 

made. Either this basal sand and gravel phase of the Columbia 

disappears in places, or, as is thought more probable, it merges by 

change of material into the loamy phase, so that where the two are 

found together because of the absence of the loess which separates 

them along the Mississippi bluffs they are blended into a unit.

Loess. This member extends eastward 20 to 30 miles from the 

edge of the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi bottoms. In the bluffs
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLV PAPER NO. 164 PL. IV

A. CUT AT CURVE, TENN. 

Showing at " a" local ironstone hardpan at base of Lafayette, resting on Lagrange.

£. LOESS BLUFF AT MEMPHIS, TENN.

DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ROCKS. 45

it is usually between 50 and 75 feet- thick, but locally exceeds or falls 

short of those figures. It is reported to reach a thickness of 200 feet 

in places in western Tennessee, but the writer has never seen it quite 

as much as 100 feet thick. From its maximum thickness along the 

Mississippi bluffs, as given above, the loess thins eastward to a 

feather-edge before it disappears. This thinning renders it difficult 

to fix any but a somewhat arbitrary line to mark its eastern edge, 

and the difficulty is enhanced by tfie fact that in some sections, 

instead of thinning out, it appears to grade over into the loamy phase 

of the Columbia. ^

As seen in a number of excellent sections, the loess is composed of 

a lower dark part and an upper lighter one. The lower part seems' 

to be denser or less porous than the upper. It contains more clay 

and will remain damp longer. The clay is so abundant in many sections that the material is easily plastic when damp, and on drying it 

shows in places a tendency to shrink and crack open. More usually, 

however, this lower part presents when dry the same general appearance as the upper part, except that it preserves the darker color. 

In weathering the lower part disintegrates and wears back less 

rapidly than the upper part, so that in places a shoulder or change 

of slope is developed where the two divisions rnaet. This was well 

'shown in the deep railway cut at Ripley,, Tenn.., before the recent 

widening was done in double tracking the line. The darker, more 

silty portion of the loess, which seems to grade down into the sand 

and clay member, as already mentioned, is quite distinct from the 

upper part. The same distinction is to be seen in the cut at Curve, 

Tenn. At Memphis (PI. IV, B], Randolph, and elsewhere the same 

bipartite character is shown by the loess. The upper part is the 

typical porous, open-textured, light, ashen-colored loess. In it and 

the lower, darker portion alike are found the usual calcareous concretions, small, irregular in their distribution, and many of them 

curiously shaped.

In each case observed the lower portion is thinner than the upper 

and the line between the two is horizontal and distinct. It maybe , 

questioned, however, whether this line represents a rapid transition 

without interruption in the deposition of the loess or, as is claimed 

by some, is indicative of an actual break in the process and represents 

a time interval between two periods of loess formation. Without 

wishing to express a decided opinion on the subject until he has had 

opportunity for further and more detailed study, the writer is inclined * 

to the former view and would provisionally regard the loess in the 

area here considered as the product of one period of deposition rather, 

than two.

Over much of the first tier of counties east of Mississippi River in 

Tennessee and Kentucky the loess averages 30 feet in thickness. It,
46 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

accordingly conceals the Lafayette except in an occasional stream 

cutting. In southern Illinois practically all of the upland area in 

which embayment deposits occur is overspread with a sheet of loess, 

usually a score or more feet in thickness.

The exact mode of formation of loess deposits has been a matter 

of much discussion and difference of opinion, but all are agreed that 

the material of the loess is the finely ground rock flour resulting from 

glacial erosion. The loess of the Mississippi Valley owes its origin to 

the great ice sheet that covered all of the northern part of the valley 

and extended in southern Illinois to within 20 miles of the head of 

the embayment deposits. There are differences of opinion, however, 

in regard to the manner of deposition of the material. Some insist 

that it has been transported and deposited by the wind. Others 

believe it has been transported by streams and deposited in water 

either on a flood plain or in_the bottom of a lake that it is fluviatile 

or lacustrine instead of eolian.

Without entering into a detailed discussion of the evidence for the 

conclusion here stated, the writer may state his belief that the loess 

of the region under consideration is of fluviatile and not of eolian 

origin. The grading upward of the sands and gravels into the loess, 

the local occurrence in the loess of sandy streaks that must have been 

water-laid, the bipartite division of the loess seen widely over the 

region, the regularity or evenness of the contact plane between the 

two parts, and the absence of wind-deposit structure all give basis for 

the opinion here expressed as to the mode of deposition.

Loam. The third phase of the Columbia formation in this region 

is a yellowish or brownish loam in most of the area of its occurrence, 

though in some places it becomes a soft sand with very little argillaceous material. This phase is found mainly to the east of the area 

of the loess and is to be regarded as largely the equivalent of that 

member, though in some places in the loess area a few feet of loam 

overlie the loess.

The loose sand at the base of the Columbia blends with the overlying loam east of the loess area just as it grades up into the loess 

where the latter overlies it. In some places the blended sand and 

loam may be rather sandy, while in others they may grade into a 

clay. The best example of the sandy phase is found at Lagrange, 

Tenn., where the Lafayette is overlain by a layer of black soil a foot 

thick, and that by 15 feet or more of soft, light-colored, cross-bedded 

sand. This was the only locality in the entire region where a soil 

layer was found between the Lafayette and the Columbia. A similar soil layer was found by McGee at Holly Springs, Miss.a The 

appearance of the soil layer and the overlying sand at Lagrange, 

considered in connection with its peculiar topographic relationships,

a McGee, W J, The Lafayette formation: Twelfth Ann. Bept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 1, 1891, p. 460.
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ROCKS. 47

suggests very strongly that the cross-bedded sand over the soil may 

be a local wind-made deposit of recent origin rather than a part of 

the Co umbia. It caps the southward-facing scarp that overlooks 

Wolf Eiver. The steep slope down to the river is cut by many deep 

ravines whose bare sides are of soft, loose Lagrange sand. It is conceivable that the strong winds from the south blowing up the ravines 

might catch up the loose sand and carry it to the top of the scarp in 

such quantities as to account for the cross-bedded sands found there 

over the soil layer. The ascending sand-bearing air current would, 

on reaching the top of the scarp, produce an eddy in which the sand 

would be dropped, as is illustrated in fig. 6.

Although the writer has not seen the Holly Springs occurrence 

referred to above, yet McGee's statement that the topographic relationships are exactly similar to those at Lagrange is highly suggestive 

of a similar eolian origin for the sand there found over the soil layer.

The Columbia loam, east of the loess, is a thin veneer derived from 

the Lafayette and resting upon and partly concealing it. It is rarely 

over 10 or 12 feet thick and is often not more than half that thickness. It thins out to the east, 

and in Tennessee and Kentucky disappears before the 

eastern edge of the embayment deposits have .been 

reached. In Illinois the loess 

makes the surface of the uplands of the embayment region, and the loam Seems to FIG. 6.-Section showing sand deposited in eddy 

0 ' of wind current on top of bluff.

be absent. It has not been

found practicable to represent on the geologic map the area covered 

by the Columbia loam. In a general way its eastern edge crosses 

eastern Hardeman, eastern Madison, western Carroll, and western 

Henry counties in Tennessee, and western Galloway and western 

Marshall counties in Kentucky.

RECENT DEPOSITS.

Alluvium. Between Mississippi River and the bluffs that bound 

its valley on the east there is a varying width of flood plain composed 

of alluvial deposits. At a few points in Tennessee and Kentucky 

the river swings against the bluffs on its eastern side, but usually 

the alluvial plain is from 2 or 3 to 8 or 10 miles wide. In Illinois the 

Mississippi alluvial plain is a number of miles wide and the flood 

plain of the Ohio is of similar character, though it is mostly confined 

to the Kentucky side of the river. The main tributaries of the 

Mississippi, such as the Hatchie, the Forked Deer, and the Obion, 

have similar valleys composed of alluvial deposits and varying from 

1 mile to several miles in width.
48 UNDERGROUND WATEES: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS. '

The materials composing these plains are sands and silts brought 

down by the rivers and deposited in time of flood, thus building up 

flood plains in the valleys which the rivers had previously carved 

out of the older formations of the region.

No extensive study of the alluvium was made, for want of time, 

but where examined in a number of places the silts seemed all to be 

of modern origin and the writer would assign the deposits seen at 

Memphis, those along the banks of the river from Memphis to Fulton, 

Tenn., those at Hickman, at Columbus, at Wickliffe, at Cairo, and 

at Paducah to the recent period. When it is considered how constantly and, as a rule, how rapidly Mississippi River is shifting the 

position of its channel because of meandering, and when it is further 

considered not only how each meander grows until the meander belt 

is a number of miles wide, but also how each meander is slowly 

working downstream, cutting away the materials before it while 

other materials are being deposited behind it, it may be concluded 

that nowhere near the river can any deposit in the flood plain remain 

long unmoved if it rises above the level to which the river can cut 

a level which may be taken as about 100 feet beneath the flood-plain 

surface. Instances are innumerable of the cutting away of floodplain deposits on one side and rebuilding on the other by the lateral 

swing of the river. It is, in fact, going on all the time, as the surveys 

of the Mississippi River Commission show. The entire channel may 

move a mile or more by such cutting in a few years, and the changes 

that have occurred within the memory of men yet living are so great 

that it is not improbable that the river may have swung entirely 

across its valley from Crowleys Ridge in Missouri and Arkansas to 

the Chickasaw and Columbus bluffs in Tennessee and Kentucky in 

2,000 to 4,000 years.

That these alluvial deposits are geologically young is apparent 

from another line of reasoning. They have been deposited in a valley 

that is 30 miles wide at Memphis and 45 miles wide farther north. 

This valley has been cut at least 200 to 300 feet beneath the plain 

in which it is carved. The dissevered portions of this plain are seen 

to-day in the flat upland surface of the bluffs on the east and of 

Crowleys Ridge on the west. This surface, however, is capped 

with the loess and the excavation of the broad valley has mainly 

taken place since the loess was deposited. There was some cutting 

away of the Lafayette along the main Mississippi River before the 

loess was deposited, corresponding to the cutting on the tributaries of 

the Mississippi to form the second bottoms, where the Lafayette has 

been removed but the loess is present; but this cutting was not sufficient to account for the excavation of the valley as we now find it. 

Since the excavation was finished some alluvial filling has occurred, 

leaving the level of the flood plain as at present.

From borings made by the Mississippi River Commission it is
DESCBIPTIONS OF THE BOCKS. 49

concluded that in the portion of its valley from Cairo to Memphis 

the river has not cut into the embayment deposits more than between 

100 and 150 feet beneath its present flood-plain surface, or in other 

words, has never cut very much deeper than its channel may now 

reach under favorable conditions for deep scouring.

These alluvial deposits are accordingly believed to be between 100 

and 200 feet thick and of later age than the loess; parts of them, of 

course, are still forming. Near the river the deposits are sands and 

silts; farther away from the river they become gradually finer and 

pass into clays which are usually blue or dark colored from the 

organic matter present.

The same uplift which permitted the Mississippi to cut out so broad 

a valley in the loess-sheeted plain likewise permitted its tributaries 

to incise their courses beneath the uplands and to broaden their 

valleys until they were locally 5 to 10 miles wide. The alluvial 

deposits in the valleys of these tributaries are like those of the 

Mississippi and consist of silts and sands that usually contain much 

decaying vegetable matter. It is generally the rule that since the 

formation of these alluvial deposits by the tributaries of the Mississippi they have been cut into and another flood plain has been formed 

10 to 15 or occasionally as much as 30 feet lower than the older alluvial surface. This older surface is known as the (< second bottoms," 

while the lower plain is the present-day flood plain, large portions of 

which are swampy. It is surprising to note how characteristic a 

feature of the region these first and second bottoms are. They are 

found even along the smaller headwater streams in many places. 

The present flood plain, or first bottom, is usually much narrower 

than the second bottom.

The writer has been thus explicit in giving his conception of the 

very recent age of the alluvial deposits of the Mississippi in this 

region because various authors" have correlated parts, at least, of 

these deposits, from Memphis up as far, in one case, as Paducah, Ky., 

with the Port Hudson deposits of Mississippi. The stratigraphic 

position of the Port Hudson clay is between the Lafayette gravels 

beneath and the loess above. Since the valley in the region here 

considered was not excavated until after the loess had been deposited 

the clays found in this valley, at least from Memphis up, can not be 

older than the loess and so can not be of Port Hudson age.

The lithologic similarity of the Port Hudson clay and certain blue 

clays found in this region, notably about New Madrid, Mo., is only 

what might be expected. Both were formed by the same agency. 

Similar materials under these circumstances should form similar 

deposits whether they be of Port Hudson or of younger age.

a See McGee, W J, The Lafayette formation: Twelfth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 1, 1891, p. 

400; Loughridge, R. H., Jackson Purchase Region, 1888, p. 74; Shepard, E. M., The New Madrid earthquake: Jour. Geol., 1905, p. 48.

IHB 164 06 4
50 UNDEEGEOUND WATEES: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS. 

GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE.

In discussing artesian conditions in the region and in describing 

the area of outcrop and dip of the various formations, much has 

already been said concerning the structure of the embayment deposits. Only a brief recapitulation is necessary here. It has already 

been stated that these deposits lie in the eastern half of a broad basin 

projecting northward from the Gulf region and ending in southern 

Illinois. On the floor of this basin the formations described in previous pages were laid down in succession in broad sheets one above 

another. The eastern edge of each formation in Tennessee and Kentucky usually does not overlap the edge of the formation beneath, 

but permits its exposure in an outcrop of varying width which extends 

northward across these two States. At the north end of the trough 

in southern Illinois the formations rise to the surface like the tip of a 

spoon. The western half of the basin lies in southwestern Missouri 

and eastern Arkansas.

It does not seem probable that the floor of this basin slopes at all 

uniformly from its outcropping edges to a deepest central line, but 

rather that the islope is relatively rapid near the sides of the trough 

and decreases farther out in it, or that a cross section of the trough 

is broadly U-shaped rather than broadly V-shaped. If so, as each 

of the formations that fill the trough is probably nearly uniform in 

its thickness, the dips are steeper near the margins of the trough than 

well out within it. Ascertained dips for short distances near the 

margins are about 30 feet per mile, while some of the data' reported 

for southern Illinois would, if correct, indicate southward dips there 

of about 50 feet per mile. Well within the basin westward dips of 

22 feet per mile are found.

There are no indications of any folding of the rocks of the embayment, but in the Porters Creek formation there has been in many 

places a slight faulting accompanying the earthquake disturbances 

that have caused the formation of the sandstone dikes described on 

page 30. In the Reelfoot Lake region the Lagrange sands were 

fissured and in places slightly faulted by the New Madrid earthquake 

of 1811-12. The vertical displacement seems, however, in no case 

to have exceeded a few feet. This faulting in the Porters Creek and 

the Lagrange has not materially affected the water-supply problems 

of the region here discussed. There seems to be no evidence, in this 

region, at least, that the artesian pressure has been decreased because 

the earthquake fissures provided channels for the water to escape. 

The approximate elevation to which artesian waters rise in various 

parts of the region is given for a number of places on page 160 and 

graphically represented in fig. 13. From this it is readily seen that
KESOURCES OF BENTON COUNTY, TENN. 51

Dyersburg and Union City, Tenn., and Hickman, Ky., the nearest 

localities given to the earthquake center, do not show any abnormal 

depression of hydrostatic level when 

compared with other places near by.

UNDERGROUND-WATER 

RESOURCES.

RESOURCES OF TENNESSEE, BY 

COUNTIES. Mississippi. R. 

Memphis

BENTON COUNTY.

Topography. Benton is a long, 

narrow, county, lying just west of 

Tennessee River and extending north 

and south along the river for a distance of 40 miles. Its north end, 

which almost reaches the Kentucky 

line, is formed by the junction of Big 

Sandy and Tennessee rivers. The 

Big Sandy, which flows northward 

almost parallel to the Tennessee, 

forms its northern and about half of 

its western boundary. The area of 

the county, as given by the-Twelfth 

Census (1900), is 430 square miles. 

The surface is best described as being 

rolling to hilly. Very little of it is 

level, owing to the proximity of Tennessee and Big Sandy rivers, whose 

numerous small tributaries have cut 

the'originally level surface into hills 

near the rivers and made it rolling 

farther away from them. The 

streams are usually bordered by a 

flood plain and a second bottom 

which varies from a few hundred 

yards to half a mile in width.

The maximum elevation in the 

county is found along the ridge separating the Big Sandy and Tennessee river watersheds. This ridge 

attains heights of 500 to 600 feet 

above tide. The lowest point in the 

county is at the Big Sandy, where 

the elevation at low water is about

310 feet. Low water at Johnsonville is 322 feet. The elevation 

at Big Sandy station is 347 feet, at Camden 444 feet, and of the

Tennessee R .
52 UNDERGROUND WATERS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

summit just west of Camden, on the Nashville, Chattanooga and 

St. Louis Railway, 486 feet. The average elevation of the county 

is between 400 and 450 feet. As it is on the eastern border of the 

embayment region, where the outcrop of the porous Ripley strata 

receives its water, very little artesian pressure could be expected 

anywhere in the county. Some wells on the flood plain of the Big 

Sandy,- however, flow with a slight head.

Geology. The contact between the Paleozoic limestones, shales, 

and cherts and the embayment deposits runs north and south through 

about the middle of the county. The eastern half of the county lies 

accordingly in the Paleozoic area, and will not be discussed here. 

The rocks of the western half are of Cretaceous and Pliocene age.

The Eutaw sand extends for a few miles northward into the south 

end of the county, but its area is small and its thickness can not be 

very great, owing to its relation to the Tennessee River drainage and 

to the fact that it feathers out here and disappears, not being found 

farther north. Water issues from the base of the Eutaw in springs 

along the hillsides in numerous places and is reached at from 20 to 40 

feet in wells. It is chalybeate in places where there is much lignitic 

material in the formation.

It is probable that just west of the Eutaw area, in the extreme 

southwestern part of the county, there is along Birdsong Creek a 

small area of the Selma clay, though, 'owing to the topography, 

exposures are poor and the delimitation of the north end of the 

Selma outcrop has not been definitely made. The water in this 

formation is small in amount and of very poor quality. The Selma 

area in this county is so small as to be practically negligible.

The Ripley sand covers the western part of the county. Its eastern 

edge extends from the southwest corner of the county northward 

past Camden, and the formation embraces part of the divide between 

the Big Sandy and the Tennessee, extending probably as far north 

as the Louisville and Nashville Railroad before thinning out and 

disappearing. For some distance in its lower course the Big Sandy 

has cut through the Ripley sand into the underlying Paleozoic rocks. 

The Ripley furnishes abundant supplies of good water, but owing 

to its open, porous texture the depth of wells in this formation is 

greater than elsewhere, ranging from 60 to 100 feet or more. Springs 

are not so abundant in it as in other formations.

Overlying these Cretaceous formations and the Paleozoic rocks is 

a blanket of Lafayette sand, loam, and gravel that is tattered by 

erosion along the larger streams, but mantles the inter-stream areas 

in an unbroken sheet from 10 to 30 feet or more thick. In many 

places the formation contains limonitic iron ore in considerable 

quantities. In places springs issue from the base of the Lafayette,
RESOURCES OP CARROLL COUNTY, TENN. 53

though they are usually weak and their flow may decrease or fail 

during long droughts.

Water resources. Benton County is naturalljy well watered by 

streams that flow the year round and furnish abunda'nt water for 

stock. Along the base of the hills numerous springs are found. In 

the embayment area these come mostly from the Lafayette or the 

Ripley, the latter furnishing the larger number and the stronger 

flows. Springs and wells usually yield soft, freestone water, but in 

a few cases it contains sulphur and iron. Domestic supplies are 

derived from springs and open wells, the latter being somewhat the 

more important source. These wells may be as shallow as 10 feet in 

low ground along streams or as deep as 100 feet on high ground in 

the Ripley sands. Very few cisterns are in use.

At Big Sandy station, elevation 372 feet, the principal water 

supply is derived from wells which range from 6 to 50 feet in depth 

and yield an abundance of soft water from gravel which underlies a 

clay bed 4 to 6 feet thick. Springs also are much used, and there are 

a few cisterns.

At Bristow open wells of moderate depth are exclusively used.

At Faxon springs and open wells 25 to 30 feet deep furnish the 

supply.

Gismonda is very near the edge of the Paleozoic area, and a number 

of sulphur and chalybeate springs flow from sands.

At Nobles the supply is derived from the Ripley sands by small 

bored wells that range from 60 to 125 feet in depth.

At Wyly there is a flowing well located 6 feet above high water on 

the Big Sandy. It is 1£ inches in diameter, 50 feet deep, and yields 

5,000 gallons a day. The flow varies somewhat at times. Other 

wells are mostly open, are on higher ground, and furnish soft water 

at a depth of 25 to 30 feet.

At Zach the country is flat, and wells are from 10 to 20 feet deep. 

There are a few springs, but in summer their water is not cold.

CARROLL COUNTY.

Topography. Carroll County is situated in the northeastern part 

of western Tennessee. For 2 miles on the northwest South Fork of 

Obion River separates it from Weakley County. Its area is 624 

square miles.

The watershed between Mississippi and Tennessee rivers crosses 

the county in a direction somewhat east of north and separates it 

into an eastern slope which embraces about a third of the county and 

drains into Big Sandy and Tennessee rivers, and a western slope 

which embraces the rest of the county and drains into the Mississippi. 

The highest part of the county is along this divide, which has an
54 UNDEKGKOUND WATEESZ TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

elevation of from 450 to nearly or quite 500 feet. The lowest elevation is cbout 350 feet, at the points where the Big Sandy and South 

Fork of the Obion leave the county. The average elevation of the 

county is not far from 425 feet. The surface along the TennesseeMississippi divide is hilly and broken, for headwater erosion is active. 

The northern and western parts of the county are more level and the 

main streams here, as a rule, have broad, level flood plains and second 

bottoms.

Geology. The Selma clay occurs in the extreme southeast corner 

of the county, but covers a very small.area. West of it there is a 

belt of Ripley sand 6 to 8 miles in width that occupies the eastern 

part of the county, its western edge running about parallel with and 

2 miles west of Big Sandy River. Along the broad valley of the Big 

Sandy water is found in the Ripley sand at slight depths, but on the" 

uplands wells average from 50 to 125 feet in depth and furnish soft 

water.

West of the Ripley sands there is a belt of Porters Creek clay 

about 2 miles wide, its western edge passing through Huntingdon. 

This clay is popularly known as soapstone. It is variable in thickness, being in some wells only 10 feet thick, while in others it is 80 

feet or more. In many places it is almost black and imparts a 

disagreeable odor to the water. Physicians report that people 

habitually using such water become pale, anasmic, and sickly. If 

the Porters Creek is everywhere less than 100 feet thick in this county, 

as it seems to be wherever records of its thickness have been obtained, 

it should always be possible to go through it and get good water from 

the underlying Ripley sands. To the west the Porters Creek dips 

under the Lagrange sand at a low angle and may be reached, in low 

places especially, in wells dug within half a mile or a mile west of its 

surface outcrop. Such wells should either be dug on through it to 

the Ripley sand or be stopped just above it, so as to draw water 

from the basal sands of the overlying Lagrange. 

' West of the Porters Creek clay belt the county is underlain by 

Lagrange sands and clays. The sands are soft and variable in texture 

so that coarse beds are not widely continuous, but occur at various 

horizons and extend each usually over a small area only. With the 

sands are thin beds of plastic clays, and locally these beds serve to 

confine the waters in the underlying sand. When such clay strata 

are dug or bored through the water often rises at once a number of 

feet, dependent on the local elevation. In low places, as along the 

bottoms of the streams in the western part of the county, artesian 

flows may be obtained. There are a number of such artesian wells 

less than 100 feet deep in the bottoms just west of Huntington. On 

the rolling uplands of the western part of the county the Lagrange
BESOUKCES OF CARKOtiL COUNTY, TENET. 55

yields water at depths of 35 to 100 feet. The water is always soft, 

but may in places contain iron and sulphur. Bold springs may rise 

from the Lagrange sands in the bottom lands along the streams, 

while out on the edges of the valleys, along the foot or on the slopes 

of the bordering hills, weaker springs issue from the base of the 

Lafayette.

Over the formations already named there is a covering of 10 to 20 

feet of Lafayette sand and sandy clay. Occasionally there is a little 

gravel in the lower part, but as a rule gravel is inconspicuous or 

absent. In the western part of the county a few feet of Columbia 

loam overlie the Lafayette.

Water resources. The streams of Carroll County are numerous 

enough to furnish a supply of running water for stock almost everywhere. These streams flow the year round. For household supplies 

open dug wells are much in use where water may be obtained at such 

moderate depths as 25 to 50 feet. Even for these depths, however, 

bored wells have been in recent years largely used instead of the 

olden-time dug wells, because they are easier to make and cheaper. 

Bored wells are also in use where it is necessary to go 50 to 100 feet 

or more, though for depths of 100 to 150 feet small pipe wells sunk 

by a hydraulic jet are common. The bored wells run from 4 to 12 

inches in diameter and are curbed with wood. Water is usually 

drawn by a cylindrical bucket with a valve in the bottom. Some 

bored wells are curbed with terra-cotta pipe, and some <of these, in 

in low places, where the ground-water level is nearly at the surface, 

overflow in spite of the loose joints of the terra-cotta that is, they 

are artesian. The small-pipe wells are usually fitted with a force 

pump run by hand, wind, or steam power, the latter being used 

only where the well furnishes the boiler supply for a cotton gin, 

sawmill, or other manufacturing establishment. In the belt underlain by the Porters Creek clay, where well water is almost unfit to 

use, and in the more elevated parts of the Ripley and Lagrange 

areas, where the depth to water is often 100 feet or more, many 

cisterns are in use. Deep waters may be obtained in the central 

and western parts of the county from either the Lagrange or the 

Bipley sands. In the Lagrange it will probably nowhere be necessary 

to go deeper than 200 feet, and the water will rise to about 375 to 

400 feet above the sea, the height decreasing westward. The water 

in the Ripley may be reached at depths of 250 to 300 feet from 

Huntington eastward; west of Huntington the Ripley sands lie 

deeper, and soon the Lagrange sands above become thick enough 

to furnish a deep-water supply. The few mineral springs in the 

county are sulphur or chalybeate and are of local note only.

At Atwood, elevation 439 feet, good pure water is .found in
56 UNDEBGEOUND WATEftSJ TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

abundance in the Lagrange sands at depths of 65 to 90 feet on the 

higher ground. One record showed surface sands and clay 20 feet, 

sand 18 or 20 feet, potter's clay 8 feet, yellow sand.76 feet (with 

water at 90 feet), gravel 6 feet.

At Carnsville, near the eastern edge of the Porters Creek clay, 

there are some wells in this formation that yield water unfit for use 

on account of its astringent taste and bad odor. Others, 30 to 75 

feet deep in the Ripley sands, furnish an abundance of good water.

At Cedar Grove, where the Lagrange sands outcrop, the water 

supply is derived from shallow wells and numerous springs. Three 

miles to the south there is a sulphur and iron spring of some local 

note. There are deep wells.

At Clarksburg good water is obtained from the Ripley sand at 

depths ranging from 20 feet on low ground to 135 feet on higher 

ground. At the shallower depths wells were formerly dug, but now 

nearly all are bored, the usual size being 12 inches. There are few 

pipe wells and very few springs.

At Dollar, also, water is obtained from the Ripley sand by means 

of bored wells, the average depth being from 50 to 135 feet, though 

some are only 20 feet. A few springs are in use.

At Garrettsburg, where the Ripley sand outcrops, shallow open 

wells and springs are used, the wells for domestic supply and the 

springs for stock.

At Hico, elevation 389 feet, an abundant of good soft water is 

obtained from the Lagrange sand at depths of 30 to 50 feet.

At Hollow Rock, elevation 425 feet, water is struck in open wells 

in the low, flat part of town at depths of 15 to 25 feet, and on higher 

ground at depths of 40 to 80 feet. A mile or two west of town, on 

the Mississippi-Tennessee divide, wells average 100 feet deep. All 

are in Ripley sand. There are numerous springs in low places along 

the streams, but the water is not considered healthful. In Hollow 

Rock a well, formerly 60 feet deep, but now filled up, is reported to 

have had an abundance of good water in the summer, but to have gone 

dry in the winter.

At Hollow Rock Junction, elevation 416 feet, the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway uses a small stream for supplying its 

engines.

Huntington, elevation 414 feet, is situated on the western edge of 

the Porters Creek clay. In some places the dark unctuous clay, or 

so-called u soapstone," is at or within a few feet of the surface and 

varies from 10 to 75 or 80 feet thick. At other places there are from 

20 to 50 feet of Lagrange and Lafayette sands over the Porters Creek 

clay. Some shallow wells are in the Lagrange sand and have good 

water; others are in the "soapstone" and have poor water; while 

still others go through the "soapstone" and get good water from the
BESOUBCES OF CAEBOLL COUNTS, TENN. 57

Ripley sand beneath. These open wells vary in depth from 10 feet 

in the bottoms just west of town to 90 feet on the town level. Wells 

sunk 50 to 70 feet in the bottoms usually flow at the surface with a 

head of 2 or 3 feet. Their water is soft, but usually contains some 

iron and sulphur; it is derived from the base of the Lagrange sand. 

There are two deep wells within 5 feet of each other at the Huntington corporation light and water works. They are 6-inch wells, 

drilled in 1898, one being 213 and the other 265 feet deep. The 

water rises a few inches above the surface. A log given from memory 

is as follows:

Log of well at Huntington, Tenn.

Feet.

Sand and clay (Lafayette and Lagrange).................................... 40

" Soapstone " (Porters Creek clay) ........................................ 65-70

Gray sand, partly somewhat indurated (Ripley)............................. 155-160

These two wells are said to be capable of yielding 800,000 gallons 

per day. An average amount of about 25,000 gallons per day is 

pumped into the mains under a direct pressure of 60 pounds for ordinary service, which is increased to 120 pounds for fire service. A 

chemical analysis shows the water to contain small quantities of iron 

and calcium carbonates; sulphates of potash, lime, soda, magnesia, 

and alumina; sodium and potassium chlorides, and sulphureted 

hydrogen. It is somewhat hard for washing, and the iron makes 

clothes and vessels yellow. It deposits in boilers only a rusty sediment that is easily blown off. The cold water eats out the valves 

and joints of pipes, but the hot water does not injure either "fittings 

or boilers. This water is considered very healthy. It is reported 

that in five years no case of typhoid fever has developed in town 

where the deep-well water is used.

At Lankford there is a flowing well 6 inches in diameter and 100 

feet deep. The water is used for household purposes, and is said to 

have medicinal qualities.

At Lavinia water is obtained at 160 feet depth, the entire section 

being sand.

At Leach water is obtained from springs and ordinary shallow open 

wells in the Lagrange sand.

At McKenzie, elevation 481 feet, some cisterns are used, and there 

are numerous wells ranging from 23 to 95 feet deep, the shallower 

ones being dug, the deeper ones bored. The shallow wells show some 

tendency to fail during dry seasons. There are also a number of 

deeper driven wells in the town and immediate vicinity that range 

from 175 to 335 feet deep. Water is abundant and soft in all of them. 

In some it contains iron, but not in objectionable quantity. These 

wells are generally used for boiler supply and stock watering on large 

farms. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad h&s a 6-inch well, 

reported by one person to be 335 and by another to be 362 feet deep.
58 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

The material encountered was chiefly sand. Water rises to within 90 

feet of the surface.

At McLemoresville there are some springs, but water is obtained 

from dug and bored wells 40 to 50 feet deep that get water in the 

Lagrange sand. The water is reported hard in one, soft in others.

At Mixie there are small bored wells and good, strong springs.

At Muse a supply of fair to good water is obtained from the Ripley 

sand. Wells are about 50 feet deep; the flow is rather weak.

At Post there is a bored well 24 feet deep that flows. The water 

is Irom the Porters Creek clay, and contains iron and sulphur.

At Townes a supply of good water is obtained from springs and 

shallow, open wells in the Ripley sand.

At Yuma, elevation 480 feet, a water supply is derived from the 

Ripley sand by ordinary open wells that range in depth ironi 20 feet 

in low places to 100 feet on higher ground.

CHESTER COUNTY.

Topography. Chester County is situated in the southeastern part 

of the area discussed in this paper. It is of irregular shape. The 

area of the county is 300 square miles, nine-tenths of which belongs 

to the Mississippi drainage basin, the remainder draining into Tennessee River. The Mississippi-Tennessee divide crosses the eastern 

part of the county. Along the water parting the surface is high and 

the country much broken and in places hilly and rough. The elevation along this summit ridge reaches nearly or quite 600 feet above 

tide. The eastward slope is steep and much cut up by the headwaters of the tributaries of the Tennessee. The slope to the west is 

at first steep and rough also, the surface being much dissected by 

the headwaters of Forked Deer River, but the middle and western 

parts of the county are more nearly level. Between the streams 

the general surface is flat, being broken only in a narrow fringe along 

either side of the main stream valleys, which lie 20 to 40 feet lower 

than the general country level. The average elevation is between 

450 and 500 feet, the highest point being about 600 feet on the dividing 

ridge, as already stated, and the lowest about 370 feet on the level 

of Forked Deer River at the point where it leaves the county. The 

streams east of the divide are all small and are the headwater tributaries of White Oak River and of Piney Creek or Beech Creek. West 

of the divide Forked Deer River attains considerable size before it 

leaves the county. A small area in the southwestern part of the 

county is drained by the headwaters of Piney Creek, a tributary of 

Hatchee River.

Geology. The rocks of Chester County consist of .the Selma clay 

and Ripley formation of the Cretaceous, the Porters Creek and 

Lagrange of the Eocene, and the Lafayette of the Pliocene.
KESOUBCES OF CHESTEB COUNTY, TENN. 59

The upper half of the Selma clay underlies about 20 square miles 

of the east end of the county. It lies entirely in the drainage basin 

of White Oak River and its western boundary extends almost north 

and south. The fine clays of this formation are j exposed in gullies 

and along the ravines draining into the headwaters of White Oak 

River. They are overlain by Lafayette- gravels and clays in places 

on the uplands where erosion has not been especially vigorous. The 

formation dips westward under the Ripley sands, which cross the 

county in a belt about 10 miles wide, their eastern part forming the 

dividing ridge between the Tennessee and Mississippi drainages and 

their western edge extending through Henderson. The Lafayette 

covering conceals a larger proportion of the Ripley than of the Selma.

The Porters Creek formation crosses the county in a belt 4 or 5 

miles wide, which extends from the southern projection of the county 

on the Hardeman-McNairy county line in a direction somewhat east 

of north to the extreme northern part of the county on the MadisonHenderson county line. Much of the Lafayette has been removed 

from the Porters Creek area, so that its leaden-gray clays are exposed 

in numerous places. The Lagrange sands are found in the western 

part of the county, covering an area 3 or 4 miles wide.

The Lafayette is 10 to 20 feet thick and overlies all the older formations. Near the eastern edge of the county it contains a considerable 

amount of rounded gravel. To the west the gravel becomes less 

abundant.

Water resources. The streams of the county are numerous and 

furnish in most cases a sufficient supply of water for stock. In a few 

cases ponds are used. In the rough and broken country in the 

eastern part of the county good springs flowing from the base of the 

Lafayette or from the Ripley sands are numerous and much used. 

The surface of the county is gently rolling or almost level to the west, 

and the springs are less abundant and valuable, though even in the 

more level portions springs may be found in the depressions along the 

streams. The main dependence for water in this part of the county, 

however, is on wells. The water level in the Ripley sands is generally deep. Good, unfailing wells run from 75 to 150 feet in depth. 

The worst water in the county is found in the Porters Creek area. 

As found in some wells, certain parts of this clay are reported to 

be as black as tar and to emit a strong, offensive odor. Water from 

these clays is usually small in quantity, hard, and of a disagreeable 

odor, which renders it unfit for use. In the lower half of the Porters 

Creek occur some fine-grained, silty sandstones, and water obtained 

from these beds, though still hard, is in larger quantity and usually 

without bad odor. In the Porters Creek area wells should either be 

stopped in the lower part of the overlying Lafayette, if this is locally 

thick enough to furnish a supply, or should be carried down entirely
60 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

through the Porters Creek to the underlying Ripley sands, in which 

water of good quality, rising to a level somewhere near the surface, 

should be obtained.

At Brinley, where the Ripley sand is the surface formation, there 

are some wells 30 to 50 feet deep and others 90 to 130 feet deep. The 

deeper wells are bored, 10 to 12 inches in diameter; they furnish 

soft water. Some springs are in use.

At Cabo, also in the Ripley area, there are numerous springs and 

some weak, shallow wells. The best wells are bored, 100 to 125 feet 

deep; they strike good, soft water at 90 to 100 feet, usually though 

not always in large quantity, the variation depending on the texture 

of the sand.

At Deanburg, which is situated on a flat ridge between two creeks, 

an abundant water supply is obtained from the Lagrange sands at a 

depth of 50 feet. Along the creeks are numerous never-failing 

springs, fed from the Lafayette and Lagrange sands. All the water 

here is soft.

At Enville the supply is derived from wells 15 to 30 feet deep and 

rather weak in flow. Better and larger supplies could be obtained 

by drilling 200 to 300 feet through the Selma clay into the Eutaw 

sand.

At Henderson, elevation 421 feet, a supply of soft water is obtained 

from the upper part of the Ripley sand at a depth of 50 to 60 feet. 

Bored wells 5 to 10 inches in diameter are in common use. A " blowing well" is reported, from which air is said to escape, especially in 

damp weather and in winter. This is of the usual type of blowing 

wells, in which air is absorbed by the porous sands during highbarometer conditions, to be given out with more or less noise when 

the pressure is decreased, with a falling barometer.

At Jasper some springs are used. Wells are generally very shallow 

because the "soapstone" (Porters Creek clay) is soon struck and 

yields water unfit for use. A few bored wells obtain a potable but 

hard water from a firm sand or sandstone in the Porters Creek at 70 or 

80 feet.

At MifBin water of fair quality is obtained from the Porters Creek 

clay at depths ranging from 30 to 60 or 70 feet.

Montezuma lies just about at the eastern edge of the Porters Creek 

area, and outside of this area good water is obtained at depths of 20 to 

70 feet. In the "soapstone" belt wells may go 100 to 150 feet and 

then be abandoned from failure to get water or from its foul odor. 

The water so obtained often contains iron and sulphur and is astringent and hard. There are numerous springs along the streams, and 

some of them contain iron or other mineral matter.

At Sweetlips, where the Ripley sand is the surface formation, good, 

soft water is obtained from wells 70 to 100, or, in some cases, 200 feet
RESOURCES OF CROCKETT COUNTY, TENtf. 61

deep. Along the foot of the hills good springs are found. In some 

cases water is raised from the deeper wells by windmills.

CROCKETT COUNTY.

Topography. Crockett County is elongated in a northwest-southeast direction and lies between Middle Fork of Forked Deer River on 

the northeast and South Fork of the same river on the southwest. It 

has an area of 267 square miles. The surface of the county is divided 

along a northwest-southeast line through its center into two slopes, 

one draining to the northeast into Middle Fork and the other to the 

southwest into South Fork of Forked Deer River. The central portion is a level and gently rolling upland, with an average general elevation of about 400 to 425 feet above sea level. Near the main rivers 

on either side, especially in the western, northwestern, and eastern 

portions, the surface is hilly, being cut up by the tributary streams. 

The highest portion is along the central dividing ridge near the southeast end of the county, with an elevation of about 425 feet. The 

lowest portion is along the two forks of Forked Deer River where they 

leave the northwest end of the county, and has an elevation of about 

300 feet.

Geology. The Lagrange formation underlies the entire county 

beneath a thin blanket of Lafayette sand and gravel, which forms the 

surface of much of the county, but is itself covered, especially in the 

northwest end, by a few feet of loess and loam. The Lagrange, while 

predominantly of light-colored sand, contains in the southeastern part 

of the county beds of light-colored clays and in the northwestern part 

clays dark with lignitic material that is pure enough in places to burn 

when dried. The sands which make the bulk of the Lagrange deposits 

are mostly fine grained, but local beds of coarser sand occur at irregular intervals and furnish the most abundant supply of water as well as 

the most favorable location for setting strainers.

Water resources. The surface is one of gentle relief, and as water 

sinks rapidly through the loose, porous sand of the Lagrange there is 

in many cases no opportunity for springs to form, so that they are not 

abundant and the few which occur as a rule have a weak flow. Aside 

from the rivers that border the county on two sides there are no 

streams of great importance. Pond Creek, the largest stream in the 

county, flows northwestward from Alamo, and Cypress Creek flows 

northwestward through the eastern part of the county. The other 

streams are very small and usually go dry during the summer, so that 

for watering stock the inhabitants depend largely on artificial ponds. 

For domestic supply wells and cisterns are in use. The wells include 

almost all classes. The old wells are largely dug and 20 to 30 feet 

deep. More recently, bored wells 6 to 12 inches in diameter and pipe 

wells about 2 inches in diameter have come into use, The water table
62 UNDEEGKOUND WATEES: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

in the Lagrange sand is often at some distance below the surface, so 

that if water is not obtained at 20 or 30 feet in the base of the Lafayette, it is necessary to go from 100 to 200 feet to get an adequate supply in sand coarse enough to be checked by a strainer. None of the 

wells in the county flow and the water in some stands so low that it is 

raised by windmill, gasoline, or steam power. The water is generally 

soft. In places, that derived from the Lagrange contains iron.

Alamo is situated near the center of the county on a plain with a 

surface of Lafayette sand. Some cisterns are used. Shallow, open, or 

dug wells get water from the base of the Lafayette. Of recent years 

small bored wells from 80 to 200 feet deep have come into use and furnish a good and abundant supply. Windmills are used to pump some 

of the deeper wells.

At Bells, elevation 331 feet, a good supply of water is obtained by 

driven or tubular wells from the Lagrange sand at a depth of 85 to 100 

feet, though some wells are 140 feet deep. The water rises within 30 

or 40 feet of the surface.

At Cairo soft water is obtained from shallow wells about 30 feet 

deep and water which is reported as hard, but which more probably is 

chalybeate, from driven wells 150 feet deep. Water in the deep wells 

is struck at 140 feet'and rises 90 feet in the pipe.

At Chestnut Bluff, on Forked Deer River, there are numerous 

springs at the foot of the hills. The wells, open and bored, range 

from 30 to 80 feet in depth. Blue clay is reached at about 30 feet, 

and in places, especially toward the west, it contains lignite. Wells 

stopped at this depth get good water from the overlying Lafayette 

sand, but in dry seasons they are apt to fail entirely. The deeper 

wells get a supply of hard water from beneath the clay. Wells for 

boiler supply are driven to 100 feet or more.

At Crockett Mills there is^an abundance of water in quicksand at 30 

to 50 feet, but this is so fine that strainers can not keep it out of the 

wells and they are sunk until coarser sand is reached or the depth 

becomes so great that the attempt is abandoned. The abrupt variation in the texture of the sand and the very small extent of any one 

coarse bed are shown by three driven wells here that are 132, 240, and 

420 feet deep, respectively. They furnish large quantities of soft 

water that contains some iron. No record of the 420-foot well was 

obtainable, but the section is described as being alternating sand and 

clay, the sand being the more abundant. Water is pumped by steam 

or by windmill.

At Foster there are very few springs. Open, shallow wells are in 

general use.

At Friendship springs are but little used. Bored wells of 18-inch 

diameter range from 32 to 75 feet in depth, according to elevation 

chiefly. Driven wells 2 or 3 inches in diameter range from 85 to 100
EESOURCES OF DECATUE, COUNTY, TENN. 63

feet in depth. The supply is abundant and is used for all purposes. 

Some wells contain iron.

At Maury City wells varying from 53 to 135 feet in depth furnish a 

good supply of water. They are pumped by hanldi or by gasoline 

engines.

DECATUR COUNTY.

Topography: Decatur County lies just west of Tennessee River. 

The surface slopes eastward and the drainage is into the Tennessee. 

The western portion of the county has the greatest elevation. It is 

almost flat in places remote from the small streams that drain it, but 

along the streams the surface has been cut by erosion into hills. The 

elevation in this western part of the county ranges Worn 380 feet along 

the streams to about 550 or 600 feet on the highest ridges.

Geology. Only the western two-fifths of the county is within the 

embayment, the remainder lying within the area of Paleozoic limestones. The line between these two geologic divisions runs with some 

sinuosities in a general nor^h-south direction, passing through Decaturville and Parsons. It is not difficult for even the layman to recognize this line, for west of it the rocks are all soft sands and clays, while 

east of it they are hard limestones and cherts. The eastern part of 

the county, within the Paleozoic area, is not discussed in this report.

The oldest surface formation in the western part of the county is the 

Eutaw sand, which lies immediately on the hard Paleozoic rocks. 

One of the best sections, at Parsons, is described at some length on 

page 24. The exposure there and in railway cuts just to the west may 

be regarded as typical of the formation. The Eutaw sand extends 

westward into the adjoining county. In the extreme northwest corner of Decatur County it is overlain by the clays and marl of the Selma 

clay in a very small area covering not over 2 or 3 square miles.

Spread thinly over the Eutaw sand and extending eastward over 

the Paleozoic rocks as well is the Lafayette. In many places it has 

been cut through by erosion. Its proximity to Tennessee River is 

reflected in the large amount of rounded chert gravel it contains. This 

gravel is exactly similar to that now being carried down by the river. 

In many places the Lafayette gravel is cemented by limonite into a 

conglomerate, while here and there the iron is rich enough to be mined 

as an ore.

Water resources. No attempts have been made within the embayment area of Decatur County to sink wells deeper than about 80 or 100 

feet. The underlying formation is the Eutaw, wh}ch yields water of 

good quality in the sandy layers at depths varying ;according to the 

topography from 30 to 80 feet. The supply is usually abundant. 

There are also in this formation numerous beds of clay that contain 

lignitic material and decomposing iron pyrite. Water from wells or
64 UNDEEGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

springs supplied by these strata sometimes contains sulphur and is usually more or less astringent from the iron sulphate present. In some 

cases the water on standing deposits a yellowish scum of hydrated iron 

oxide formed by the decomposition of iron carbonate.

At Beacon the supply is derived chiefly from wells of ordinary 

depth, those stopping in sand giving water free from mineral matter, 

while those in clay contain iron salts.

Parsons, elevation 488 feet, is situated on the eastern edge of the 

embayment deposits. Springs from the base of the Eutaw formation often contain iron and sulphur. Wells are generally used, and 

average 25 to 35 feet deep. Those dug to the sand and gravel at the 

base of the Eutaw obtain a good supply of pure, soft water; those 

stopping in an overlying clayey stratum obtain a less abundant 

supply of hard water, which may fail entirely in a dry season. Wells 

are either open, bored, or driven. There is no waterworks system in 

the town.

At Point Pleasant a supply is obtained from ordinary open or 

driven wells and from numerous springs along the bottom or lower 

slopes of the hills.

At Sugar Tree there are only shallow wells; the water in some 

of them is said to contain alum, while in others it is free from mineral ingredients. There are a few springs.

At Thurman the chief supply is from open wells that range from 

30 to 80 feet in depth. Some springs are used.

DYER COUNTY.

Topography. Dyer County is in the northwestern part of the 

embayment area of western Tennessee. It is bounded on the west 

by Mississippi River and on the south by Forked Deer River and its 

South Fork. The area is 500 square miles. The drainage is to the 

Mississippi directly or through Ohio River, Forked Deer River, or 

Reelfoot Lake.

The county may be divided into two parts that are topographically 

quite distinct. One is the rolling or hilly upland region, lying chiefly 

in the eastern half of the county. The other is the flat, alluvial 

bottom land of the Mississippi, the Obion, and other main streams. 

The upland is gently rolling except along the streams, where it 

becomes hilly, and along the line of bluffs separating it from the 

Mississippi bottom, where erosion has cut it into bold, steep hills that 

form the bluffs and overlook the broad expanse of bottom lands. 

The average elevation of the upland surface is about 375 feet; while 

that of the bottoms is from 100 to 150 feet less.

Geology. The formations of importance for water-supply purposes 

in Dyer County are the Lagrange, the Lafayette, the loess, and the 

alluvium.
EESOUECES OF DYEE COUNTY, TENN. 65

The Lagrange underlies the entire county. Although it is occasionally laid bare in ravines by the erosion of the overlying formations, it is generally concealed by one or more of these formations 

and is reached in wells at depths of 50 to 100 feet. It is the important 

water bearer of the area.

The Lafayette underlies the upland area of the county, resting on 

the Lagrange. It averages not over a score of feet in thickness. 

The Lafayette is not found beneath the bottom areas, because since 

its deposition it has been removed by the erosion which formed the 

stream valleys. It does not appear as a surface formation, except 

where the loess has been removed by erosion. It lies just beneath 

the loess and is reached in many wells.

The loess, like the Lafayette, occurs only in the upland part of the 

county and the second bottoms, and for the same reason it has elsewhere been removed by subsequent erosion. It rests on the Lafayette and often contains a stratum of gravel and sand at its base. 

It has a maximum thickness of 40 to 80 feet along the bluffs of the 

Mississippi, but thins out and gradually disappears to the east, so 

that a definite eastern limit for it can not be fixed. However the 

easterft edge of the county may be roughly taken as that limit.

The alluvium is found in the bottoms of the Mississippi and other 

streams. It rests directly on the Lagrange and varies in thickness 

up to 100 feet or more along the Mississippi. Along Obion and 

Forked Deer rivers the valley is divided topographically into a first 

and a second bottom. The first bottom is low and usually swampy 

and co'mposed of alluvium. The second bottom is 10 to 20 feet 

higher as a rule and covered with loess.

Water resources. In the more broken parts of the county, near the 

streams, springs issue from the Lafayette along the lower slopes of 

the hills. In the more level parts the open shallow wells in the 

loess usually yield hard water and early led to the use of cisterns. 

These are very easily and cheaply constructed in the loess and are 

extensively used. Of recent years driven wells 2 or 3 inches in 

diameter have come into use. These obtain a supply of fair to good 

water in the Lagrange at a depth of 150 to 250 feet, as a rule. The 

water is usually soft enough to use in washing, but may leave a 

soft or gummy scale in boilers. Water may be obtained from the 

Lagrange in all parts of the county, at reasonable dbpths, and should 

generally be of acceptable quality. The Lagrange here contains 

beds of clay, and much of the sand is fine, so that careful watch 

should be kept for any pocket of sand coarse enough to permit the 

use of a strainer. In the alluvial region the water obtained in shallow 

open or driven wells is generally unsatisfactory. Since the surface 

is everywhere either below or only slightly above high-water level 

in the rivers, wells in this region are shallow and draw their supplies 

IRR 164 06 5
66 UNDEBGBOTJND WATEES: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

of water practically from the surface. The water in the wells on 

the elevated strip of flood plain near the banks of the Mississippi 

rises and falls in harmony with the varying stages of the river surface. 

The water from the alluvium is usually hard and flat or "sweet" in 

taste and must contain considerable organic matter, resulting from 

the decomposition of the abundant plant remains that are embedded 

everywhere in the flood-plain deposits. Better water may be 

obtained on any of the flood plains by sinking deep wells into the 

underlying Lagrange formation.

At Bandmill, in the Mississippi bottom, poor water is obtained 

from the alluvium by shallow driven wells.

At Bogota, on a tributary of the Obion, there are no springs or 

open wells, but water is obtained from driven wells 18 to 20 feet 

deep. The quality is said to be good.

At Dyersburg, elevation 295 feet, on Forked Deer River, shallow 

open and driven wells and cisterns are used. The shallow wells run 

from 30 to 60 feet in depth. The 30-foot wells in the loess get poor 

surface water. The 60-foot wells go through the loess and get a 

better water from the Lafayette sand or the top of the Lagrange. 

The supply from this sand is large. Five wells in it yield about 

250,000 gallons a day, but the water is hard and that from some of 

them scales badly in boilers. The old water company had an artesian 

well 6 inches in diameter and 650 feet deep, with a natural flow of 

about 150,000 gallons a day rising about 10 feet above the well 

mouth. When pumped the well was capable of yielding 1,000,000 

gallons a day with proper air lift. The log, given from memory, is 

as follows:

Log of well at Dyersburg, Tenn.

Sand, very fine on top, grading into a layer of pebbles 1 inch in diameter at botSoft light-colored clay . . .......................................................

Thickness.

Feet. 

10

40

40

25

30

275 (?)

230(?)

Depth.

Feet. 

10

50

90

115

145

420 (?)

650

The water has not been analyzed, but it is not good for boiler or 

general industrial use, so that the municipal corporation which has 

bought out the old private water company now takes the town supply from Forked Deer River and forces it by two 1,000,000-gallon 

Worthington pumps into a standpipe 27 by 50 feet in size and 125 

feet above the pumps. The supply is filtered by Jackson mechanical 

filters.

The Phcenix Cotton Oil Company has a well, drilled in 1899, at
RESOUECES OF DYEE COUNTY, TENN. 67

about the same elevation as the town well, an|d 591 feet deep. For 

the upper 200 feet the diameter is 8 inches; below that, 6 inches, 

with a 30-foot strainer. The log, given from memory by one of 

the proprietors of the mill, is as follows:

Log of well ofPhosnix Cotton Oil Company, Dydrsbiirg, Tenn.

Clay and sand .................................................................

Thickness.

Feet. 

200

+350

41

Depth.

Feet. 

200

+550

591

At 200 feet a weak flow of water containing considerable mineral 

matter was encountered. The natural flow is at first 100 gallons a 

minute under a head of 11 feet. This flow decreases slowly until the 

strainer is washed out by back pressure and th0n resumes its original 

volume. The water contains 138 parts per million of mineral matter, 

114 parts of which are iron salts. The water flows naturally into a 

pool, which was at first shallow and aerated it sufficiently to cause 

most of the iron to be precipitated. The pool has lately been deepened and" now aeration and precipitation are imperfect and a yellowish rust-colored soft scale is deposited in the boilers.

Another log of these two wells was given also from memory 

by Johnson and Fleming, of Memphis, who drilled both wells. It is 

as follows:

Log of well of Phoenix Cotton Oil Company, Dyeqsburg, Tenn.

Feet. 

Loess.................................................................... 5

Fine sand and gravel, gray-black in color.................. j................. 40 or 50

Silt, gray to black, full of leaves and lignite to 220 feet from surface......... 165 or 175

Blue clay, with leaves and logs.............................................. 360

White pipeclay ........................................................... 20

White sand with fine particles of lignite and iron pyrite......................... 28

They report the town well as 584 feet deep and the oil company's 

as 628. The oil company's purchase of pipe anjd strainer shows only 

591 feet.

West of Dyersburg in the bottoms driven w^lls 2 inches in diameter and 10 to 40 feet deep are used. The w^ter is poor and flat or 

"sweet.'' East of town, on the upland, wells average about 40 feet 

deep.

At Finley cisterns are used very largely.

At Lane there are a few springs, several opeji wells, some cisterns, 

and a number of driven wells 75 to 125 feet in depth. An approximate log of one of these is as follows:
68 UNDERGROUND WATERS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

Log of well at Lane, Tenn.

Sand, fine-grained, water-bearing. .._.........._..........._ ................

Blue clay .................................................................. . .

Thickness.

Feet. 

35

25

5

15

10

25

5

Depth.

Feet. 

35

60

65

80

90

115

120

The supply is abundant but the water is hard.

At Laplata water is obtained from shallow wells that average 30 

feet in depth.

At Newbern, elevation 380 feet, cisterns were formerly much used. 

There is a town system of waterworks deriving an abundant supply 

from two wells, each 165 feet deep; one of 5-inch diameter, put down 

in 1892, the other of 8-inch diameter, put down in 1897. The water 

rises within about 70 feet of the surface. The supply is ample for the 

two pumps, which have a combined capacity of 8,000 gallons per 

hour. The water is soft and very good for washing. It forms a little 

soft scale in boilers which is easily removed by a boiler compound. 

It does not injure the iron, but corrodes brass connections rapidly. 

The health of the town is said to have been materially improved by 

the use of this water. Typhoid and malarial fevers especially have 

decreased in frequency. There are other wells of about the same 

depth at the Illinois Central Railroad water tank, the ice plant, a 

planing mill, and a flouring mill.

A generalized section given by Mr. J. L. Holt, a Newbern well 

driller, is as follows:

Generalized section at Newbern, Tenn. \

Feet.

Yellow clay (loess)........................................................ 30±

Sand, fine, only a little water in it (Lafayette)................................. 4±

Joint clay, or soapstone, bluish gray.......................................... 30-60

Quicksand, fine, silty, down to a total depth of 130-150 feet..................... 35-85

Coarse yellow sand, penetrated.............................................. 10-15

At the planing mill, on about the same level as the town well, no 

joint clay was encountered. Thirty feet of loess were followed by 

a quicksand that became coarser downward until the strainer was 

set at 110 feet depth.

Two miles west of Newbern the following record was obtained in 

a well made for Mr. Kit Haskins:

Log of Haskins well near Newbern, Tenn.

Thickness.

Feet. 

50

50

50

45

2

13

Depth.

Feet. 

50

100

150

195

197

210
RESOURCES OF DYER COUNTY, 69

Eight miles west of Newbern water was obtained on the upland 

for Mr. Guy Fairbanks at a depth of 156 feet. | The section was as 

follows:

Log of Fairbanks well near Newbern, J]enn.

Sand and gravel with 

Quicksand with some

Thickness.

Feet. 

50 

40 

12 

54

Depth.

Feet. 

50 

90 

112 

166

Five miles -south of Newbern, on the uplands north of Forked 

Deer River, a hard water not fit for boiler use ^s obtained at a depth 

of about 325 feet. The water rises to within f75 feet of the surface. 

The strata passed through were as follows:

Log of well on Forked Deer River near Newborn, Tenn. a

Thickness.

Feet. 

40

100

85

100

Depth.

Feet. 

40

140

. 225

325

a Figures are approximate.

Along Obion River wells on the first bottom average 50 feet in 

depth. They usually pass through blue mu[d from 20 to 50 feet 

thick and enter a bluish muddy sand, in wljiich the well is made. 

Occasionally a pocket of gravel is encountered beneath the blue mud. 

On the second bottoms, which rise 15 to 25 f^et above the first bottoms, and are from 4 to 12 miles wide, the average depth of wells is 

about 110 feet, and the average record is, from the top down, yellow 

to gray clay (loess), 20 to 40 feet thick; blu^ mud, often very soft, 

20 to 30 feet thick; muddy quicksand as in first bottoms. There is 

no Lafayette gravel between the yellow clay, 6r loess, and the underlying blue mud of the Lagrange. In the cutting of the broad valley 

represented by the second bottom the Lafaytette was removed; the 

loess was then laid down alike over upland and valley floor; then 

uplift came and the loess was removed from the area now occupied 

by the streams and the first or present bottom.

On the uplands east of Newbern, toward Tffenton, water is usually 

soft and is reached at about 50 to 55 feet. I[n some spots, which are 

not necessarily high places, one must go 90 <f>r 100 feet to obtain an 

unfailing supply. In this region the loess soon thins out and disappears, and hence the water is apt to be soft.

At Templeton driven wells range in depti from 30 to 150 feet. 

The deeper ones yield an unfailing supply of water that is usually 

soft, but in some cases contains iron and oth^r minerals. The water
70 UNDEBGBOUND WATEES: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

here, as elsewhere in the county at any notable depth, is obtained 

from sands of the Lagrange formation.

At Tennemo, on the Mississippi, poor water is obtained from shallow driven wells; river water is also used.

At Tigertail small driven wells average about 30 feet in depth.

At Trimble there are a few cisterns, but water is obtained mainly 

from driven wells that range from 40 to 110 feet in depth and furnish a good supply. The water in the shallow wells is hard; in the 

deeper ones it is somewhat soft and is used for boilers without much 

difficulty. The loess is about 30 or 40 feet thick and is underlain 

by a blue day, often so soft as to run, 4 to 10 feet thick, followed 

by a fine quicksand, which usually becomes coarse enough at a depth 

of 80 to 110 feet to make the well there.

FAYETTE COUNTY.

Fayette County is in the southwestern part of the area discussed, 

and is bordered on the south by the State of Mississippi. Its area 

is 618 square miles. The entire county drains into Wolf, Loosahatchie, and Hatchee rivers, which are all tributary to the Mississippi. The larger part of the area is elevated and rolling. In the 

southeasten part of the county there are hills adjacent to the Wolf 

River valley. In the northwestern part the county on either side 

of the Loosahatchie is broken and hilly. The southeastern part 

of the county is the highest. Lagrange has an elevation of 531 feet, 

and elsewhere in the vicinity elevations of 550 to 575 feet are found. 

The general slope is westward, and the lowest elevation, about 260 

feet, is on the western edge of the county, where Loosahatchie River 

leaves it.

Geology. The underlying formation is everywhere the Lagrange. 

It is exposed in many places in the ravines and deep gullies, and contains clay beds that are mined in a number of places. The section 

at Lagrange, from which place the formation takes its name, is 

given on page 36. It is overlain by 10 to 20 feet of orange-colored 

sand belonging to the Lafayette, and this in turn by a few feet .of 

Columbia sand or loam, or, in the northwestern part of the county, 

by the thin eastern edge of the loess.

Water resources. As a rule, springs are not numerous in this 

county. The Lagrange consists here very largely of sands which 

absorb water freely, and contains comparatively few beds of clay 

extensive enough to intercept the water in its downward passage 

and guide it to the surface along their outcrops to form springs. 

The water table or ground-water level lies here farther from the surface than is the case either to the east or the west of this outcrop 

belt of the Lagrange. Springs are generally freestone. The depth 

to water, which is in many places 75 to 150 feet, makes open wells
RESOURCES OF FAYETTE COUNTY, TENN. 71

expensive and inconvenient, and so cisterns are largely used. Driven 

wells 2 or 3 inches in diameter have in recent } rears come into use in 

many sections. The deeper ones are usually mumped by windmills 

or by gasoline or steam engines. The quality of the water from the 

Lagrange sand is generally good. Occasionally a well strikes a 

bed of lignitic material and the water then contains iron and sulphur. In places weak flows may be obtaineR at the base of the 

Lafayette. As a rule, such water can not b0 depended on during 

dry seasons. It seems to gather in little local Repressions on the 

upper surface of the Lagrange, being held i|ip by an impervious 

crust Df ironstone, which in places is found at] the contact between 

these two formations, but which may be waniing within a hundred 

yards, [f this impervious layer is penetrate^, the Lagrange sand 

beneath is generally found dry, and one may did; 50 or 100 feet deeper, 

or more, before getting water in this formation. Water should be 

obtainable anywhere in the Lagrange at depths of not more than 

.-200 or 250 feet, and in many places it is found at a depth considerably 

less. The streams of the county are numerous and except in dry 

seasons have an abundant flow. Some of them have considerable 

fall and furnish sites for small mills. I

At Canadaville there are no springs, but mk>st of the inhabitants 

use cisterns. Some small bored wells, ranging from 90 to 140 feet 

in depth, yield an abundant supply of gqod ^oft water, but in the 

deeper wells it rises only within 125 feet of th^ surface.

At Claxton only ordinary and driven wells are used. The latter 

may go 75 to 100 feet deep, and the water* risers within about 40 feetof the surface. The water is soft and the quamtity ample.

At Elba there are a few springs. The mai^i water supply comes 

from bored wells of shallow depth.

At Gallaway, elevation 277 feet, a few cisterns are in use, but 

most of the people have shallow wells that derive their supply from 

the Lafayette sand beneath a loess covering. The water is consequently hard.

Ina is on-an elevated plateau 500 feet alcove sea level. There 

are a few springs, but they are usually weak] The principal water

supply is from ordinary pipe wells of small diameter that average

75 to 125 feet deep and furnish good soft ;water.

Lagrange is on an elevated ridge 532 fe|et above the sea. A 

detailed discussion of the geology is given ojn page 36. Wells are 

the main dependence for water. They vary greatly in depth. Some 

find water at 18 to 20 feet depth at the base o: ; the Lafayette; others 

a few hundred yards away go 175 to 213 feet >efore getting a supply

in the Lagrange sand. The water is soft and

in the wells. Windmills are used for pumping.

pure, but does not rise
72 UNDEBGROUND WATEES: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

At Lambert there are some springs along the streams; on the 

upland surface water is obtained from ordinary open wells.

At Macon most of the water is obtained from bored wells at depths 

of from 35 to 100 feet. There are a few springs, but they are along 

the streams and not convenient for use.

At Moorman small driven wells are largely lised. One 103 feet 

deep struck water of good quality at 53 feet. It is pumped by a 

windmill. Others go as deep as 200 feet.

At Moscow, elevation 354 feet, the wells average 30 to 40 feet in 

depth. At that depth the flow is weak, but below the blue mud 

struck there water is found in abundance at depths of 60 to 80 feet. 

In the hills east of town water is reached at 90 to 100 feet.

At New Kent there are some wet-weather springs, but water is 

generally obtained from bored and dug wells. The supply from 

these is not always satisfactory, and many are reported to have gone 

dry after a few years.

At Oakland, elevation 388 feet, the wells are from 60 to 125 feet-, 

in depth. They are pumped by hand, or by steam where used for 

industrial purposes.

At Rossville, elevation 311 feet, water is obtained from white sand 

beneath a layer of pipe clay at 28 to 35 feet. It is soft, but contains 

some iron.

At Somerville, elevation 356 feet, thetsupply is furnished by open 

wells and driven wells from 100 to 150 feet deep. The water rises 

in some of these within 50 feet of the surface. It is in several cases 

reported hard. The supply is abundant.

At Taylors Chapel water is obtained from some good strong 

springs and wells that range from 25 to 125 feet in depth. In many 

places at depths of 30 to 40 feet a stratum of black mud is struck, 

averaging about 40 feet thick and furnishing foul-smelling water. 

It is underlain by a thin ironstone layer and when this is pierced 

good water, that rises 30 or 40 feet, is found in abundance. It is 

usually pure, but occasionally contains some iron or sulphur.

Yumyum has very few springs. Bored wells ranging from 30 to 

40 feet in depth furnish a scant supply, but an abundance is reached 

by driven wells at depths of 125 to 200 feet.

GIBSON COUNTY.

Topography. Gibson County is situated almost in the center of 

the embayment area of western Tennessee. Its shape is roughly 

a rectangle from which the northeast and southwest corners have 

been removed. It is bounded on the northeast by South Fork of 

Obion River and on the southwest chiefly by Middle'Fork of Forked 

Deer River. The area is 625 square miles.

The entire county is in the Mississippi drainage area. The surface
RESOURCES OF GIBSON COUNTY, TENN. 73

slopes gently to the northwest, and is mostly level or slightly rolling, for, as a rule, the streams have not cut [deeply below the general 

level; only in the southern and eastern parts of the county is the 

 surface broken or hilly. The stream valleys or flood plains are 

usually wide and the valley sides have moderate slopes. The streams 

do not have much fall, but flow gently, and afe rather building up 

their flood plains than cutting them out. Tljie greatest elevation 

is in the southeast corner, where it reaches slightly above 500 feet. 

The least elevation is about 280 feet, at the point where Forked 

Deer River leaves the western edge of the county. The average 

elevation of the upland is about 400 to 425 feet.

Geology. The rocks that outcrop in Gibsoni County are the Lagrange, the Lafayette, and the Columbia loam and loess.

The Lagrange underlies the entire county ai|d is the source of all 

deep waters. Because of the gentle character |)f the stream cutting 

it is not usually exposed. It consists here &s elsewhere of sands and 

clays, the sands predominating.

The Lafayette rests upon the Lagrange on the uplands and the 

upper part of the valley slopes. It is here chiefly a red loamy or 

case-hardened sand and contains very little i gravel. It averages 

perhaps 20 or 30 feet in thickness.

A few feet of light-colored Columbia Joan}, usually overlie the 

Lafayette, and it is often hard to distinguish oijie formation from the 

other. In the northwestern part of the county this loam apparently passes into the loess.

Water resources. -The various tributaries 0f Olbion and Forked Deer 

rivers provide most of the county with water for stock. Some portions of the county, however, are remote from streams and there ponds 

are dug in low places to catch water. For domlestic use wells are the 

most common source of supply. To a limited extent cisterns are 

used, especially in the middle and western pa^ts of the county, on 

the more elevated uplands, where wells woujd be in some.places 

inconveniently deep. Along the sides of the Valleys springs occur, 

but most of them come from the base of the Lafayette and have a 

weak flow. The wells range in depth from 251 to 35 feet in the low

grounds near the streams and from 100 to feet on the uplands.

Exceptionally they may reach 200 feet, as in some places in the elevated southeastern part of the county. The \fater is generally soft 

where it does not come from the loess, whichj occurs in the northwestern part of the county. It is generally free) from mineral matter, 

though in places where lignitic beds are present in the Lagrange it 

may contain iron and sulphur. Water in the deeper wells may rise 

on the uplands a good part of the way to the surface, while on the 

second bottoms and along the streams it rises jujst to or slightly above 

the surface. Many wells in low places that now gently when first
74 UNDEKGBOUND WATEES: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

drilled stop flowing after a time, because of the partial choking up 

of the pores in the sand around the strainer by fine particles carried 

there by the flow of water to the well. In such cases back pressure 

by a pump washes the sand clean and restores the original flow for a 

time.

At Bradford, elevation 366 feet, water is obtained from dug and 

bored wells that vary in depth from 10 feet in low places to 160 feet 

on high ground. Usually an abundance of water may be had at 40 

feet or less. Springs are few, small, and weak.

At Cades, elevation 374 feet, a black lignitic clay 90 feet thick is 

struck at a depth of about 30 feet. Beneath this is a water-bearing 

sand. In a well 140 feet deep the water stands 30 feet below the 

surface.

About 2 miles north of Cades the lignitic clay is absent. A well 

on the Fletcher Neal farm went 175 feet through sand only and 

obtained good water at 160 feet, but the water did not rise above that 

level.

At Clareville water is obtained chiefly from open and bored wells 

of 50 feet depth or less. There is a sulphur spring of local note only.

At Dyer, elevation 358 feet, both wells and cisterns are used. The 

wells average from 20 to 60 feet in depth. Some of the water is hard 

and the supply is usually not large. One well is reported 200 feet 

deep, but no further data concerning it could be had. A mile west 

of town there is a strong spring of pure soft water that has determined the location near it of a Methodist camp-meeting ground.

At Eaton there are few springs except along the edge of the Forked 

Deer bottom. Wells range from 20 to 40 feet in depth.

At Edmonds a plentiful supply of good water is obtained, mostly 

from small bored wells. There are a few open or dug wells. The 

depths of all are moderate.

At Gibson, elevation 389 feet, the bored wells range from 20 to 

100 feet in depth, though the average is about 60 feet. In the deeper 

wells water rises 20 or 30 feet.

At Hooten there are a few springs. Most people have bored or 

dug wells that reach an abundant supply of water at from 20 to 40 

feet.

At Laneview open and small bored wells range in depth from 50 

to 130 feet. In a 128-foot well, the water stands 110 feet from the 

surface.

At Lonoke ordinary wells range from 15 to 100 feet in depth, 

according to location, and small pipe wells from 100 to 300 feet. 

The water is soft, but in some of the deeper wells contains iron or 

sulphur.

At Medina, elevation 502 feet, it is necessary to go to a depth of 

from 100 to 200 feet for water, and sometimes even at the latter depth
RESOURCES OF GIBSON COUNTY, TEJSN. 75

the Lagrange sands fail to furnish a supply. Th6 water is soft and 

pure where obtained.

Milan, elevation 421 feet, is underlain by about 20 or 22 feet of red 

Lafayette sand, below which in a part of the town is found a pipe 

clay 43 feet thick, while elsewhere, especially in the eastern part of 

town, instead of pipe clay a very dark or black lignitic clay is struck. 

This black clay occurs 3 or 4 miles north of town and for the same 

distancej south. It reaches a thickness in places of 70 to 90 feet. 

Under it are 2 to 7 feet of yellow clay, then a 3 or 4 inch ironstone 

crust, easily broken by an iron bar. Below either the pipe clay or 

the ironstone is found a soft sand which varies in texture but often 

contains in its upper part some fine gravel. This sand is waterbearing and has been explored to a depth of 200 feet from the surface. 

The town corporation has two 6-inch wells, each 113 feet deep, with 

20-foot No. 6 Cook strainers. The water rises within 20 feet of the 

surface. It is pumped into a large cistern or reservoir and is forced 

thence into the mains under a service pressure of 40 to 45 pounds 

and a fire pressure of 100 to 125 pounds. The water is very clear 

and is said to be good for all purposes. It forms in boilers a very 

small amount of soft scale. The pumps have a capacity of 500,000 

gallons per day. The actual daily consumption averages- 60,000 

gallons. Open wells get surface water at the base of the Lafayette 

at depths of 20 to 25 feet. This water is usually unsatisfactory and the 

best open or pipe wells are from 65 to 90 feet deep. They tend to 

fill up, however, with the fine soft sand in which they stop. On the 

higher hills in the vicinity the wells go 100 or 125 feet deep, and in 

such localities an occasional cistern is found. Elsewhere in this 

vicinity cisterns are not used.

At Neboville there are along the water courses some small springs 

that are used for stock. Wells average from 40 to 80 feet in depth. 

The water is generally soft.

At Rutherford water is obtained from dug wells 50 to 70 feet deep; 

it is reported hard in some cases. Driven or pipe wells averaging 

about 160 feet in depth are also used.

At Skullbone there are no springs; water is obtained from open 

or bored wells, some of which are 90 feet deep, with the water standing 70 feet from the surface.

At Trenton, elevation 315 feet, a town supply is obtained from four 

4-inch wells 119, 147, 152, and 165 feet deep, and two 6-inch wells 

130 and 165 feet deep. In the 130-foot well the strainer is 24 feet 

long; in the others 16 feet. Five are in a row only 22 feet apart; the 

sixth is 40 feet distant from this row. As a consequence they interfere with each other. They have a combined natural flow under a 

head of about 2 feet of 90 gallons per minute. Except in case of 

fire and during July, August, and September, when daily consump-
76 UNDERGROUND WATERS I TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

tion is at a maximum, the natural flow is adequate for all purposes. 

The two pumps have each a capacity of 250,000 gallons per day and 

force the water into the mains under a service pressure of 45 pounds 

per square inch. The water is very clear and pure and since 1897, 

when the system was installed, the health of the town has notably 

improved, fevers especially showing a marked decrease. In sinking 

the wells 15 feet of a second-bottom deposit of sandy clay was first 

passed through and then a water-filled sand which extends down 155 

feet and is followed by 1 foot of sand ironstone and that by a lightcolored pipe clay which was not explored further. The sand in 

which the strainers were set is very fine and some gets through even 

a No. 6 Cook strainer, so that as little pumping as possible is done. 

Common .open wells in town run from 20 to 40 feet deep, and some cisterns are still in use. These are now generally filled from the city 

mains and during the hot months keep the water cooler than it is in 

the mains. A stave mill, a fourth of a mile north of the town wells 

has a 4-inch well 147 feet deep, with a record similar to the town 

wells. In the surrounding country the open wells vary from 20 or 25 

feet in depth in the stream valleys to 100 feet on the uplands. Some 

cisterns are in use.

At Yorkville there is a mineral spring of some local repute.

HARDEMAN COUNTY.

Topography. Hardeman County adjoins the State line on the 

south and is . almost halfway between Tennessee and Mississippi 

rivers. It is quadrangular in shape, with a small irregularity in the 

northeast corner. Its area is 655 square miles. The central and 

western parts of the county are gently rolling and the northern, eastern, and southern parts are broken and hilly. The county is drained 

almost entirely by Hatchee River and its tributaries. The course of 

the Hatchee is from southeast to northwest through the center of the 

county, and its tributaries on either side have their general courses 

almost at right angles to the main stream. The most elevated part 

of the county is the southwestern, where the higher ridges or remnants 

of the former plateau surface reach altitudes of slightly over 600 feet, 

and the general elevation is between 500 and 600 feet. The rest of 

the county averages between 400 and 500 feet. The lowest point is 

about 300 feet, where the Hatchee leaves the county. The general 

surface slope is northward or northwestward.

Geology. The geologic formations of Hardeman County are the 

Eipley, Porters Creek, Lagrange, Lafayette, and Columbia.

The Eipley is found only in a narrow belt along the extreme eastern 

edge of the county, east of Muddy Creek near Middleton and east 

of Crainesville. It has its usual character, consisting of soft lightcolored or variegated sands with occasional thin clay lenses.
j EESOUECES OF HAEDEMAN" COUNTY, TENN. 77

The Porters Creek overlies the Ripley and succeeds it to the west 

as a surface formation. It runs through the eastern part of the 

county in a direction slightly east of north in a belt that averages 

from 6 to 9 miles wide. Its eastern edge along the Southern Railway is just east of Muddy Creek near Middleton and passes through 

Crainesville. Its western edge may be seen on the road from Bolivar 

to Crainesville just east of the bridge over the Hatchie. Much of it 

is a fine clay, ashen gray when dry but darker when wet, and is popularly known as soapstone. A more sandy phase is sometimes 

known as alum earth.

The Lagrange lies west of the Porters Creek belt and underlies all 

of the central and western parts of the county. While predominantly of sand, it contains lenses of plastic clay and occasional beds 

of lignitic material.

The Lafayette has its usual character, being a surface veneer of 

orange-red sand found on the higher levels, 10 to perhaps 40 feet 

thick. Over it in places may be discriminated 5 to 10 feet of lightercolored, softer sand representing the Columbia.

Water resources. The county is naturally well watered. Streams 

are found everywhere within short distances and furnish ample supplies for stock. Their flow is fairly constant, since most of the water 

comes from sandy formations that furnish an almost unfailing supply. Many bold springs of good freestone water flow from the sands 

of the Lafayette, the Lagrange, or the Eipley. The springs from the 

Porters Creek "soapstone" clay are weak and the water is usually 

astringent from alum and iron. Wells in the sands obtain good 

water. Where the Lafayette is locally thick wells often reach water 

in its lower part above an iron crust or hardpan separating it from 

the underlying formation. The quantity of this Lafayette water is 

limited and during dry seasons it may fail altogether. Furthermore, it is surface water and so is liable to contamination. The 

Lagrange furnishes good pure water except where lignitic beds 

locally occur. There it contains iron, sulphur, or alum to some 

extent. The depth at which water may be obtained in it varies 

largely with the topography. On the uplands it is generally necessary to go from 75 to 150 feet. In a belt of very porous dry sands in 

this formation that extends 2 or 3 miles on either side of Grand 

Junction and runs northeastward to Hickory Valley and beyond it 

is often necessary to go 200 feet or more. In such places and also in 

the area underlain by the Porters Creek clay cisterns are often used. 

The Porters Creek furnishes unsatisfactory water. It is hard and 

contains iron and alum. The odor in some cases is so disagreeable 

that even stock will not touch it, and the supply, even where the 

water is of tolerable quality, is usually small. In many cases open 

wells, which are usually dug less than 100 feet, fail to obtain water.
78 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

Open wells should be stopped in the base of the Lafayette just above 

the clay if that formation will yield any water. If not, the small 

tubular or driven well should be used and should be put down through 

the Porters Creek clay to the upper layers of the Bipley sand, where 

a supply of good water should be struck that will rise a considerable 

distance toward the surface. Difficulty should not be experienced 

in sinking through the Porters Creek clay if struck anywhere near 

the surface, as it is nowhere known to be as much as 200 feet thick 

and is probably not greatly over 100 to 125 feet in this county.

At Bolivar, elevation 449 feet, water is obtained from wells that 

average 70 to 80 feet in depth. The upper 20 to 30 feet are in 

Lafayette sand and the rest of the section is in Lagrange sand. 

An unsuccessful attempt to sink a deep well was made some years 

ago, but the cause of the failure could not be learned. There should 

be no difficulty in obtaining water from the lower layers of the 

Lagrange, which is probably 200 feet or less in thickness here. After 

this is passed no water could be hoped for until the Porters Creek 

clay perhaps 150 or 175 feet thick had been gone through; then 

water should be struck in the upper part of the Eipley under sufficient 

pressure to rise within about 100 feet of the surface.

Crainesville is situated on the eastern edge of,the Porters Creek 

clay. Wells average 40 to 50 feet in depth. Those in the clay furnish poor water, while those in the Ripley sand furnish good water. 

If the clay is struck, digging should be continued until it is passed 

through, for it can nowhere in the village be over a few score feet 

thick. Wells in the Ripley sand to the east are from 30 to 50 feet 

deep and furnish good water.' Those in the alluvium of the Wade 

Creek bottom west of town furnish poor water at depths of 14 to 

25 feet. Farther west in the "soapstone" belt good water is sometimes obtained in the basal part of the Lafayette sand just above 

the leaden-colored clay. If the latter is entered the water is generally 

poor.

At Essary Springs Hatchie River is used for stock, and springs 

and wells furnish the domestic supply. The wells vary from 20 to 

60 feet in depth. The water in some is free from all mineral matter; 

in others it contains iron. The spring water commonly contains 

iron and is largely used.

'At Grand Junction, elevation 573 feet, shallow wells in the basal 

part of the Lafayette at depths of 15 to 25 feet furnish a scant supply of surface water and go dry during late summer and autumn. 

Cisterns are largely used for domestic supply. Two driven wells of 

2-inch diameter, one 145 and the other 195 feet deep, find water in 

the Lagrange sand. The deeper one passes through the following 

strata:
EESOCTECES OF HABDEMAIST COUNTY, TEFN. 79

Log of well at Grand Junction, Tenn.

Feet.

Clay, sandy, red (Lafayette)................................................... 12

Clay, fine, white, plastic........................................................ 22

Sand, white, clean, sharp...................................................... 20

Clay,white, as above......................................................... 2

Sand, light red, coarse at top and bottom (penetrated)............................ 139

Water was struck at 152 feet, but did not riee. At 195 feet the 

sand wa$ coarse enough to set the strainer. This well is pumped by 

steam. The 145-foot well belonging to the town is pumped with 

difficulty by hand and is not much used.

At Hickory Valley, elevation 566 feet, shallow wells have an average depth of about 60 feet. They are not always reliable and may 

go dry; many of them have been abandoned for cisterns or for deep 

tubular wells that range from 150 to 210 feet in depth according to 

the topography. In some the water is very good and pure; in 

others it contains some iron. Similar conditions as to depth and 

quality prevail for 3 miles east and 3 miles west of town. Five 

miles to the east springs are numerous and wells average only 30 or 

35 feet deep.

At Middleburg, elevation 537 feet, wells range in depth from 25 

feet in the base of the Lafayette to 180 feet in the underlying 

Lagrange. Water is abundant and soft.

At Middleton, elevation 407 feet, water is rarely found above the 

dark Porters Creek clay, which is reached at a depth of 15 or 20 feet. 

Wells average 20 or 25 feet in depth and furnish poor to fair water. 

One well 102 feet deep was abandoned in the Porters Creek clay 

without finding water, when perhaps 50 feet more would have 

carried it into the underlying Ripley sand, where a good supply of 

soft water that would rise much of the way to the surface could have 

been expected. Cisterns are used to some extent, though in the 

main the people endure the poor water from the porters Creek clay. 

It is surprising that no one has drilled through this into the Ripley, 

which at the farthest should be found at less than 200 feet from the 

surface.

At Newcastle the wells average 100 feet in depth.

At Pocahontas, elevation 394 feet, a water supply is obtained 

from wells that average 25 or 30 feet in depth. In the hills near by 

wells reach 100 feet or more in depth. The water is soft and comes 

from the Eipley sand.

At Rogers Springs the "soapstone" occurs near the surface. A 

little water of poor quality is obtained in its upper part about 35 to 

40 feet from the surface. An exploratory hole 80 feet deep failed 

to find other water.

Saulsbury, elevation 534 feet, is situated on the thin eastern part 

of the Lagrange, which is capped on the higher levels by about 20
80 UNDEEGEOUND WATEESI TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

feet of Lafayette sand. Water is usually obtained in Lagrange 

sand at depths of 85 to 90 feet. Two miles ,south of town the Porters 

Creek clay is struck at 110 feet, and a mile west of town at 130 feet. 

Water was obtained in moderate quantities just above the clay.

At Toone, elevation 392 feet, water is obtained from wells and 

springs. Wells range from 20 to 100 feet in depth.

At Whiteville, elevation 500 feet, bored wells range in depth from 

50 to 140 feet, most of them from 100 to 125 feet. The quality and 

quantity of the water are both good.

HAKDIN COUNTY.

Topography. Hardin County lies at the southeast corner of the 

area discussed in this paper, and is bounded on the south by Mississippi and Alabama. Its area is 587 square miles. Only a part of 

the county is within the embayment area, about two-thirds being 

east of Tennessee Eiver. West of the Tennessee there are small 

areas of Paleozoic rocks where the river enters and leaves the county. 

The western part of the county slopes eastward and is drained by 

numerous small streams into the Tennessee. Along these streams 

the surface has been cut by erosion into hills. Away from the 

streams much of the surface is gently rolling. The highest portions 

are along the western boundary and average about 500 or 525 feet 

in elevation. The lowest point, about 350 feet, is at low water on 

the Tennessee where it leaves the county.

Geology. The formations outcropping in this county are the 

Eutaw sand, Selma clay, and Lafayette.

The Eutaw sand lies immediately west of Tennessee Eiver in the 

middle part of its course across the county and is well exposed at 

Coffee, Crump, and Pittsburg Landing. A section at Coffee Bluff is 

given on page 24. The Eutaw is found just beneath the Lafayette 

over all of the area except a narrow strip in the western and northwestern parts, which is underlain by the leaden-colored clays and 

shell marl of the Selma. Over both of these formations is spread a 

thin veneer of Lafayette, which is still intact on much of the upland 

surface, but has been removed on the stream slopes. It contains 

much chert gravel and is usually highly ferruginous.

Water resources. Springs are numerous along the lower slopes of 

the hills. Those from the Selma clay are more or less impregnated 

with lime, while those from the Eutaw sand may be free from mineral matter or may contain iron and sulphur. Springs in the slight 

depressions occurring in the more elevated rolling portions of the 

county are from the base of the Lafayette and are apt to be weak. 

Streams are numerous but as a rule small. In the Eutaw area wells 

are usually open or bored, and vary from 30 to 70 feet in depth, the 

deeper ones being on the bluffs near the river. In the Selma area it
RESOURCES OF HAYWOOD COUNTY, TENN. SI

is necessary either to bore through the clay 200 feet or more in order 

to reach good water in the underlying Eutaw sand or to stop in the 

Lafayette before the Selma is reached, provided the Lafayette is 

thick enough to reach below permanent ground-water level and furnish a supply. Cisterns are but little used.

At Crump water is obtained from some good strong springs and 

from numerous wells, averaging 50 to 70 feet in depth. The water 

at this depth comes from the upper part of the Eutaw formation and 

is abundant and good.

At Hamburg, in the Tennessee River Valley, water is obtained 

from shallow wells sunk in the alluvial deposits. The quality is fair 

to good.

At Hurley there are several springs that furnish chalybeate water 

and open wells 60 to 70 feet deep that furnish good water from the 

Eutaw sand.

At Morris Chapel soft water is obtained from the Eutaw formation 

by wells from 15 to 50 feet deep. The average depth is 40 to 45 feet.

At Pittsburg Landing, in the Shiloh National Park, wells pass 

through 10 feet of Lafayette surface clay, 15 to 20 feet of Lafayette 

gravel, partly cemented by iron, and into the Eutaw sand to a total 

depth of from 40 to 70 feet, where good pure water is obtained. 

From Pittsburg Landing westward for some miles open wells averaging 40 to 50 feet in depth and drawing from the Eutaw sand are the 

chief water supply.

HAYWOOD COUNTY.

Topography. Haywood County is situated somewhat southwest 

of the center of the embayment area of western Tennessee. It is 

roughly quadrangular in shape, its northern boundary, however, 

being quite sinuous, partly because a portion of it is formed by South 

Fork of Forked Deer' River. Its area is 520 square miles. The 

surface is a gently undulating plain with an average elevation of 

about 325 feet. Although the county is drained into the Mississippi 

by two northwestward-flowing streams South Fork of Forked Deer 

River on the northern border and the Hatchee across the southern 

half the general surface does not 'slope to the northwest, but instead 

falls gently north or south toward one or the other of these two 

streams. The divide between them is low and undulating and runs 

east and west, passing through Brownsville. Stream cutting is 

nowhere deep, for the stream slopes, and consequently stream velocities, are uniformly slight. Another consequence of the absence of 

abrupt ravines is that springs are rare and usually weak and worthless.

Geology. The entire county is underlain by the Lagrange formation, which is reached in wells at depths rarely greater than 25 to 50 

feet, but which seldom are exposed in natural cuttings, the stream

IKK 164
82 UNDEBGKOUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

valleys being so shallow. Over the Lagrange are 10 to 20 feet of 

Lafayette red sand or sandy clay, covered by 5 to 12 feet of lightcolored loam that westward from Brownsville rapidly assumes a 

loess-like character, so that in a few miles it might very properly be 

called loess.

Water resources. Springs are few and weak, and as ^ source of 

water supply are practically negligible. During dry weather they 

fail entirely. The numerous small streams that flow freely during 

the winter also go dry during the summer and autumn. Artificial 

ponds or deep wells are used for watering stock. The domestic supply is obtained from cisterns, ordinary wells, and deep wells, and the 

latter are rapidly coming into use also for industrial purposes. Most 

of the deep wells are of about 2-inch diameter, but vary considerably 

in depth. Perhaps a majority are between 80 and 150 feet deep, but 

some go 225 or 250 feet. The difference in depth is partly attributable to differences in surface elevation, those on hills going deeper 

than those on lower ground, and partly to differences in texture of 

the sands, which may make it necessary to go to considerable depths 

after water is reached before sand coarse enough -to be checked by a 

strainer is found. All the wells are in Lagrange sand and, except 

where lignitic beds are encountered, furnish, as a rule, good, soft 

water.

At Belle Eagle water is obtained from springs and ordinary open 

wells, some of which reach 70 feet in depth.

Brownsville, on the divide between the two main drainage systems 

of the county, has an elevation of 344 feet. Previous to the introduction of a system of waterworks private wells and cisterns furnished 

the water supply. In the western part of town wells averaging 30 or 

40 feet in depth gave good water and were exclusively used. In the 

eastern part of town wells are 80 feet deep, though water is not 

always obtained at that depth even, and the water is of only fair 

quality owing to mineral matter contained in it. In this part of 

town cisterns are largely used. Since the introduction of waterworks 

many have abandoned their wells and cisterns and use the town 

water. This is obtained from two wells 6 and 8 inches in diameter, 

respectively, each 230 feet deep. They were originally only 116 feet 

deep, but the sand at that depth was so fine that it entered through 

even the finest strainer slots and rapidly cut out the pump valves. By 

deepening to 230 feet coarser sand was found. The water is raised 

by air lift into a reservoir, whence it is forced either into a tank that 

gives a service pressure of 45 pounds, or directly into the mains under 

about three times this pressure for fire purposes. By the air lift 

500,000 gallons per day can be pumped. The average daily consumption is 150,000 gallons. There are two pumps for forcing into 

the tank or mains of 500,000-gallon capacity each. The water is
RESOURCES OF HAYWOOD COUNTY, 83

very good for general purposes and for boiler use, though it forms a 

small amount of hard scale. No log or analysis could be obtained. 

According to one statement it rises to within 30 feet of the surface; 

to another, 47 J feet. The latter is probably the more accurate.

The electric light and ice company has a well 130 feet deep, but the 

water foams in boilers and is used only for the ammonia condensers. 

Town water is used for the boilers.

Blackwell's lumber mill has a 2-inch well 138 feet deep that is used 

for supplying the boilers. The water rises to within 45 or 50 feet of 

the surface. The log, from memory, is as follows:

Log of well at Blackwell's lumber mill, Brownsville, Tenn.

Sand ...........................................................................

Thickness.

Feet. 

50

4

76

8

Depth.

Feet. 

50

54

130

138

Chester's Hardwood Lumber Company has a 3-inch well 109 feet 

deep, with the surface of the water at the same level as in the Blackwell well. Its log is as follows:

Log of well of Chester's Hardwood Lumber Company, Brownsmlle, Tenn.

Soil.............. ............................... .......................... !....

Thickness.

Feet. 

15

70

15

9

Depth.

Feet. 

15

85

100

109

The ground-water level is about 45 feet below the surface in these 

wells, and the largest element of uncertainty and the one on which 

the depth of the well in any given case here or elsewhere in town 

chiefly depends is the depth to sand coarse enough to be kept out of 

the strainers.

At Dancyville there are no springs of consequence. Wells are 

from 40 to 100 feet deep. Blue mud is often struck, and the water 

from it is poor, but when it can be obtained in the sand above the 

blue mud it is of better quality. Cisterns are largely used. Two 

miles west of town a 2-inch well was sunk through sand and clay 60 

feet into a water-bearing sand that grew coarser to the bottom at 

130 feet. The water is soft and is raised by a windmill.

At Eurekaton there are no springs or shallow wells except along, 

the creek or river bottoms. Upland wells range from 75 to 125 feet 

in depth.
84 UNDERGROUND WATERS'. TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

At Forked Deer there are only a few springs, and wells 40 or 50 

feet deep yield very hard water. .Good, soft water is obtained at 

depths of 100 or 150 feet in sand beneath blue clay. The log of Mr. 

J. W. Pearson's well is as follows:

Log of Pear son well, Forked Deer, Tenn.

Thickness.

Feet. 

40

5

95

10

Depth.

Feet. 

40

45

140

150

At Ged open wells are chiefly used and run 25 to 40 feet deep, 

getting water from about the base of the Lafayette, or close beneath 

it. The water is generally soft, though in some wells it is hard owing 

to the loess-like surface loam. A number of 2-inch'wells have been 

sunk to 80 feet in sand that becomes coarser until at that depth a 

strainer can keep it out. Half a mile away Mr. Columbus Hinkle 

has on high ground a 2-inch well 247 feet deep. The water is soft, 

rises to within 60 feet of the surface, and is used for boiler purposes. 

The blue clay shown by the log is found over much of the county, and 

has in many places just above it a bed of lignite several feet thick. 

The log is as follows:

Log of Hinkle well, Ged, Tenn.

Thickness.

Feet. 

60

18±

4

158±

7

Depth.

Feet. 

60

78±

82

240±

247±

Two miles east of Ged a well being driven for Mr. Jim Livuigston 

had the following log:

Log of Livingston well near Ged, Tenn.

Thickness.

Feet. 

20

30

20

4

186

Depth.

Feet. 

' 20

50

70

74

260

At Hanley there are no springs. Water is obtained from ordinary 

open and small pipe wells. It is generally good.
RESOURCES OF HETSTDERSOST COUNTY, TENN". 85

At Harvey there are a few small springs of no consequence. The 

water supply is from ordinary wells averaging 65 to 70 feet and deep 

or bored wells 100 to 125 feet deep. Water is gopd and soft.

At Jones, elevation 325 feet, an abundance of water rises nearly to 

the surface from a depth of about 75 feet.

At Keeling there are no springs. Wells, either open or small pipe, 

furnish soft water and range from 30 to 60 feet in depth. In one 

well 96 feet deep the water rises within 46 feet of the surface.

At Koho there are numerous springs and wells averaging in low 

places 20 feet deep.

At Rein, elevation 364 feet, water is obtained from dug or bored 

wells that range from 25 to 100 feet in depth.

Near Rudolph, in the edge of the Forked Deer bottom, a 2-inch 

well for the Hatchie Lumber Company passes through tough alluvial 

clay 32 feet, fine sand 5 feet, lignite 4 feet, blue clay 24 feet, coarse 

sand with soft water 5 feet.

At Stanton Depot, elevation 290 feet, water is obtained from small 

pipe wells that average about 140 feet in depth. The town well 

has the folio whig log:

Log of town well at Stanton Depot, Tenn.

Thickness.

Feet. 

40

4

96

1

Depth.

Feet. 

40

44

140

When the 8-inch indurated layer had been penetrated the water 

rose within 40 feet of the surface. No lignite was obtained in this 

well, but in the others less than a mile away it was found. A well 

less than 100 yards from the town well found no blue clay, but only 

sand with a small amount of clay. A dozen or more of these small 

deep wells have been made in the immediate neighborhood and they 

all present about the same features.

At Tibbs there are no springs. Wells average 35 feet in depth and 

perhaps a third of them furnish a scant supply of water.

At Wellwood there are both dug and bored wells ^hat vary in depth 

from 12 to 96 feet. The water from the shallow wells is inclined to 

be hard, that from the deeper ones soft.

HENDERSON COUNTY.

Topography. Henderson County is situated near the eastern margin of the area discussed and its northern boundary is about midway 

between Kentucky and Mississippi. The area is 515 square miles. 

The divide between Tennessee and Mississippi rivers crosses the
86 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

county from north to south. The drainage of the western third goes 

to the Mississippi and that of the rest to Tennessee. The surface 

along this divide reaches an elevation of about 600 feet in a number 

of places, but along the streams it is considerably lower. The average elevation is about 500 feet. The lowest point in the county is 

probably where Beech River crosses the eastern boundary at an 

elevation close to 360 feet. South Fork of Forked Deer River, however, crosses the western boundary at only a few feet higher, and the 

Big Sandy crosses the northern boundary at slightly less than 400 

feet. Big Sandy and Beech rivers and important branches of Forked 

Deer and Obion rivers all rise in the county and flow out radially. 

With their tributaries they have cut much of the surface into hills. 

Along the main divide and in much of the eastern slope the surface 

is very hilly. The streams have considerable fall and so have rapid 

currents and are actively eroding the surface.

Geology. The formations found in this county include the Eutaw, 

Selma, Ripley, Porters Creek, Lagrange, and Lafayette.

The western edge of the Eutaw formation extends just slightly 

into the eastern part of the county. It dips to the west and passes 

beneath the other formations so that it underlies the entire county.

The Selma clay forms a belt 4 to 9 miles wide, extending north and 

south immediately west of the Eutaw outcrop. Its western edge is 

a few miles east of Lexington. The leaden and darker colored clays 

and marls characteristic of this formation are exposed in numerous 

railway cuts between Warrens Bluff and Darden.

The Ripley sands cross the center of the county from north to 

south in a belt 6 to 10 miles wide. They are distinguishable from 

the overlying Lafayette sands chiefly by their lighter color and their 

softer nature. Exposures occur in the deeper stream and railway 

cuttings.

A belt'of typical leaden-gray Porters Creek clay, 3 to 5 miles wide, 

lies next west of the Ripley, and is succeeded in turn by the Lagrange, 

while over all the Lafayette is spread, as usual, in a thin veneer.

The exact thickness of no one of these formations in this county is 

known exactly. From the log of the Lexington well (p. 88) the 

Eutaw, the Selma clay, and perhaps half of the Ripley have an 

aggregate thickness of 500 feet, of which the upper 200 feet are probably Ripley. The Porters Creek must be not far from 100 feet thick. 

The Lafayette probably never reaches more than 20 or 30 feet.

Water resources. There are many good springs among the hills 

that flow with undiminished volume the year round and feed the 

numerous streams, so that during summer they do not fail. Water 

for stock is obtainable almost everywhere, and some of the streams 

have fall and volume enough to furnish power for small mills. Where 

springs are not convenient for domestic purposes, water may be
BESOURCES OF HENDERSON" COUNTYJ TESTST. 87

obtained at depths of 50 feet or less in many places, and only in rare 

cases is it necessary to go deeper than 100 or 125 feet. Water 

obtained from the Eutaw, Ripley, or Lagrange sands is, as a rule, good 

and soft, though it may have, especially if from the Eutaw, some iron 

or iron and sulphur. Water from either the Selma or the Porters 

Creek is almost certain to be hard and of deficient quantity. It 

may in addition be flat and insipid, and in some cases is foul smelling 

and entirely unfit for use. Neither of these formations is very thick 

in this county, and if one is struck before a supply of water is obtained 

it should be bored through probably less than 100 feet additional 

and the underlying sand tested. Water will almost certainly be 

obtained and will probably be of good quality and quantity. Cisterns are used to some extent in the area of the Selma clay and the 

Porters Creek clay and in other areas, where, because of the local 

elevation the depth to underground water is inconveniently great, 

say 75 or 100 feet or more.

At Atkins water is obtained from ordinary wells and an occasional 

spring.

At Crucifer, in the Lagrange area, there are only ordinary wells 

that range from 20 to 85 feet deep according to elevation. There are 

a few springs.

At Darden, elevation 392 feet, near the western edge of the Eutaw 

sand, some bold springs in low places flow from the Eutaw, but the 

chief supply of water is obtained from wells that range from 15 to 75 

feet in depth. The water in the deeper wells is good and soft and 

rises somewhat in. the well.

At Dolen weak flows are obtained from pipe wells in the Selma 

clay there called simply "black dirt" at ordinary depths. The 

water is hard and in some wells it also contains alkali or alum. 

Small pipe wells or even 6 to 12 inch bored wells should be sunk 

easily through the Selma clay and get good water from the underlying 

Eutaw sand.

At Farmville there are a few springs and numerous ordinary dug 

and bored wells, some of which are 80 feet deep. The water is soft, 

but the quantity is not always large.

At Hinson Springs, elevation 440 feet, there are several chalybeate 

springs flowing from the Ripley sands, that are disjcussed on page .

At Huron, elevation 416 feet, there are a few springs and cisterns 

and wells from 30 to 60 feet deep that furnish soft water.

At Law, in the Lagrange sand area, wells furnish soft water from 

sand under pipe clay at an average depth of 50 or 60 feet, the range 

being from 20 to 85 feet.

Lexington, in the Ripley sand area, elevation 484 feet, has no 

system of waterworks, but depends on individual wells for its water 

supply. These wells average 50 or 60 feet in depth. Some on high
88 UNDEEGEOtJND WATEKSI TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

ground are 80 feet deep. The quality of the water is good. No 

cisterns are used.

The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis. Railway finished in 

February, 1903, a well 700 feet deep that has not been a success. 

The driller gave the following log from memory:

Log ofwett of Nashvitte, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, Lexington, Tenn.

Sand, with shells of soft sand ironstone 6 or 8 inches thick scattered through it,

and a little, clay, water in all below first 50 or 60 feet (Lafayette and Ripley) . . 

Clay, blue, with a little water-bearing sand and gravel at the bottom (Selma

Thickness.

Feet.

200

300

200

Depth.

Feet.

200

500

700

At 700 feet the well was abandoned. At 675 feet water was struck 

that rose within about 80 feet of the surface, but the quantity was 

considered insufficient. The writer believes that with proper management this well would have been a success and yielded all the water 

needed by the railway. Either of two parts of the section gone 

through would have yielded a supply of water that would have risen 

within 75 or 100 feet of the surface. The elevation of Lexington and 

the nearness and elevation of outcrops of these two water-bearing 

beds to the east are such that there was no chance to get a flowing 

well. The driller was not familiar with drilling in soft strata, did 

not know how coarse sand had to be in order to be kept out by a 

strainer, and so passed through the Ripley sand without testing it. 

When the basal sand and conglomerate bed of the Eutaw beneath 

the blue clay was reached, it was found to be quicksand, and although 

the water rose probably within about 100 feet of the surface, sand 

also ran in rapidly, and the water was not tested, but the casing was 

driven down to the limestone below in order to shut it off. When 

this had been done practically all hope of getting a successful well 

had vanished. Had the conditions of drilling in sand and clay been 

more perfectly understood the well very probably would have been 

finished successfully, either in the Ripley sand, at a depth of 200 feet 

or less, or, at the farthest, in the coarse water-bearing sand and cobbles 

at the base of the Eutaw at 500 feet. The Ripley water would have 

certainly been a good boiler water, and very probably the Eutaw 

water would have been good also.

At Life, elevation 520 feet, there are some springs near the streams. 

Wells average 75 feet in depth, but some go to 100 or 120 feet.

At Long there are a number of ordinary wells 60 to 70 feet deep 

that yield a soft water of small quantity.

At McHaney water is obtained from springs and ordinary wells, 

all being freestone.
I RESOURCES OF HENRY COUNTY, TENN. 89

Middlefork is on the ridge dividing the Mississippi and the Tennessee drainages. - It is in the Ripley sand area, in which good soft water 

is obtained, but the wells are mostly bored and have an average 

depth of 120 to 140 feet. In low places a few shallow dug wells are 

in use and good springs occur along the streams.

At Pipkin there are several wells from 10 to 40 feet in depth and 

a great many springs.

At Reagan poor water is obtained from the Selnaa clay by shallow 

open or deeper bored wells. Cisterns are largely used.

At Safford water is obtained from shallow wells.

At Spellings there are numerous springs and shallow wells.

At Whitefern there are numerous springs, some of which are 

chalybeate. Wells are generally used, however, for domestic supply. 

Water of good quality is abundant at depths of 18 to 30 feet.

At Wildersville, elevation 476 feet, in the Ripley-sand area, freestone water is obtained from wells that average about 50 feet deep.

HENRY COUNTY.

Topography. Henry County lies 011 the eastern edge of the area 

discussed. It is bounded by Kentucky on the north and by Big 

Sandy and Tennessee rivers on the east. The area is 625 square 

miles. The Tennessee-Mississippi divide crosses the' middle of the 

county in a direction somewhat east of north. The surface along 

this divide is rough and broken. On the east it has a relatively 

steep slope toward Tennessee and Big Sandy rivers, but becomes 

somewhat less hilly, though stream activity on the Tennessee side 

is more marked than on the other side. West of the divide the 

general surface at first has a considerable slope, but soon flattens 

out into a nearly level plain that stretches westward to the Mississippi 

bluffs. The greatest elevation is slightly more than 600 feet, along 

the divide in the northwestern part of the county. The least elevation is about 300 or 305 feet, at the point where Tennessee River 

leaves the State. The average elevation of the county is about 500 

feet, though some portions depart materially from this average. The 

drainage of the eastern slope is largely to the Big Sandy; that of 

the western into the headwaters of the various branches of the Obion.

Geology. A strip a few miles wide along Big Sandy and Tennessee 

rivers on the eastern edge of the county belongs to the Paleozoic 

area, and is not considered here. West of this strip the county is 

underlain by the Ripley, Porters Creek, Lagrange, and Lafayette 

formations.

The Ripley sands overlie the Paleozoic limestones in a belt averaging 5 miles in width, which crosses the eastern part of the county 

from north to south and dips westward beneath the Porters Creek 

clay. The latter formation lies next west of the Ripley in a belt
90 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

about 3 or 4 miles wide, also running north and south. Its western 

edge is at Paris, where it may be seen dipping westward and passing 

under the Lagrange, which underlies the remaining half of the county 

and has its usual character. Over all there is a deposit of 10 to 20 

feet of Lafayette, chiefly a red sand, but with some small gravel at its 

base in places. There are also here and there above the typical Lafayette sand a few feet of light-colored, softer, sandy loam that may 

represent the Columbia.

Water resources. In the Rip ley area springs are numerous and 

strong, and furnish pure water. In the Lagrange area they are 

of the same character, but somewhat less numerous, because surface 

erosion has not produced as great diversity of relief there as in the 

Ripley area. In the Porters Creek clay belt they are scarce, weak, 

and poor as a rule. The streams are numerous and usually have a 

permanent flow. Many of them have sufficient volume and fall to 

furnish power for mills. Underground water of good quality is 

available at moderate depths anywhere within the embayment part 

of the county. In the western half it may be obtained from the 

Lagrange sands at depths rarely exceeding 100 to 150 feet. In the 

Porters Creek clay belt or just west of it, on the thin eastern edge 

of the Lagrange, good water may be had from the underlying Ripley 

by going through the Porters Creek, as has been done in the town 

wells at Paris. In such wells the water will rise part way to the 

surface. In the Porters Creek area, where the surface water is poor, 

and in elevated parts of the Lagrange and Ripley areas, where the 

distance to underground water is several score feet, cisterns are much 

used.

At Buchanan soft water is obtained from the Ripley at depths of 

75 to 80 feet.

At Como, in the Lagrange area, there are no springs. Dug and 

small bored wells are used.

At Cottage Grove, in the Lagrange area, soft water is struck at 

depths of 75 to 100 feet. About half the people use cisterns.

At Eastwood, near the contact between the Porters Creek clay 

and the Lagrange sands, there are some springs of good water, but 

wells drilled 80 or 90 feet deep get hard iron and sulphur water from 

the Porters Creek clay, or "soapstone." They should be drilled 

somewhat deeper, to the Ripley sand.

At Freeland the Ripley sand is the surface formation. Soft water 

is obtained from springs and from open and bored wells of an average 

depth of about 40 feet.

At Hastings, in the Lagrange area, there are springs and ordinary 

and bored wells 30 or 40 feet in depth. The water is soft.

At Mansfield, elevation 448 feet, in the Ripley area, soft water is 

obtained from shallow open and bored wells.
! RESOURCES OF HENRY COUNTY,, T^NN. 91

At Mountvista, in the Ripley area, soft water is struck at depths 

of 60 to 80 feet. Wells are open or bored.

At Nobles wells are from 40 to 70 feet deep. The water in the 

shallower wells seems to be hard and in the deeper ones soft. No 

records of strata encountered were obtained, but possibly the shallower 

are in the Porters Creek clay and the deeper in the Ripley sand.

At Osage soft water is obtained from the Lagrange sand at depths 

of 100 tjo 150 feet. Cisterns are used generally.

At Owens Hill, in the Ripley area, soft water is obtained at a depth 

of 16 feet in low places and of 75 or 80 feet on the upland level.

Paris, elevation at Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis depot 512 

feet, at Louisville and Nashville depot 474 feet, is on the eastern 

edge of the Lagrange. The Porters Creek clay is exposed in the 

deeper cuttings. There are a few cisterns in use, and ordinary wells 

get water from near the base of the Lagrange at an average depth of 

30 to 60 feet. A large spring near town is reported to flow 300,000 

gallons per day. The city waterworks has two wells, one 8 and the 

other 6 inches in diameter, each 376 feet deep. The elevation of 

the well heads is 470 feet and water stands 70 feet below the top. 

Water is raised by air lift into a surface cistern, from which it is 

forced into a steel tank of 70,000 gallons capacity, that gives a service 

pressure of 35 pounds. For fire purposes a direct pressure of 100 

pounds, or more if necessary, is used. The capacity of the pumps is 

500,000 gallons per day; the average daily consumption, 150,000 

gallons. The water is perfectly clear, and is good for all purposes. 

After standing, a slight red ferruginous deposit forms and discolors 

vessels. The following analysis was reported by the St. Louis 

Sampling and Testing Works May 14, 1902:

Analysis of water from well at city waterworks, Paris, Tenn.

Parts per 

million.

Silica (SiO2)..._._...___..................................................... 3. 6

Oxides of aluminum and iron (AlaOg-t-FegOJ ................................... 9. 2

Calcium (Ca)............................................................... 5.7

Magnesium (Mg)............................................................ 3.4

Sodium (Na)...................................................... .'. ....... 1.5

Carbonate radicle (CO3) -----......-.---...-----..--.......-.--..--..---.---..- 9.6

Sulphate radicle (SO4)........................................................ 8. 9

Chlorine (Cl)................................................................ 4.4

46.3

Volatile solids.............................................................. 14. 4

Fixed solids................................................................ 44. 0

Total solids................................-........'.................. £8. 4

At Peryear, elevation 612 feet, in the Lagrange sand area, soft 

water is obtained at depths of 100 or 115 feet.
92 UNDERGROUND WATERS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

Routon, elevation 575 feet, is in the Lagrange area. Small bored 

wells are commonly used, ranging from 60 to 90 feet in depth, and 

furnishing a moderate amount of soft water of fine quality.

At Vandyck, elevation 416 feet, on the eastern edge of the Porters 

Creek clay, wells average about 40 feet in depth. One, 87 feet deep, 

is a blowing well whenever the weather is changing. The springs are 

described as being weak and impregnated with sulphur, iron, and 

alum. They very probably flow from the Porters Creek formation.

LAKE COUNTY.

Topography. Lake County is situated in the northwest corner of 

Tennessee. It lies between Reelfoot Lake on the east and Mississippi 

River on the west. Its length, north and south, is about 35 miles. 

Its width, east and west, varies from 3 to 12 miles. It is one of the 

smallest counties in the State, the area being 128 square miles. The 

entire county is situated in the alluvial region of the Mississippi and 

the surface is very level, with neither hills nor ravines. The county 

is so low that about two-fifths of the surface is overflowed at high 

water. The average elevation is about 300 feet. The general surface 

slope is southward, in conformity with the river slope, the elevation 

being about 315 feet on the northern line and 290 on the southern.

Geology. The surface formation is everywhere the alluvium of the 

Mississippi flood plain. The geologic relation and age of this alluvium 

have been discussed somewhat fully on page 48, and need not be 

treated here. From the records of the few borings that have penetrated the alluvium, it would seem to be from 100 to 150 feet deep. 

Beneath it lies the Lagrange, but so far as known it has not been 

explored by deep borings in this county.

Water resources. There are no streams in the county except the 

sloughs from the river or Reelfoot Lake. Ponds are easily made for 

watering stock, and cisterns and shallow wells are used for domestic 

supply. The well water is of the usual unsatisfactory alluvial-region 

type, and is obtained at depths of 20 to 35 feet.

At Hathaway water is obtained from Mississippi River and from 

wells that average 35 feet in depth. The water in the wells rises 

and falls with the river.

At Keefe shallow pumped wells are used.

At Madie hard water is obtained from open and pumped wells that 

average 25 or 30 feet in depth.

At Ridgeley water is obtained by pumping from driven wells about 

25 feet in depth. The water is hard, and contains iron sulphate or 

copperas.

LAUDERDALE COUNTY.

Topography. Lauderdale County is bounded by Mississippi River 

on the west and lies midway between the northern and southern
EE8OUEOE8 OF LAUDEEDALE COUNTY^ TENN. 93

boundaries of Tennessee. Its area is 460 square miles. The western 

half of the county and a narrow area along Hatchee River on the 

southern boundary belong to the alluvial plain of the Mississippi and 

its tributaries, and so are low and level, in part swampy. The 

remainder of the county rises from the flood-plain level, usually by 

abrupt bluffs, to a general elevation of about 350 feet. The edges of 

the upland or plateau surface adjacent to the alluvial region are 

deeply £nt by streams, and the resulting hills are steep and bold. 

Elsewhere the. plateau surface is level or gently rolling. Along the 

principal streams a second bottom or terrace is usually developed, 

rising 10 to 20 feet above the present flood plain, and reaching in 

places a width of several miles. The drainage all passes through the 

Forked Deer and the Hatchee to the Mississippi.

Geology. The formations represented in the county are the Lagrange, Lafayette, loess, and alluvium.

The Lagrange is rarely exposed except along the lower parts of the 

steep bluffs and in occasional deep railway cuts, as at Ripley (see 

p. 43) and Curve. The section in the long, deep cut just south of the 

station at Curve shows at the base 15 to 18 feet of a dark-blue lignitic 

clay bedded in very thin layers and somewhat sandy. Over it lie 

6 to 9 feet of a yellow to rusty-yellow purer clay, aj.so lignitic, covered 

by 25 felet of Lafayette sand and gravel. The graivel is well rounded 

chert and vein quartz, averaging 1 inch or less in diameter, but with 

occasional pebbles reaching 2 or 3 inches. The gravel is in irregular 

streaks throughout the formation and composes about 20 per cent of 

it. The sand is coarse and red and is case-hardened, so that it stands 

with vertical faces. Over it is a variable layer of soft, light-colored 

sand and gravel up to 3 feet thick. This grades up into 25 feet of 

loess, which seems hardly separable into a lower and an upper 

division, though the lower 5 or 6 feet are darker than the remainder. 

Beneath the dark Lagrange clay in the bottom of the cut is a quicksand, on which the track rests, and which is a perpetual source of 

trouble and expense to the railway. A view of the section in the 

cut is given in PL IV, A, p. 44.

The Lafayette in Lauderdale County is a coarse sand, with a considerable proportion of pebbles as a result of the nearness of Mississippi River. It overlies the Lagrange everywhere except in the alluvial region, where it has been removed by stream erosion. It is 

exposed in only a few places, being, as a rule, overlain and concealed 

by the loess, which varies from 1 foot to several score feet in thickness. 

The loess mantles the uplands and seems to extend down over the 

second bottoms along the main streams, though the observations of 

the writer were not full enough to settle this last point definitely.

Water resources. There are many streams in the county, so that 

it is generally well watered. For domestic purposes cisterns have
94 UNDEKGBOUND WATEKSI TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

long been widely used, because of the hardness of the water from 

shallow wells, which almost invariably stop in the lower part of the 

loess. Such wells are, however, used in many places despite the 

hardness of the water. Water that is generally, though not invariably, soft and good may be had usually at depths of 100 to 300 feet, 

the depth varying chiefly with the texture of the sand, though in 

some cases it is determined by the occurrence of sandy clay beds, 

which in this region are generally lignitic and furnish a poor quality 

and small quantity of water. The wells may go down several hundred feet in exceptional instances, as at Bipley, for example. At 

the foot of the steeper bluffs springs occur, but the water is usually 

hard and has an unpalatable taste, commonly described as " sweet."

The shallow water in the alluvial region is always poor, and brick 

cisterns are difficult to keep from cracking because of the soft, yielding nature of the alluvial deposits. It would seem that in this region 

cisterns should be built of cypress, but so far as known this wood has 

never been used for that purpose.

At Arp water is obtained from springs at the foot of the hills and 

from dug and bored wells 20 to 30 feet deep. The hills rise perhaps 

75 feet high and on the top of one a well was bored 208 feet and abandoned without getting water. Some water was found in the base 

of the Lafayette, but the quantity was thought insufficient. The 

following is the log:

Log of well at Arp, Tenn.

Thickness.

Feet. 

50

34

66

58

Depth.

Feet. 

50

84

150

208

At Ashport, on the Mississippi, a number of small tubular wells 

about 50 feet deep yield hard water. They go through about 8 

feet of surface loam into sand mixed with some gravel, which soon 

becomes water bearing. At 30 feet from the surface this gives place 

to a coarse blue sand that runs to 52 feet and is underlain by gravel, 

which was not explored.

At Bexar a well drilled 135 feet deep got a good supply of water 

that rose about 15 feet in the pipe. The log was as follows:
RESOURCES OF LAUDERDALE COUNTY, 1ENN.

Log of well at Bexar, Tenn.

95

Yellow clay (loess) .... 1 .................................. . .......

Sand, white, with a number of 3 or 4 foot layers of gravel in it. ................

Clay ...........................................................................

Gravel (not explored) .

Thickness.

Feet 

35

12

8

42

19

10

i

4

Depth.

Feet. 

35

 >Q

51

59

101

120

130

130i

134|

At Double Bridges both wells and cisterns are used. Wells vary 

from 20 to 100 feet deep and many of them are bored. Quicksand 

occasionally interferes with borings. The quality of the water is 

usually fair to good.

At Dry Hill cisterns are generally used. Wells on the hills obtain 

soft water at depths of 100 feet or more.

At Edith, on the edge of the bluff overlooking the Mississippi flood 

plain, cisterns are used almost exclusively. Water from shallow 

wells is hard and sweet. It is also found at about 150 feet, and 

there are three deep wells 2 or 3 inches in diameter and 165 feet 

deep. Two are at mills, and are pumped by steam. The other is 

pumped by hand. They furnish an abundant supply of water, said 

to be alkaline and to have a diuretic effect. The log is as follows:

Log of deep wells at Edith, Tenn.

Sand and gravel, red, in alternate layers each 3 to 4 feet thick (Lafayette) ....

Thickness. Depth.

Feet. Feet. 

80 80

20 100 

50 150

15 165

At Fulton cisterns are used almost entirely. There are one or two 

wells about 75 feet deep, but the water is hard.

At Gates, elevation 321 feet, water is obtained from both cisterns 

and shallow wells that average 30 to 45 feet in depth and furnish 

hard water. A well drilled 114 feet gave the following log:

Log of deep well at Gates, Tenn.

Soil............................................................................

Thickness.

Feet. 

8

15

15

10

52

14

Depth.

Feet. 

8

23

38

48

100

114
96 UNDERGROUND WATERS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

At Glimp water is obtained from cisterns and common wells 25 

to 50 feet deep.

At Halespoint, on the Mississippi flood plain, there are only shallow 

wells that yield the usual poor flood-plain water.

At Halls, elevation 312 feet, water is obtained from cisterns and 

from a few wells drilled to about 160 feet, where a water-bearing 

sand is found. There is pressure enough to raise the water within 

30 feet of the surface.

At Henning, elevation 292 feet, hard water is obtained from dug 

wells that average about 40 feet deep.

At Mack water is struck at depths of about 20 feet and 80 or 90 

feet. Water from the latter depth rises about 25 feet. All of the 

water is hard, and that from the deeper wells contains some iron.

At Ripley, elevation 390 feet, there were formerly many wells that 

averaged about 85 feet deep, some of which gave soft water, while 

others gave hard. Cisterns have since been almost entirely substituted for them. Around the foot of the bluffs near town are numerous springs, most of which yield hard water. The town system of 

waterworks is supplied by three wells about 10 feet apart, two being 

6-inch, the other 4-inch, and each being 100 feet deep. The water 

is hard and produces a hard scale when used in boilers. It stands 

at 65 feet from the surface, and the wells yield 150,000 gallons a day.

At Tarns Landing, on Mississippi River, a mile below Halespoint, 

there are alternating beds of sand and gravel that have been explored 

to a depth of 84 feet. Hard water is struck at 21 feet.

MADISON COUNTY.

Topography. Madison County lies just south of the center of the 

embayment area of Tennessee and has an area of 545 square miles. 

The county belongs to the Mississippi drainage basin and so slopes 

slightly to the west or northwest. The surface in the eastern, southeastern, and southern parts of the county is considerably broken. 

The central part of the county is rolling, and the western, northwestern, and northern parts are more nearly level. On the ridges between 

the main streams the surface rises to an elevation of about 500 feet 

and, while there is considerable difference in relief between various 

parts of the county, the average elevation is about 450 feet. The 

highest points are in the southeastern part of the county and are 

between 500 ^and 550 feet. The lowest point is about 315 feet, where 

South Fork of Forked Deer River leaves the county.

Geology. The formations of the county are the Porters Creek, the 

Lagrange, and the Lafayette.

The Porters Creek clay occurs along the southeastern edge of the 

county, south of the point where the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. 

Louis Railway enters it. This clay outcrops in a belt from 4 to 6
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 16* PL. V

ARTESIAN WELL AT JACKSON, TENN.

JREROUKCE8 OF MADISON COUNTY, TENN. 97

miles wide, of which only the western half lies within the county. 

The Lagrange succeeds it to the west and underlies all the rest of the 

county, but is largely concealed by the red or orange sands of the 

Lafayette, which averages about 20 feet in thickness and forms the 

surface except where removed by stream erosion.

Water resources. The streams of the county are numerous and the 

longer ones flow perennially. Many of the smaller streams become 

very low and sluggish or go dry altogether during late summer and 

fall. In localities where streams fail ponds are provided for watering 

stock. Springs occur along the foot of the hills and are used to some 

extent, but the principal water supply comes from wells in the base of 

the Lafayette or the top of the Lagrange sands. This water is freestone, but in the small Porters Creek area in the southeastern part of 

the county the water is poor and hard when the well is made in the 

dark clay of this formation. Water of good quality and quantity 

should be obtained in deep wells anywhere in the county. In the 

western part it would come from the Lagrange sands. In the eastern 

part, within the Lagrange area, it might still in many places be obtained 

from the base of the Lagrange at depths of 100 to 150 feet, or from the 

Ripley sands beneath the Porters Creek clay at depths of 150 to 200 

feet additional. It seems'most probable that the deep well at Jackson (see p. 98; also PI. V) ends in the Ripley sand. Such an interpretation would make the Ripley include in the Jackson section a 

clay bed containing shark's teeth, but this formation is nowhere in 

surface exposure in Tennessee known to contain such a bed. Marine 

fossils occur'in it in Mississippi, however, only a short distance south 

of the Tennessee line. One alternative supposition, that the 72 feet of 

fossiliferous dark lead-colored clay is Porters Creek, gives that formation an abnormal thickness of 288 feet. The other alternative supposition, that this bed represents the Selma clay, makes that formation 

only 72 feet thick and the Ripley sand above it only 41 feet thick 

both of which would be abnormally thin, the Ripley especially so.a

At Andrews Chapel water is obtained from wells that run usually 

from 50 to 60 feet deep, but are exceptionally 100 feet deep.

At Beechbluff, elevation 396 feet, water is obtained from springs 

and from wells of 20 or 30 fee,t depth. Much of the water contains 

iron and sulphur.

At Carroll, elevation 369 feet, wells average 18 to 40 feet deep; in

o Since the above was put in type the writer has had an opportunity to examine a partial set of 

borings from the Jackson deep well and also some notes made while drilh'ng was in progress. From 

these it seems that the base of the Lagrange is at 157 feet depth; the Porters Creek extends from 157 

to 335 feet; the Ripley sand from 335, probably to 405, feet; the Selma clay probably from 405 to 499J 

feet, and the Eutaw from there down. There is some uncertainty as to the upper and lower limits 

of the Selma clay, but the section from 405 to 438 feet seems without doubt to belong to it. This will 

modify and explain somewhat the section of this well given on page 98. The well shows an electric 

current of about half a volt.

IRE 164 06 7
98 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

the surrounding country they are from 40 to 150 feet deep. The 

water is soft. In some cases the quantity is reported as insufficient.

At Catalpa there are some springs and good water is obtained from 

wells that range from 20 to 60 feet in depth.

At Claybrook soft water is procured from wells that average 60 

feet in depth.

At Hatchie, elevation 328 feet, soft water is obtained from pumps 

and open wells ranging from 15 to 40 feet in depth.

At Jackson the elevation of the ground at the crossing of the Illinois 

Central and the Mobile and Ohio railroads is reported to be 425 feet, 

of the mark at the Federal building 394 feet, and of the Nashville, 

Chattanooga and St. Louis depot 340 feet, though this last figure 

would seem to be ,too low. Water is obtained in shallow wells at a 

depth of 30 to 50 feet, depending on the surface elevation. A battery 

of 22 wells of the city water company drew 1,000,000 gallons daily at 

a depth of 40 feet, while another group of 18 of these wells now yields 

about 2,500,000 gallons daily from a second water-bearing sand at a 

depth of about 100 feet. The pores of the sand become clogged after 

a time and are flushed out by forcing a current backward into it. 

The shallower wells yield water that forms a coating of oxide of iron 

in the pipes. The water from the deep well already mentioned dissolves and loosens up this deposit so that it comes out in small particles and makes the water for the moment a blood-red color. The 

deep-well water on standing some hours gives off CO2 and becomes 

opalescent while a flocculent precipitate of iron is forming. This 

iron soon settles and leaves the water once more clear. The wells in 

the water-bearing stratum at 90 to 100 feet below the surface have a 

galvanic current of one-fourth to one-half volt, due probably to the 

corrosion of the copper in the strainer by the sulphuric acid resulting 

from the decomposition of the iron pyrite. Lead pipes, if grounded 

by a copper wire, are eaten up by electrolysis in about eighteen 

months. The log of the deep well is as follows:

Log of deep wett at Jackson, Tenn. *

Sand, nearly pure white, some small gravel and thin ironstone crusts, water 

bearing at base .......................... ..................................

Shales, dark leaden-colored, with hard streaks of micaceous sandy material,

Hard material (not entered).

Thickness.

Feet. 

12

16

12

6

60

43

11

170

5

13

28

72

77

Depth.

Feet. 

12

28

40

46

106

149

160

330

335

348

376

448

525

a See, however, footnote on page 97.
RESOURCES OF McKAIRY COUNTY, TENN. 99

At Leighton water is obtained from ordinary wells and from a 

2-inch driven well that penetrated coarse sanoLto a depth of 75 feet, 

where the underground-water level was reached. The sand grew 

coarser to 120 feet, at which depth the well was finished.

At Malesus, elevation 453 feet, water is obtained from wells that 

average about 60 feet in depth, but range from 40 to 100 feet.

At Mercer, elevation 344 feet, water is obtained from a creek, from 

springs, and from wells ranging from 25 to 100 feet in depth, with an 

average of 40 feet.

At Neelys, elevation 504 feet, water is obtained at depths that 

range from 60 to 150 feet, the deeper wells being much more reliable. 

Pools are used for stock water.

At Norwood, elevation 448 feet, water is obtained at depths of 

about 80 to 100 feet. Pools are used for watering stock.

At Rollins bored wells about 100 feet deep are generally used.

At Springcreek there are small tubular and bored wells that range 

from 70 to 100 feet in depth.

M'NAIEY COUNTY.

Topography. McNairy County is situated in the southeastern part 

of the embayment area in Tennessee. Its eastern edge almost 

reaches the Paleozoic rocks. Its southern boundary forms part of 

the Tennessee-Mississippi line. The area is 570 square miles. The 

eastern half of the .county is crossed from north to south by the 

divide between Tennessee and Mississippi rivers, so that two-thirds 

of the county slopes westward and one-third eastward. The lowest 

point in this dividing ridge is at the head of Lick Creek, on the 

southern edge of the county, where the elevation is 520 feet. Just 

northeast of Purdy the ridge is about 600 feet high. The lowest 

point in the county is at about 345 or 350 feet elevation, where Rose 

Creek crosses its western boundary. The plateau surface of the 

county averages between 450 and 500 feet in height. The main 

divide north of Purdy is hilly. The eastern and southeastern parts 

are more nearly level. The southwestern and western parts, near 

the Hatchee and its tributaries, are broken and hilly.

Geology. The formations of the county are the Eutaw, the Selma, 

the Ripley, the Porters Creek, and the Lafayette.

The Eutaw sand is found at the surface only in a small area in the 

southeast corner of the county, but as it dips westward it underlies 

all the other formations.

The Selma clay has a greater development, both in area and in 

thickness, in this county than elsewhere in Tennessee. The thickness varies from 350 feet in the southern part of the county to about 

300 feet in the northern part. ' The width of the belt decreases from 

about 10 miles in the southern part to 5 miles in the northern part. 

Over much of this belt the Lafayette, which once covered it entirely,
100 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

has been removed by erosion, leaving the bare leaden-colored clay, 

greensand, and fossil shells exposed at the surface in areas many of 

which are of considerable extent.

The next formation to the west is the Ripley. It occupies all of 

the county west of the Selma clay belt except a few square miles of 

Porters Creek clay in the extreme northwest corner. The Bipley 

forms a prominent ridge that enters the State from Mississippi and 

extends a number of miles northward before it dies down and merges 

with the general plateau surface. A discussion of the origin of this 

ridge, as well as the section at the point where it is cut through by the 

Southern Railway in the "big cut" just west of Cypress, are' given 

on page 29.

Water resources. Numerous springs from the sands of the Eutaw 

and the Ripley flow the year round and feed streams that water 

every part of the county. From the high divide northeast of Purdy 

streams flow radially in almost all directions. Water from the 

Eutaw and Ripley, whether obtained by springs or by wells, is soft 

and generally free or almost free from iron and sulphur. Water 

from the dark clays of the Selma and Porters Creek is generally poor. 

For years it has been the custom in the Selma area to bore 6 or 8 

inch wells 200 to 300 feet through the clay into the underlying 

Eutaw sand, the water in which rises in many cases nearly to the 

surface. In some places in these areas of poor water cisterns have 

been used, though not to so great an extent as in the tier of loess 

counties adjoining the Mississippi. Occasionally a pond for stock 

watering is found. Wells range from 20 to 70 feet in depth except in 

the Selma clay, where they may be from 200 to 300 feet deep.

Adamsville is on a plain or table-land between two creek valleys. 

The joint clay of the Selma reaches practically to the surface in 

some places; in others it is covered by 20 to 25 feet of Lafayette. 

Wells average 16 to 20 feet in depth and give soft or hard water 

according as they are in the Lafayette or the Selma.

At Acton water is obtained from ordinary open wells 30 or 40 feet 

deep. A number of springs yield iron and sulphur water that is 

used locally for medicinal purposes.

At Bethel Springs, elevation 459 feet, there are springs and numerous wells that average 30 feet deep but range from 20 to 40 feet. 

The water is impregnated with iron and sulphur.

At Caffey there are no springs; water is obtained from ordinary 

wells that have an average depth of only about 15 feet.

At Gravehill water is obtained chiefly from bored wells that go 

through the Selma clay and are between 200 and 300 feet deep.

At Leapwood, near the junction of the Ripley and the Selma, 

there are several large springs, some shallow wells, and a small well 

360 feet deep. R £T < KM TO "^.H BOOKCASES & FU.HS o? 

THE riYDRO-CO:."PUTi^G SECTION, WATEF

R F s o u F- c : ~ s r-i A N> CM. UNITED STATES

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, WASHINGTON. D.C
EESOUECES OF OBION COUNTY, TENN. 101

At McNairy, elevation 449 feet, there are some springs and numerous wells that average about 35 feet deep. The water is soft and in 

many wells contains sulphur.

At Michie there are shallow open wells and good springs.

At Purdy, on the Mississippi-Tennessee divide, which is here a 

narrow plateau, many springs flow from the base of hills on either 

side. In the town, wells in the base of the Lafayette average about 

30 feet deep, while those that enter the Selma clay go 200 feet or 

more before reaching the Eutaw sand.

At Selmer, elevation 460 feet, the supply is obtained chiefly from 

wells 20 to 80 feet deep. There are a few cisterns, and one well, 416 

feet deep, gets water from the Eutaw sand. The casing goes down 

only about 50 or 60 feet. The water rises to within 30 feet of the 

surface and is slightly hard. The log is as follows:

Log of well at Selmer, Term.

Thickness.

Feet. 

25

375

16

Depth.

Feet. 

25

400

416

At Stantonville the Lafayette is 35 to 40 feet thick, and has at the 

base several feet of rounded chert gravel in which water is abundant. 

Beneath it is the Eutaw sand, but this is somewhat quick and tends 

to fill up a well. A mile or less to the west the Selma clay is struck, 

and wells are bored 80 to 250 feet through it into the Eutaw sand 

below. The water rises in some places nearly to the too.

OBION COUNTY.

Topography. Obion County is in the northwestern part of Tennessee. Its northern boundary is the State line, and its western 

boundary is the western shore of Reelfoot Lake. A part of the 

eastern boundary is formed by branches of Obion River. The area 

is 505 square miles. A narrow belt along the eastern shore of Reelfoot Lake and a belt for the most part several miles wide along Obion 

River are low and level and subject to overflow. On either side of 

this swamp belt of the Obion there is a level bench or second bottom 

15 to 25 feet higher than the first bottom and, as a rule, several miles 

wide. The remainder of the county is more elevated and forms a 

part of the general upland or so-called plateau slope of western 

Tennessee. Its surface varies from rolling to abruptly hilly, especially 

along the western border, where the region is known as the lake hills. 

The lowest part of the county is the surface of Reelfoot Lake and the 

swamps bordering it. These have an elevation of about 260 or 270 

feet. The highest point is probably in the northern part of the
102 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

county near the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, where the elevation is 

slightly over 400 feet. The average elevation of the upland is about 

350 or 375 feet.

Geology. The geologic formations of the county are the Lagrange, 

Lafayette, loess, and alluvium.

The Lagrange underlies the entire county, but is concealed, except 

here and there along the base and lower slopes of the lake hills, by 

one or more of the other formations, all of which are merely surficial. 

Drill records and an examination of the near-by exposures at Hickman, Ky., indicate that the Lagrange contains rather more clayey 

material in this region than in its type region in Fayette County.. 

Water-bearing sands are, however, found in it, and wells are generally successful.

The Lafayette is found on the uplands only, and is 20 to 30 feet 

thick. The upper part is, as a rule, orange or yellow sand, while the 

lower part consists of well-rounded chert gravel. In some places 

the gravel and sand are interbedded. The gravel is more abundant 

near the river.

The loess mantles the Lafayette on the uplands and laps down 

over the second bottoms, where it lies directly upon the Lagrange. 

It has its usual character and is 20 to 80 feet thick in the central 

and western parts of the county, but thins out in the eastern part 

and practically disappears by merging into a surface loam a few feet 

thick, which is everywhere revealed in railway and other cuttings 

overlying the Lafayette.

The alluvium is confined to the Obion and Reelfoot swamps.

Water resources. Along the sides of the stream valleys and among 

the hills springs are frequently found. Those in the swamps are 

sweet and many others are hard or contain iron and sulphur, so that, 

as a rule, they are not a valuable source of water supply. The springs 

feed numerous streams that during winter furnish water for stock 

in nearly all parts of the county, but during the summer all except 

the main branches of Obion River shrink away to a series of pools 

or go entirely dry. Ponds must then be relied on for stock watering. 

Wells generally reach water at comparatively shallow depths, usually 

in the Lafayette sand and gravel, but in the loess region this water 

is commonly hard. Deeper wells have been drilled in a number of 

places and get water from the Lagrange. In the loess region cisterns 

are largely used on the uplands, but on the second bottoms the loess 

or clay is so soft that it is often hard to keep the cistern from settling 

and cracking so as to let the surface water seep in, and in such places 

wells are used.

At Crockett, elevation 290 feet, there are small shallow wells and 

a number of springs.

At Elbridge there are only ordinary shallow wells and a few springs.

At Glass wells are usually 20 to 40 feet deep, and soft. One on
RESOURCES OF. OBION COUNTY, TENN. 103

the river bottom is 96 feet deep, striking water at 90 feet that rose 

within 20 feet of the surface.

At Gratis and Guelph water is obtained from ordinary shallow 

wells and springs.

At Kenton, elevation 309 feet, wells on the hills generally yield 

fine water. Those on the bottoms are not so good and may fill 

almost full during wet weather. Along the bottoms are springs, 

most of which are impregnated with iron or iron and sulphur. The 

water in some of the wells is hard because of the loess; in 'others 

below this formation it is soft.

At Masonhall the wells range from 30 to 65 feet in deptlu The 

shallower wells are in loess, and the water rises and falls with the 

seasons. The deeper ones are in the Lafayette sand. There are 

numerous springs.

At McConnell, elevation 354 feet, good water is struck at a depth 

of 30 to 40 feet.

Minnick is in the loess area, and has but few wells or springs. 

Cisterns are almost universally used. A 3-inch well started in a 

ravine on Lafayette sand and gravel, which it passed through at 50 

feet and entered blue clay; this continued to a depth of 280 feet, 

and contained, at intervals of 10 or 15 feet, hardpans or indurated 

beds, slightly gritty, that averaged about a foot each in thickness. 

At 280 feet the blue clay changed to a gray clay, in which the indurated layers occurred at about 5-foot intervals. In this material, 

at a depth of 300 feet, the well was abandoned.

At Moriah water is obtained from springs and wells, some of the 

latter being 40 to 50 feet deep.

At Obion, elevation 289 feet, there are some shallow surface wells. 

Good water is obtained from sand at a depth of about 80 feet. It is 

generally soft and abundant.

At Polk, elevation 330 feet, there are no springs, wells and cisterns 

being used. The wells are generally hard and average about 30 

feet deep. A few are 40 or 50 feet deep.

At Rives, elevation 295 feet, there are a few cisterns, but the black 

clay loam in which they are dug is not firm enough to keep them from 

cracking. Shallow wells with water of only fair quality are the chief 

source of supply. These average about 32 to 35 feet in depth. In 

wet weather they fill up with water. A deep well drilled for the 

Illinois Central Railroad had the following log:

Log of Illinois Central Railroad well at Rives, Tenn.

Sand, water bearing. ..........................................................

Silty or bastard sand, very fine grained, with sticky blue clay in places 

(entered) ....................................................................

Thickness.

Feet. 

40

20

82

18

540

Depth.

Feet. 

40

60

142

160

700
104 UNDERGROUND WATERS! TENNESSLi:, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

No water supply having been found below 160 feet, the pipe was 

pulled back and the well made at that depth. The water rises within 

10 feet of the surface. The diameter of the well is 10 inches and 

150,000 gallons a day are pumped for locomotive use.-

In the hills west of Rives, which is on the broad second bottom or 

terrace, wells average 70 to 80 feet in depth. Cisterns are largely 

used.

At Samburg, at the foot of the lake bluff, water is obtained from 

numerous springs that flow from the bluff. Wells are very shallow 

and the water poor.

At Spout Spring there are some springs and ordinary wells, but cisterns are more commonly used than anything else.

At Troy wells average about 25 feet in depth and furnish hard 

water.

At Union City, elevation 328 feet, water is obtained froni open wells 

that average about 25 feet deep. Small tube wells are from 150 to 200 

feet deep. The town waterworks has two 84nch wells, each 150 feet 

deep, that pump 240,000 gallons per day. Each has 40-foot Cook 

strainers. The water rises within 35 feet of the surface. It is slightly 

hard, but does not form a scale. The ice company has an 8-inch well 

125 feet deep, with a 30-foot Cook strainer. The water rises within 

28 feet of the surface. It forms a little soft scale that is easily blown 

out of the boilers. The waterworks has since finished a 535-foot well, 

but no record could be obtained either of it or of the shallower wells. 

The health of the town is said to be greatly improved since deep water 

began to be used. Fevers, both malarial and typhoid, have decreased 

50 per cent or more.

At Woodland Mills the domestic supply is obtained from dug wells 

of from 20 to 45 feet depth.

SHELBY COUNTY.

Topography. Shelby County is in the southwest corner of Tennessee. It is bounded on the west by Mississippi River and OE the south 

by the State line. The area is 769 square miles. The lowest portion 

of the county is the flat flood plain of the Mississippi and its tributaries, the largest of which are Loosahatchie and Wolf rivers. Along 

these latter streams there is usually a terrace or second bottom, but 

this is not so well developed nor so wide as the corresponding topographic feature in Obion County. The greater part of the county 

consists of the gently rolling upland that slopes slightly northwestward and ends abruptly on the western side in a line of bluffs that 

cross the county north and south and overlook the Mississippi swamp 

to the west. The average elevation of the county is about 300 feet. 

The highest point is about 400 feet above the sea and is on the southeastern edge of the county. The lowest point is where the Missis-
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY WATER-SUPPLY PAPER NO. 164 PL. VI

Nos.

Feet

+300

50 53 55 56 57 58 59 6O 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 IOI \OZ IO3 104 105 107 108 109 IIO III \\2 113 114 115 116 F FORMATIONS

-100

-zoo

-300

-4OO

-500

-600

-800

-900

m m.

LEGEND

Sand

Sand and ctay

Clay

Coarse water-bearing sand

^^ t Loess

 Lafayette

Lagrange

Porters Cr.

COMPARATIVE SECTIONS OF WELLS AT MEMPHIS, TENN.

RESOURCES OF SHELBY COUNTY, TENN. 105

sippi leaves the State, low water there being about 200 feet above 

sea level.

Geology. The Lagrange, Lafayette, loess, and alluvium are all 

represented in the county. The Lagrange is the underlying formation of the entire county. As shown in the deep well at Memphis 

(see p. 114), it is 950 feet thick, the upper 200 feet being clay and the 

remainder sand and clay interbedded in rapidly varying manner. 

PI. VI shows the abrupt variation in the character of the individual 

strata of such deposits as the Lagrange.

The Lafayette overlies the Lagrange. In some places it has been 

entirely removed, but in others it reaches a maximum thickness of 30 

to 40 feet. It consists of coarse sand with a large but varying proportion of gravel. Above it is the loess, which may attain a thickness of 

60 to 80 feet, but is usually somewhat less. In the eastern part of the 

county it mingles with and passes into a surface loam which overlies 

the Lafayette. The river flood plains have a deposit of Recent alluvium that attains a thickness along the Mississippi of over 100 feet. 

Water resources. Springs and shallow wells in the loess furnish 

hard water. Wells in the alluvium also give poor water, which seems 

here, as elsewhere, to become more highly impregnated with iron, magnesia, and other mineral ingredients the deeper the well is sunk, so 

that, if shallow wells are to be used, the shallower the better, so far as 

the mineral contents of the water are concerned. Tn the loess area 

many use cisterns. Deep water of good quality may generally be 

obtained in the Lagrange at a depth of from 200 to 500 feet, though 

locally the sands are too fine for even the finest strainers, as has been 

the case in a number of borings in Memphis. A number of features 

concerning the Memphis supply that are discussed in the local data 

(p. 108) are more or less applicable to water-supply problems all over 

the county.

At Arlington cisterns are used and numerous shallow wells in 

gravel strike water at a depth of from 15 to 35 feet. Some of the 

water is soft, some hard, and some contains iron and sulphur. The 

Louisville and Nashville Railroad well, 228 feet deep, gets water in 

sand at 195 feet which rises within 12 feet of the surface. The water 

is pure and soft and excellent for locomotive use. The log, given from 

memory, is as follows:

Log of well of Louisvitte and Nashville Railroad at Arlington, Tenn.

Loess ..........................................................................

Thickness.

Feet. 

50

12

133

33

Depth.

Feet. 

50

62

195

228
106 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

400 600 800 1000 feet

FIG. 8. Diagram showing location of wells at Memphis, Term.
RESOURCES OF SHELBY COUNTY, TE1STN. 107

The strainer is 32 feet long and the well yields all that can be 

pumped by a suction pump set on the surface, of 24,000 gallons per 

hour capacity.

At Bartlett there are only common wells.

At Bleak there are ordinary shallow wells, some very strong 

springs, and a driven well 2J inches in diameter and 176 feet deep, in 

which the water rises within 47 feet of the surface and is hard.

At Brunswick wells vary in depth from 20 feet in the lowlands to 

70 feet on the hills. The lowland water is of poor quality. That in 

the hills is good and soft.

At Buntyn, elevation 290 feet, on the flat upland between Wolf 

River and Nonconnah Creek, water is found in the Lafayette or upper 

part of the Lagrange at depths that vary from 40 to 85 feet. Most 

wells are bored.

At Capleville, elevation 317 feet, cistern water is largely used. 

Wells range from 40 to 125 feet in depth. The deeper wells furnish 

soft water.

At Collierville, elevation 377 feet, cisterns were formerly used very 

largely. Water is found at a depth of 95 to 100 feet in sand so fine 

that it rapidly fills the wells and so but few are used. A town system 

of waterworks has been established with two wells 6 feet apart, 

driven 239 and 248 feet, with 16-foot Cook strainers. The water 

stands 95 feet below the surface and is raised by pumps that have a 

capacity of 7,500 gallons per hour. The water is reported to be very 

pure and fevers are said by physicians to have decreased 50 per cent 

since its use began. The log of the 248-foot well is a§ follows:

Log of well at Collierville, Tenn.

Thickness.

Feet. 

6

150

8

82

Depth.

Feet. 

6

20

170

178

260

The gravel at 248 feet was better than that at 260 feet and the pipe 

was pulled back to it. Good pure springs are found at the foot of the 

ridge on either side of the town and wells in the lowlands of either the 

Wolf or the Coldwater average about 20 feet deep. There are several 

tubular wells 2J inches in diameter and 130 to 140 feet deep in the 

vicinity. Most of them are pumped by gasoline or steam engines.

At Cordova, elevation 372 feet, water-bearing strata are struck at 

depths of 50, 80, and 100 feet. There are several small tubular wells 

that draw from the lowest stratum at a depth of 125 or 130 feet. The 

water is soft and is used for both boiler and domestic purposes.
108 UNDEEGEOUND WATBESI TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

At Eads, elevation 348 feet, there are very few wells or springs, 

cisterns being used almost exclusively.

At Foresthill open and bored wells are used, the latter being about 

100 feet deep. The water is abundant and soft.

Germantown, elevation 377 feet, is supplied partly by cisterns and 

partly by wells that have a range in depth of 38 to 70 feet and an 

average of 60 feet.

Granberry obtains a supply chiefly from ordinary wells. One 

2-inch well 118 feet deep furnishes an abundant supply of soft water 

for a gin and mill.

Irene gets its water supply from shallow wells and cisterns. One 

tubular well 2J inches in diameter and 175 feet deep furnishes a 

boiler supply for a mill.

Kerrville, elevation 335 feet, gets its water supply almost entirely 

from ordinary dug wells 30 to 50 feet deep.

At Madge wells are from 20 to 75 feet .in depth. The water is 

scft, but not always abundant. -r

At Massey, elevation 323 feet, there is one 200-foot well yielding 

water reported to be hard.

At Mayville, near Nonconnah Creek, there are only shallow bored 

wells.

Memphis has an elevation of 250 to 280 feet in the business part 

of the city, but in the eastern part the general elevation is 300 feet 

or more. Extreme low water in the Mississippi is 182 feet and 

extreme high water 218 feet. Prior to 1870 the entire water supply 

was obtained from cisterns and individual shallow wells. A public 

supply from Wolf River was then introduced, but it was never perfectly satisfactory, chiefly because of its turbidity. In 1886 an ice 

company sunk a well 354 feet deep and obtained a flow of water 

which rose several feet above the surface. Efforts to obtain a city 

supply from the same sources were so successful that a temporary 

pumping plant for the wells then sunk was erected in 1889 and the 

Wolf River plant abandoned. In 1890 the present pumping station 

was put into operation, and since then there has been a constant 

extension in the wells and the distributing mains. In August, 1903, 

124 wells had been put down, of which 16 failed to find a stratum 

of coarse sand thick enough to justify completing them, and 4 had 

not then been connected. The first 42 wells sunk were abandoned 

in 1899, having had a life of about ten years each. The wells made 

now are of better material and are better cared for and will probably last fifteen years. For depreciation and city growth about 

eight or ten new wells are required each year. The cost of each 

new well is about $5,000.

The texture of the sand varies very rapidly, so that while the 

entire mass is water-logged, sand coarse enough to be kept out of a
RESOURCES OF SHELBY COUNTY, TETSTN. 109

strainer with slots one one hundred and fiftieth of an inch wide may 

not be found at the same level in two adjacent wells, but they may 

"get water" that is, get coarse sand at very different depths or 

one well may not get it at all (see fig. 9). If fine sand only is 

encountered, the well is not finished, as this sand cuts out the 

strainer slots in a year or two and also fills up the tunnels and 

pump well. At best the life of the strainers is only about three and 

one-half or four years. They are overhauled at the end of two years.

The yield per well varies considerably because of differences in the 

coarseness of the sand in which the strainers are placed. Wells 100 

feet apart may show wide variation from this cause. Well No. 94 

when new had a capacity of 988,000 gallons per month, while No. 

98, one block distant, 

gave only 401,000 gallons per month. New 

wells should have a 

monthly capacity of 

500,000 to 700,000 

gallons. Within two 

or three months they 

usually run down to 

about 400,000. Occasionally one holds up 

for six months or a 

year. Five months after starting, well No. 

94 had decreased to 

591,000 and No. 98 to 

363,000 gallons. This 

decreased flow is caused 

by the stopping up of 

the pores in the coarse 

sand around the strainer or of the slots in the strainer itself by fine 

sand carried in by the draft of water entering the well. To remedy 

it water is forced back by the pumps from the well into the sand 

around it. In this flushing a device is used that permits the water 

to be forced out through the slots of only a small portion of the 

strainer at a time, thus insuring a much more thorough cleansing 

than would otherwise be possible. Wells are flushed foot by foot 

about twice a year, and at times between they are flushed the entire 

length of the strainer at once. After flushing, the wells often show 

a larger flow than when new. Four wells that had fallen off 32 per 

cent in nine months increased their flow after flushing about 13 per 

cent above the original amount.

The level to which water from the Lagrange sand originally rose

PIG. 9. Diagram showing variation in texture of sand and its 

effect on depth and success of a well.. Wells 6 and c. obtain 

water from the same lens of coarse sand; wells a and d fail 

to strike this local lens, but go as deep again and obtain 

water at the same depth, but from different lenses; well e 

fails to strike coarse sand at all and is finally abandoned.
110 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

at Memphis was 225.1 feet above the sea. This elevation was sufficient to permit it to flow at the surface in the lower parts of the 

city. Where the city wells have been put down the water will not 

rise to the surface. Instead of placing a pump in each well, the wells 

are connected by underground drifts with a reservoir, or tunnel, at

Bluff loam

Gravel and sand 

(this stratum 

drains intotfte

Mississippi River)

Artesian sand, 

water-bearing 

stratum -from 

which supply is 

obtained

CROSS SECTION OF DRIFT

STANDARD WELL STANDARD SHAFT

FIG. 10. Section of well, drift, tunnel, and shaft at Memphis, Tenn. (After Hider, Omberg, and Bell.)

a level considerably lower than that to which the water would rise 

in them. The wells discharge into this tunnel, which is 5 feet in 

diameter and about three-fourths of a mile long. It is situated from 

75 to 80 feet below the surface of the ground, in the upper part of 

the thick clay bed which underlies the city and forms the impervious upper member of the Lagrange formation at this point. In the
RESOURCES OF SHELBY COUNTY, TENN. Ill

tunnel the water Hows by gravity to a suction chamber, from which 

it is lifted to the surface by pumps and forced into mains for distribution over the city. At intervals shafts are sunk to the drifts, and 

in them are placed gates which permit groups of wells to be cut off 

from the remainder and each individual well to be shut off from the 

tunnel, so that it may be pumped out for inspection or repairs. A 

section of well, drift, tunnel, and shaft is shown in fig. 10.

When the water in the suction chamber is lowered to about the 

bottom of the suction pipes of the pumps, the wells flow under their 

greatest head. When less water is pumped, the level of the water 

in the pump well rises, the head of flow for the wells is lowered, and 

their flow automatically diminishes until it equals the amount being 

pumped. The plant contains three Worthington direct-acting pumping engines, each of 10,000,000 gallons daily capacity. The water is 

forced by these pumps directly into the mains, which connect with 

a steel standpipe 20 feet in diameter and 160 feet high. This serves 

chiefly as a pressure regulator, though to a very limited extent it 

also acts as a reservoir.

The water is clear and sparkling when freshly drawn, but on 

exposure or heating gives off free carbonic acid gas and then precipitates iron oxide, the iron at first existing in the water as a carbonate. 

The nascent carbonic acid attacks the threads on wrought-iron pipe 

and corrodes them, but does not seriously damage brass or cast iron 

or the inside of wrought-iron pipes. In steam boilers a scum or soft 

scale is formed, but does little or no damage if the boilers are frequently cleaned. For drinking and many other purposes the water 

is very satisfactory, but there is enough calcium carbonate present 

to interfere somewhat with its use in laundry work, for which many 

use cistern water. When the artesian water is heated, however, 

it precipitates the calcium carbonate and may then be used for 

washing.

Analyses of Memphis artesian water.

Silica ....................'......-.-..-......

1.

24.94

64.86

89.80

2.165

Little.

.032

009

.000

2.

14.96

69.86

QA CO

2

ftQC

Little.

AOO

000

.006

000

3.

19.96

74.84

94.80

2.494

AOO

000

4.

86.64

Little. 

None

.031

420

5.

Q9 SP;

Present.

009

.014

1, 2. Charles Smart, analyst, June, 1887.

3. Charles Smart, analyst, July, 1888.

4. J. W. Mallet, analyst, June, 1887.

5. E. H. S. Bailey, analyst, June, 1887.

In addition Professor Mallet reports as present soda, potassia, lime, magnesia, iron, iron carbonate, 

sulphates, traces of phosphates, free nitrogen, almost no oxygen, organic carbon 0.86, organic nitrogen 

0.28 part per million.
112 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

There has been a remarkable lowering of the death rate since the 

introduction of the artesian water and the extension of the sewerage system. While this has been partly due to better sanitary 

conditions resulting from the development of the sewer system, it 

has also been due largely to the healthfulness of the water itself. 

The increase of population, extension of sewers, and increased use 

of city water are graphically shown in their relationship to the 

decreasing death rate in fig. 11.

Most of the wells in use are located within an area of a quarter 

of a square mile, and it is calculated that the ultimate limit of 

economic supply from this area will be about 25,000,000 gallons per 

day. The present daily consumption is over 20,000,000 gallons and 

this rate shows each year an increase of about 1,000,000 gallons. 

In order not to interfere with the yield of the present cluster of

FIG. 11. Diagram showing increase oi population and decrease oi death rate in Memphis, Tenn., after 

the extension of sewers and water mains. (After Hider, Omberg, and Bell.)

wells, new wells are now being located in South Memphis, at a distance of 4 or 5 miles from the old wells, where a new group may 

soon be developed, so as to give a similar yield of about 25,000,000 

gallons a day from a quarter of a square mile. When the city has 

grown large enough to require a daily supply of 50,000,000 gallons 

additional units must be provided to meet both the normal increase 

in consumption and the deterioration in condition and consequently 

decreased yield of the units already fully developed. It is conceived by the writer that just as the sand in the small area around 

each well becomes more or less clogged by the indraft of water to 

the well, so the sand around any quarter square mile or other unit 

area will in time become similarly clogged and show a decreased 

yield. Such decrease will be permanent, for it will manifestly be
RESOURCES OF SHELBY COUNTY, TENN. 113

impracticable to flush out an underground area of even comparatively small size when in order to flush a single well most efficiently 

it must be taken a foot at a time. The expansion of the present 

system involves an extension of mains and the erection of new 

substations at considerable cost. The writer believes that the present system is not capable of indefinite expansion, and hence that it 

can not be regarded as a permanent system for a rapidly growing 

city like Memphis. When it has been extended to its ultimate economic limit, the city must either turn to Mississippi River for a 

water supply or explore the deeper lying sands in the hope that they 

may yield a more abundant supply than is found in the Lagrange. 

When this limit will be reached it is impossible to say. It may be 

reached in twenty-five years from now, or it may possibly be fifty 

years. The present supply has numerous advantages from a sanitary 

point of view which render its retention and further enlargement 

advisable as long as it can be done with economy.

The problems arising from the use of Mississippi River water do 

not require extended discussion here. If the turbidity were removed 

by settling or filtration, or a combination of the two, the principal 

objection to the use of the river water would be removed. Other 

problems would be of purely an engineering character and would be 

as capable of easy solution.

The hydraulic level in the vicinity of the city pumping plant has 

been successively lowered by the increase of the amount pumped 

so that the actual hydraulic surface in the water-bearing sand 

around the city pumping station forms an inverted cone whose 

apex is a point in the pump shaft at an average elevation above 

the sea of 170 feet, the water in the shaft being kept down to this 

level by the pumps. The curves made by the hydraulic surface in 

1898 and in 1902, when about 9,000,000 and 12,000,000 gallons, 

respectively, were pumped daily, are graphically shown in fig. 12. 

The probable surface resulting from the establishment'of a second 

pumping plant is also shown. \

In view of the steady increase in the consumption of water, the 

Ripley formation should be tested as a water bearer. It would not 

take much additional work to deepen the 1,147-foot well sufficiently 

for that purpose, since it can not be far above the top of the Ripley 

as it now stands. Details as to the probable thickness of the Porters 

Creek formation at Memphis are given on page 31. It is impossible 

to predict accurately the condition of the Ripley beds at Memphis 

or the character of the water they may contain. It is very probable that this formation would be found there, as elsewhere, to be 

coarse enough to be a water bearer and that the water contained in 

it would be of good quality. There is no special reason, indeed, for 

believing that it would yield water much different from that now 

IER 164 06 8
114 UNDERGROUND WATERS I TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

obtained in the Lagrange sands, for the two formations are very 

similar in lithologic character. Should the deep well be sunk to the 

Ripley and the water there be found insufficient in quantity or 

inferior in quality the well need in no wise affect the present supply. 

If it were desired to shut off the water, the well could be plugged at 

any depth desired and the pipe above that depth either cut or allowed 

to remain.

One mat sum ice c ?5.7 as r rst lose, rvec

6000 8000 IOOOO 12000 KOOO 16000 

DISTANCE FROM PUMPING STATION

FIG. 12. Diagram showing slope of artesian hydraulic surface and probable effect of a second pumping 

station at Memphis, Tenn. (After Hider, Omberg, and Bell.)

The Ripley is probably underlain by the Selma clay, and it in turn 

by the Eutaw sand, which is also water bearing. The depth, however, to the Eutaw at Memphis is probably so great as to prevent 

its economical use for city water supply unless the yield per well 

were much greater than that obtained from any of the wells now 

in use.

Log of Well No. 109, Memphis, Tenn. 

[Elevation, 238 feet.]

Stiff blue clay ..................................................................

Stiff brown clay.......................................... .....................

Thickness.

Feet. 

27

10

8.4

4

14

12.5

4.4

2.6

1

2

1.5

15.5

15.1

1

4

1.3

1

Depth.

Feet. 

27

37

45.4

49.4

63.4

75.9

83.3

85.9

86.9

88.9

90.4

105.9

121

122

126

127.3

128.3
RESOURCES OF TIPTON COUNTY, TENTS'.

Log of Well No. 109, Memphis, Tenn. Continued.

115

Thickness.

Feet.

1

5.7

61

18

9

53

27

35.4

41.6

10

17

10

15

13

7

22

26

6.6

.8

6

2.3

17.7

25

38.2

16.8

8

2

195

53

31

30

24 '

50

25.6

.5

27.9

93.5

Depth. '

Feet. 

129.3

135

196

214

223

276

303

338.4

380

390

407

417

432

445

452

474

/476.6

483.2

484

490

492.3

510

535

573.2

590

598

600

795

812

865

896

926

950

1,000

1, 025. 6

1,026.1

1,064

1, 147. 5

At Millington water is obtained at a depth of 20 to 40 feet and better water at 80 to 100 feet. Cisterns are largely used.

At Mullins, elevation 284 feet, water is obtained from springs, cisterns, and wells that average 30 or 40 feet in depth.

At Pearley the wells are from 16 to 60 feet deep.

At Ramsey cisterns only are used.

At Sloanville water is struck in Lafayette gravel at a depth of 34 

feet. Water-bearing gravel is also reached at a depth of 83 feet. 

Some wells yield soft water, but in most it is hard.

At Whitehaven, elevation 303 feet, only dug or bored wells of about 

50 feet average depth are in use.

TIPTON COUNTY.

Topography. Tipton County is bounded by Mississippi River on 

the west. Its area is 430 square miles. The surface may be divided 

topographically into three parts, the lowest of which is the alluvial 

plain of Mississippi and Hatchee rivers. This low plain forms a 

narrow belt along the western and northern borders. Next, there is 

along the Hatchee a terrace belt of varying but not great width. 

The third part is the upland surface, which is gently rolling or level
116 UNDEEGKOCTND WATERS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

except near the bluffs that form its western margin, where it is cut 

into steep-sided hills. The average elevation is about 325 feet, but 

the elevations of only a few points in the county are known. The 

highest of these is 378 feet, on top of the bluff at Randolph. The lowest (about 200 feet) is at low water in the Mississippi where it leaves 

the county.

Geology. The geology of the county is exactly similar to that of 

Shelby County, just south of it. The Lagrange everywhere underlies 

the alluvium in the bottoms, and the Lafayette on the uplands. The 

Lafayette in turn is overlain by the loess and the latter seems to 

extend down onto the terrace area.

Water, resources. The county is fairly well watered by flowing 

streams, which are the main dependence for stock water. For 

domestic use, wells, cisterns, and springs are used, wells being the 

most common. Wells in the loess, as well as springs that flow from it, 

give hard water. The use of small driven wells from 100 to several 

hundred feet deep is becoming more general. Good soft water from 

the Lagrange sand should be obtained almost anywhere at depths of 

from 100 to 250 feet. The entire drainage is to the Mississippi.

At Almira wells average 65 or 70 feet in depth; some are dug, 

others bored. The dug wells are the more satisfactory. The water 

is generally soft.

At Atoka, elevation 424 feet, water is obtained chiefly from ordinary wells. There are a few springs, but most of them go dry during 

the summer.

At Bride there is difficulty in drilling wells because of caving. The 

water is hard. Cisterns are used almost exclusively.

At Covington, elevation 316 feet, water is generally obtained from 

open wells of about 40 feet average depth. The town system is supplied by four wells 6 inches in diameter and 100 to 110 feet deep. 

Each flows 3 gallons a minute under a head of about 5 feet. The 

daily consumption is 50,000 gallons. Direct pressure is used. The 

water is soft and of excellent quality, and the health of the town has 

been greatly improved by its use. The section, reported from memory, is as follows:

Log of weds at Covington, Tenn.

Thickness.

Feet.

8

4

12

86

Depth.

Feet. 

8

12

24

110

At the station the Illinois Central Railroad has an 8-inch well 533 

feet deep, in which the water rises within 31 feet of the surface. It
RESOURCES OF WEAKLEY COUNTY, TENN. 117

has a temperature of 66° F., is soft, and makes a good boiler water. 

Nine thousand gallons per minute may be obtained with the present 

pumping plant. The record given is as follows:

Log of well at Illinois Central station, Covington, Tenn.

Blue clay ......................................................................

Thickness.

Feet. 

100

18

100

100

182

4

4

25

Depth.

Feet. 

100

118

218

318

500

504

508

533

At Dawsons the wells on the upland range from 40 to 80 feet in 

depth. An occasional well furnishes soft water. Wells in the bottoms are 10 to 20 feet deep, and the water rises to the top during 

the winter.

At Gift cisterns are used.

At Mason water is obtained at a depth of about 35 feet. One well 

is 200 feet deep.

At Phelan water is obtained from dug wells 45 to 60 feet deep. The 

water in most of them is good, but is easily lowered.

At Quito cisterns are most used. Wells average 35 feet in depth, 

and the water is generally hard. Two miles to the west, along the 

bluffs overlooking the Mississippi alluvial region, springs are abundant.

At Tabernacle there is a 4-inch bored well sunk to a depth of 225 

feet. The water is abundant and soft and rises to within 106 feet of 

the surface. The section down to 184 feet, where the water-rose 78 

feet in the pipe, was chiefly alternating sand and clay. This was 

followed by a thin sand-ironstone layer, then 21 feet of blue clay, and 

beneath it another sand, which was entered to a depth of 225 feet 

from the surface. The water in this sand rose within 165 feet of the 

surface only, and so the casing was pulled back and the well made at 

184 feet.

At Tipton, elevation 342 feet, dug wells from 30 to 50 feet in depth 

furnish hard water. Some springs are also used.

At Walts, on the Mississippi, the only wells are shallow driven wells 

in.which the water rises and falls with the river surface. The quality 

of the water is not good; the shallower the wells are the less iron the 

water contains.

WEAKLEY COUNTY.

Topography. Weakley County is bounded by the Kentucky line 

on the north and is almost midway between Tennessee and Mississippi 

rivers. Its area is 565 square miles. The surface is gently rolling,
118 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

except around Dresden and in the northeastern part of the county, 

where it is hilly. The general slope is westward and the drainage is 

to the Mississippi. Elevations of about 500 feet are found on some of 

the hills near Dresden. South Fork of Obion River has an elevation 

of about 290 feet where it'leaves the county, and North Fork is but 

slightly higher. The average elevation is between 400 and 450 feet.

Geology. The formations of the county are the Lagrange, the 

Lafayette, and the Columbia loam. The Lagrange underlies the 

entire county, and while generally concealed by one or both of the 

other formations it is exposed in the deeper railway and stream cuttings. It consists, as usual, of soft sands interbedded with occasional strata of clay. The Lafayette is a red clayey sand and contains very little gravel. It is 10 to 20 feet thick and is exposed in 

most of the natural and artificial cuttings. Over it are generally 

found 5 to 10 feet of a softer, lighter-colored sandy loam that in places 

is very much like loess in its physical characteristics.

Water resources. The county is watered by numerous streams, the 

larger of which flow westward. Many of the smaller streams become 

dry during the late summer and autumn and recourse is then had to 

ponds and wells for stock water. Springs are not numerous nor 

strong. The ground-water level, as is often the case in the middle 

and eastern parts of the Lagrange belt, lies at some distance below 

the surface, and wells which furnish the chief water supply average 

50 or more feet in depth. In some cases, where the depth to water 

is greater than usual, cisterns are used.

At Dresden, elevation 416 feet, there is no system oi waterworks; 

water is obtained chiefly from open wells that average 50 feet in 

depth. The water is good, soft, and abundant. A few persons use 

cisterns. In the surrounding country wells in low places near 

streams may be only 20 feet deep, while on hills they go to 80 feet 

or more.

At Gardner, elevation 337 feet, water is obtained from common 

open wells only.

At Gleeson Station, elevation 397 feet, good water is struck at 

depths of 50 to 100 feet.

At Greenfield, elevation 434 feet, ordinary wells are in general use. 

There is one well 200 feet deep and another 400 feet deep, detailed 

records of which could not be obtained. The water in the 200-foot 

well rises within 116 feet of the surface, and is pumped; the yield is 

60 gallons per minute. The water contains some iron and is used 

for domestic and boiler purposes. The water in the 400-foot well rises 

to about the same elevation, but is dark colored and does not taste 

good.

At Kimery springs are weak and of little use. Wells 25 to 100 

feet deep and small tubular wells 100 to 160 feet deep are used The 

water is soft, and, in the deeper wells, abundant.
BESOURCES OF WEAKLEY COUNTY, TENK. 119

At Logan water is obtained from springs along the hillsides and 

from wells that average 50 feet in depth.

At Martin, elevation 419 feet, water is obtained from cisterns and 

open wells. The wells range from 60 to 90 feet in depth and furnish 

good soft water from the Lagrange sand. Occasionally a well strikes 

water above a local hardpan, at the base of the Lafayette, at a depth 

of 20 or 25 feet. If this hardpan is dug through the water immediately drains down into the underlying dry Lagrange sand, and permanent water is not reached short of 60 to 80 feet below the surface.

The town put in a system of waterworks in 1898, getting the supply 

from two 8-inch wells, each 316 feet deep. The water rises within 

90 feet of the surface, and is raised by air lifts, with a capacity of 

12,000 gallons per hour for each well, into two surface reservoirs of 

28,000 and 96,000 gallons capacity. From these it is forced into the 

mains by direct pressure. The town wells are on a level'with the 

railway crossing. No complete log could be obtained. The water is 

so clear that it looks bluish; it is soft and excellent for domestic and 

industrial purposes. ,The ice company has a 4-inch well 130 feet deep, 

the top of which is about 2 feet lower than the town wells. The 

water rises within 69 feet of the surface, and is of good quality. 

From the record of this well and other sources the following may be 

given as the approximate section at Martin:

Generalised section at Martin, Tenn. Feet. 

Surface sand and clay................................................... 20

Sand with occasional beds of clay, each 3 or 4 feet thick..................... 50

Sand, water bearing..................................................... 10- 15

Pipe clay (to a total depth of 100 feet).................................... 15- 20

Sand, water bearing..................................................... 30±

Clay, black lignite...................................................... 60- 90

Sand, fine, with clay.................................................... 80-100

Sand, coarse, water bearing.............................................. 15+

The upper water-bearing sand seems to run very uniform in elevation in the vicinity of Martin, ranging in depth from 25 feet in the 

valleys to 150 or 160 feet beneath the hills. The layer of lignitic 

clay is also reported to underlie a large part of the country around 

Martin. Some parts are pure enough lignite to burn when dried. 

Occasionally a log of lignite is struck in the sand over the lignitic 

clay.

At Meda, elevation 424 feet, water is obtained from cisterns, from 

shallow dug wells 25 to 40 feet deep, and from small bored wells 50 

to 100 feet deep. The water is soft, but is not very abundant.

At Ore Spring there are some ordinary springs and shallow open 

and deep bored wells, the latter ranging from 60 to 100 feet in depth. 

The water is abundant and soft.

At Ralstons Station, elevation 429 feet, water is obtained from 

cisterns, and shallow wells 25 to 40 feet deep. There is one tubular
120 UNDEEGEOUND WATEESt TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

well 166 feet deep that furnishes an abundance of soft water, but no 

record of it could be obtained.

At Kinda water is obtained from bored wells 30 to 150 feet deep.

At Ruthville water is obtained from cisterns and from ordinary 

wells 50 to 75 feet deep.

At Sharon, elevation 416 feet, water is obtained from wells, cisterns, and ponds. The wells range in depth from 50 to 150 feet, but 

the water is especially good and abundant at 100 to 150 feet. At 

the foot of the hills on the north side of Obion River are numerous 

springs. Small streams go dry in the fall and ponds are used for 

stock water.

At Terrell there are wells from 30 to 60 feet deep.

At Unity water is obtained from common wells and springs.

MINERAL WATERS OF WESTERN TENNESSEE.

There are a number of mineral springs or wells in western Tennessee that are more or less widely known for their therapeutic properties. Some few have been developed into summer resorts, but 

most are undeveloped and are used only locally.

Austin Springs, at Unity, Weakley County, have something more 

than a local reputation for their medicinal properties. They are 15 

miles east of Fulton, Ky. The water is a sulphureted chalybeate, 

in which iron is the chief ingredient, but small amounts of calcium, 

magnesium, potassium, sodium, and chlorine are also reported present. It is reputed to be valuable for rheumatism and general kidney 

and stomach troubles. The water is sold locally.

At Bethel Springs, McNairy County, elevation 458 feet, there is a 

chalybeate spring that has long been known and used for its curative 

properties. No analysis is known to have been made.

Brock Springs, in the western part of Weakley County, 10 miles 

west of Dresden, is a local resort, but has no permanent improvements. Visitors camp out and live in tents. The quality of the 

water could not be ascertained.

The Cotton artesian well, half a mile southwest of Huntington, 

Carroll County, was bored in 1879 to a depth of 67 feet and cased 

with terra-cotta piping. The water flows several gallons per minute. 

It is a very palatable chalybeate. A hotel has been erected near it.

Dunlap Chalybeate Springs are about 2| miles south of Bolivar, 

Hardeman County.

At Dyersburg the water for the Phoenix Cotton Oil Company's 

deep well has considerable local repute for use in kidney troubles. 

"No analysis has been made, but it is known to contain considerable 

iron and a little calcium, and probably magnesia also.

The water from Essery Springs, 3 miles south of Pocahontas, on
MINEEAL WATERS OF WESTERN TENNESSEE. 121

the southern edge of Hardeman County, has been known for years 

and used for kidney and stomach disorders.

Gibson Wells, 12 miles northwest of Humboldt, Gibson County, is 

one of the best developed summer resorts of western Tennessee. 

Extensive hotel accommodations have been provided. The wells 

afford chalybeate and sulphur waters that are used for indigestion 

and nervous and malarial disorders.

Glenn Spring, 7 miles from Atoka, Tipton County, is at the base 

of the Mississippi River bluffs. The water has long been used for 

liver, kidney, and digestive disorders. The following analysis was 

made in 1880 by W. T. Lupton: a

Analysis of alkaline carbonate water from, Glenn Spring, Tennessee.

Parts per 

million.

Silica (SiO2)...................... 24

Iron (Fe)........................ 4.5

Calcium (Ca)..................... 66

Magnesium (Mg).................. 35

Sodium (Na)..................... 13

Potassium (K)................... 2y6

Parts per 

million.

Carbonate radicle (CO3)............ 206

Sulphate radicle (SO4)............. 2. 6

Chlorine (Cl) .................... 1.7

355.4

The water from Hargrove Spring, 6 miles south of Ripley, Lauderdale County, is alkaline and useful, especially in kidney and bladder 

troubles and for gout and rheumatism.

Hawkins Spring, \\ miles from Huntington, Carroll County, on the 

edge of the bottoms, is a bold chalybeate spring.

Hinson Springs is on the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis 

Railway, 2 miles west of Lexington, Henderson County. There are 

two chalybeate springs, two sulphur springs, and a freestone spring, 

all near each other. The place has been a summer resort for fifty or 

seventy-five years. The waters have not been analyzed, but they 

are recommended for stomach, kidney, and bladder troubles.

At Jackson there is an artesian well, which forms part of the city 

water-supply system, and yields water that is regarded as having 

medicinal properties. A description of it has already been given 

(p. 97). The water is slightly chalybeate and alkaline, as the following analyses show:

a Crook, J. K., Mineral Waters of the United States, p. 439.
122 UNDEKGKOUND WATEESI TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

Analyses of water from well at Jackson, Tenn. 

[Parts per million.]

Silica (SiO2) .................................. ............

Calcium (Oa) .................................................

Sodium (Na).......... ....................... ........ .

Sulphate radicle (SO<) ........................................

Chlorine (Cl) .................................................

1.

16

45

1.6

.67

12

19

1.3

2.

14

4.2

5.1

(a)

26

1.7

1.4

3.

15

.50

2.9

2.5

3

55.7

44.7

23.9

20.8

4.

1.2

6.4

4.3

2.9

12

21

5.1

7.6

a Not determined.

1. C. N. Miller, analyst.

2. W. E. Stone, analyst. " The water is to be regarded as exceptionally pure. The solid matter is 

present in quantities so small that it is difficult to make the determination; its form is mainly that of 

sulphate of soda and lime, with traces of potash and magnesia."

3. Henry Carmichael, analyst. " The water represented by above sample is exceptionally soft and is 

well adapted for boiler supply or bleaching purposes."

4. Pittsburg Testing Laboratory, analyst.

Mason's wells, in Madison County, ^ miles from Pinson and 11 miles 

from Jackson, have long had a reputation for their curative properties in stomach and kidney disorders. The water is chalybeate and 

mildly astringent. The principal well is 70 feet deep and has 30 feet 

of water in it.

Pryor Chalybeate Spring, 2J miles east of Paris, Henry County, 

has a bold flow.

At Raleigh, Shelby County, is a group of six- springs that were 

analyzed by Mr. Theo. Hernner and found to contain the following:*

Analysis of water from springs at Raleigh} Tenn.

Parts per 

million.

Carbonate radicle (CO3).....:....... 86

Sulphate radicle (SO4).............. 10. 3

Chlorine (Cl)....................... 6.2

Parts per 

million.

Silica (SiO2)....................... 26

Iron (Fe)..................... >. 31

' Calcium (Ca)...................... 23

Magnesium (Mg)................... 9

Sodium (Na)...................... 6.3

Sulphur Springs water, Decatur County, has a local reputation 

for dyspepsia and stomach troubles. No analysis has ever been made.

RESOURCES OF KENTUCKY, BY COUNTIES. 

BALLARD COUNTY.

Topography. Ballard County is in the extreme northwestern part 

both of the Jackson purchase region and of the portion of Kentucky

a Safford, J. M., An annotated catalogue of the mineral springs and wells of Tennessee, a contribution to a report on the water supply of the State: Suppl.to Bull. State Bd. Health, Tenn. for Oct., 

1885, pp. 15, 16.
RESOUBCES OF BALLAED COUNTY, KY. 123

lying west of the Tennessee River. It is bounded on the west and 

north by Mississippi and Ohio rivers and on the south by Mayfield 

Creek. Its area is 237 square miles. The county is divisible topographically into three parts that differ in their general surface elevation as well as in other respects. The lowest of these is the flood 

plain or bottoms along Mississippi and Ohio rivers. This is absent 

at Wickliffe, where the Mississippi is swinging eastward against the 

bluffs, but its width reaches 6 miles in the middle western part of thecounty and decreases to a mile at the northeast corner of the county. 

The surface of this plain is broken by a number of low sand ridges 

whose general trend parallels the river. These ridges are separated by 

old lakes, ponds, and sloughs the remains of abandoned and partly 

filled river channels. The average elevation of this part of the 

county is between 300 and 320 feet. The higher ridges and the margin along the river bank are cultivated in many places, but the greater 

part is a poorly drained wooded swamp. The second topographic 

division is an old terrace level with a surface about 30 or 35 feet 

higher than that of the flood plain. This forms a belt 4 to 6 miles 

wide that crosses the northern part of the county adjacent to the 

flood-plain belt. The remaining and largest part of the county is the 

general upland region, which has an elevation of between 400 and 

425 feet. The surface is level or gently rolling except near the western 

margin and along the streams, especially Mayfield Creek, where it is 

hilly.

Geology. The surface formations are the Lagrange, Lafayette, 

loess, and alluvium. The Lagrange underlies all of the county except 

the northern part, where both the Porters Creek and the Ripley are 

doubtless to be found beneath the thin covering of alluvial material. 

They are not exposed naturally and no wells have been sunk to them 

in the alluvial region; their exact position and boundaries are therefore largely conjectural. The Lagrange has its usual character, being 

a soft, light-colored sand with occasional strata of clay. It is 

exposed only in the sides of the deeper and more abrupt cuttings.

Over the Lagrange is a layer of 10 to 30 feet of Lafayette sand and 

gravel. This extends over the entire upland area of the county, 

except where it has been removed by stream erosion. It apparently 

covers the terrace area in the northern part of the county also, 

though the writer is not sure that this gravel is as old as the Lafayette gravel on the uplands to the south. It seems more probable 

that it is an Ohio River gravel of later age. This terrace belt extends 

up the Ohio to Paducah, McCracken County, which is situated on 

it, and beyond, and throughout presents the same characteristics 

and the same problem as to the age of its gravels.

The alluvium covers .the flood plains of the two great rivers. 

Water resources. There are numerous streams that generally fur-
124 UNDEKGBOUND WATEBS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

nish water for stock. In some places, where the surface is flat, natural ponds hold water practically all the year, and artificial ponds 

may be readily made. The alluvium furnishes water everywhere at 

slight depths, but the quality of such water is generally poor to fair 

only. The gravel on the terrace and on the upland is often waterbearing. In the terrace gravels the water is usually hard, while on the 

uplands the water from the Lafayette is in some places hard and in 

others soft. In numerous places, however, there is no hardpan or 

clay at the base of the Lafayette to form an impervious basin, and 

then water is only reached at a considerably greater depth in the 

Lagrange. An abundance of water of good quality should be found 

practically everywhere at the base of the embayment deposits or in 

the immediately underlying chert that forms the upper part of the 

Paleozoic floor. The depth to this old floor is probably not over 400 

or 500 feet, except on the southern edge of the county, where it seems 

to sink rapidly to 1,000 feet. Good water may be obtained in 

sufficient quantity for manufacturing or domestic purposes from the 

Lagrange sand, at depths of 150 to 300 feet, in almost any part of the 

county. Over the uplands ordinary wells are 60 to 100 feet deep.

At Bandana, on the terrace plains, water is obtained by ordinary 

wells at moderate depth.

At Barlow City water is struck at a depth of about 70 feet. Bored 

wells and cisterns are used.

At Blandville, elevation 445 feet, cisterns are used principally, 

but there are some open wells that reach 140 feet in depth.

At La Center, elevation 404 feet, there is a deep well drilled for 

the Illinois Central Railroad for engine use, the log of which is as 

follows:

Log of Illinois Central Railroad weU at La Center, Ky.

Sand and clayl,L fa ttpx Cement gravel/(--LaIa3rette) ---------------------------------------------------- 

Marl Sandy clay . . ........... .1 ,-, _ >and streaks of sand/(Lagrange) -------------- .............. .............

White sand..........l,R . , , Brown sand and clay/(- Klpley; ------------------------------------------------

Thickness.

i

{

Feet. 

20 

18 

38 

34 

28 

112 

5 

132 

. 10 

48 

113

Depth..

Feet. 

20 

38 

76 

110 

138 

250 

255 

387 

397 

445 

558

At Lovelaceville, in a valley tributary to Mayfield Creek, the wells 

are from 30 to 40 feet deep. The water is hard in some and soft in 

others. In the neighboring hills wells run 50 to 100 feet in depth.

At Ogden there are few cisterns; most of the supply is obtained 

from bored wells. The region is so flat that there are no springs.

At Oscar there are only shallow wells.
RESOURCES OF BALLARD COUNTY, KY. 125

At Slater there are some wells ranging from 40 to 75 feet in depth, 

but the water is generally considered poor and is very little used. 

Cisterns are almost exclusively used for domestic supply, while ponds 

are used for stock.

At Wickliffe, elevation 322 feet, there are only a few open wells 

that average 40 or 50 feet in depth. In the surrounding country 

the farmers use cisterns almost exclusively, the water from shallow 

wells being hard because of the loess.

The town built waterworks in 1901, getting the water from a 

6-inch well 147 feet deep, from which 6,000 gallons per hour are pumped 

into a standpipe for distribution. The log is as follows:

Log of waterworks well at Wickliffe, Ky.

Sand, with a little water. .....................................................

Thickness.

Feet. 

6

30

2

90

19

5

Depth.

Feet. 

6

36

38

128 147'

152

The casing.was pulled back to 147 feet and the well finished with 

a 19-foot strainer. The yield has shown no tendency to decrease. 

The water is soft and quite satisfactory for general town purposes 

and for boiler use.

Analysis of water from waterworks weU at Wickliffe, Ky.

Parts per 

million.

Silica (SiO2 ).......-........................................................ 21

Oxides of iron and aluminum (Fe2O3 + A12O3)................................ 8. 6

Calcium (Ca).............................................................. 9. 5

Magnesium (Mg) .......................................................... 5.1 

Sodium (Na) ............................................................. 6.7

Carbonate radicle (CO3) .................................................... 27

Sulphate radicle (SO4) ..................................................... 5.8

.Chlorine (Cl).............................................................. 6

Free CO,................................................................. 85

Alkalinity................................................................ 70

Incrusting solids .......................................................... 71

Nonincrusting solids ....................................................... 19

A few years ago a local company drilled for oil in the southern 

edge of town and got artesian water instead. The elevation of the 

well head is about 20 feet below track level and the same distance 

below the level of the town well given above. The water flows 

about 5 or 6 gallons a minute. The following log was given from 

memory:
126 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

Log of weU in southern part of Wicklijfe, Ky.

Potter's clay ........................... ...\, T . Coarse sand, clear, yellowish, or reddish . ./ (.ljasrange; -.--.--.--...----------

Soft sand, water bearing. ............................. .1 , ! ! -, Blue marl with some kaolin, down to 1,000 feet depth./*- ^LV^s ) 

Thickness.

Feet. 

12 

f 130 

I 300

158

/ 10 \ 390 

20

Depth.

Feet. 

12 

142 

442 

600 

610 

1,000 

1,020

The present flow is from the 600-foot level. The water is largely 

used for drinking and has acquired the reputation of being very 

valuable for kidney diseases. An analysis by C. G. Heinrichs is as 

follows:

Analysis of water from well at Wickliffe, Ky.

[Analyst, C. G. Heinrichs.]

Parts per 

million.

Silica (SiO2) .............................................................. 7.3

Iron (Fe)................................................................. 1.6

Calcium(Ca).............................................................. 40

Magnesium (Mg) .......................................................... 11

Sodium (Na) ............................................................. 47

Carbonate radicle (CO3 ) .................................................... 87

Bicarbonate radicle (HCO3) . .^.............................................. 48

Sulphate radicle (SO4)...................................................... 17

Chlorine (Cl).............................................................. 24

283 

Free CO2 ................................................................. 41

Lithium............................................................ Strong trace.

A view of this well is given in PL VII, A.

CALLOW AY COUNTY.

Topography. Galloway County is in the southeast corner of the 

Jackson Purchase region. Its southern border adjoins Tennessee,, 

and its eastern boundary is Tennessee River. Its area is 402 square 

miles, of which about 350 are included in the area discussed here. 

The eastern portion along Blood River, adjoining the Tennessee 

Valley, is broken and hilly, and there are also hills on either side of 

the forks of Clarks River. Away from the neighborhood of the 

streams the surface is as a rule gently rolling. South of Murray 

there is a considerable area of "flatwoods" underlain and caused by 

the Porters Creek clay. The highest portion of the county is along 

the Tennessee line, where an elevation of about 600 feet is reached. 

The general slope is to the north. The average elevation of the 

county is from 500 to 525 feet. The lowest point is low water in 

the Tennessee at the northeast corner of the county, which is about 

295 or 300 feet above the sea.
U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

A. ARTESIAN WELL AT WICKLIFFE, KY.

B, LAGRANGE, LAFAYETTE, AND COLUMBIA FORMATIONS AT MAYFIELD, KY.

RESOURCES OF GALLOWAY COUNTY, KY. 127

Geology. The formations of the embayment portion of the county 

are the Ripley, Porters Creek, Lagrange, Lafayette, and Columbia 

loam. The Ripley consists of sands and clays and is exposed chiefly 

along Blood River and the upper part of Jonathans Creek, where 

the surficial formations are removed by stream erosion. It dips 

to the west beneath the Porters Creek. The leaden-colored clays 

and greensand of this formation are exposed along East and West 

forks of Clarks River and their tributaries. An excellent exposure 

showing numerous small interlacing sandstone dikes may be seen 

at low water on East Fork of Clarks River, between the highway and 

railroad bridges just south of town. West of the Porters Creek 

formation the sand and clays of the Lagrange are found in the 

western part of the county. All of the older formations are generally concealed, except along the streams, by the sand and gravel of 

the Lafayette. This gravel is in places, especially in the central 

and eastern parts of the county, 20 to 40 feet thick. An excellent 

exposure may be seen in the railway gravel pit just south of Murray. 

It is there a highly ferruginous, prevailingly orange-colored gravel, 

which is distinctly cross-bedded and has numerous sand pockets 

and some iron crusts in it. It shows 25 feet of gravel, overlain by 8 

or 10 feet of sandy clay, with irregular gravel streaks through it in 

places. Above the Lafayette in many places are 5 or 10 feet of 

softer, leached-out or light-colored, sandy clay or loam that probably 

represents the Columbia and is the equivalent of the loess found 

along the Mississippi River bluffs to the west.

Water resources. While there are numerous streams in the county, 

much of it is not well watered, and in dry seasons many of the small 

streams fail altogether. Ponds are widely used for stock. Underground water is reached in the stream valleys at depths of 20 to 30 

feet, but on the uplands it is often 100 to 150 feet to permanent 

water, and in such places cisterns are usually used instead of wells. 

Water from the Porters Creek clay or "soapstone" is not good. 

This clay does not seem to be very thick in many places along its 

eastern margin, and it may there be dug or drilled through without 

difficulty. Under it good water should generally be obtained from 

the Ripley sand.

At Backusburg, in the valley of West Fork of Clarks River, there 

are numerous springs and shallow wells.

At Coldwater several large springs and wells that are 60 to 80 feet 

deep provide the water supply.

At Crossland cisterns are used almost exclusively on account of 

the depth to underground water.

At Dexter, elevation 424 feet, lying in a stream valley, water is 

obtained at a depth of 16 "to 20 feet. On the neighboring uplands 

wells are 30 to 40 feet deep; many yield chalybeate water.
128 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

At Harris Grove water is struck usually at depths of 30 to 50 feet. 

One well 110 feet deep is a blowing well; during foul weather the 

wind rushes out strongly.

At Hazel a domestic supply is obtained from wells ranging from 

30 to 60 feet in depth. The water is good and pure. Streams and 

ponds are used for stock.

At Lynngrove an abundant supply of soft water that contains 

some iron is obtained at a depth of 115 feet. Two wells one 2-inch, 

the other 3-inch were drilled there to a depth of 174 feet, and furnish excellent water from 115 feet depth. The log is as follows:

Log ofwdl at Lynngrove, Ky.

Thickness.

Feet. 

15

25

40

10

12

72

Depth.

Feet, 

15

40

80

90

102

174

At Murray, elevation 480 feet, both wells and cisterns are used in 

about equal numbers. The wells used average about 30 or 40 feet 

in depth and are situated on low grounds or slopes near by. On 

higher ground water is deeper, a few wells being 100 feet deep, and 

the one in the court-house square 140 feet deep. The latter well goes 

through the surface soil, the Lafayette gravel, and the Porters Creek 

clay and gets water from the Ripley sand. In many places water 

may be obtained at the base of the Lafayette. If found in the Porters Creek it is hard and unfit to use. Wells are then usually 

abandoned, though it would be easy to sink them through this formation, as it seems to be from 5 to 30 feet thick only, and get water 

from the Ripley sand. In the uplands to the east of Murray very 

few wells are used, and in the corresponding area west of town the 

number is even less, cisterns being used in both areas because of the 

depth to water.

The Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway dug a large 

brick well near the station to a depth of 73.6 feet and thens sunk a 

pipe in the bottom of it to a total depth of 215 feet. The water 

rises to about 50 feet below the surface and stands about 23 feet in 

the large well. It is used for locomotives. The following log has 

been furnished by Mr. E. F. Doudna, of Mayfield, Ky.:
RESOURCES OF CARLISLE COUNTY, KY. 129

Log of well of Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway at Murray, Ky.

Clay, hard, black (Porters Creek) ....................................

Thickness.

Feet. 

46.3

7.0

20.0

33.4

28.0

5.0

8.0

3.0

15.0

I 16.0

11.0

1.5

3.5

1.0

3.0

13.0

Depth.

Feet. 

46.3

53.3

73.3

106.7

134.7

139.7

147.7

150.7

165.7

181.7

192.7

194.2

197.7

198.7

201.7

214.7

At New Concord water is struck in fine sand at a depth of 50 to 

70 feet.

At Stella cisterns are used exclusively.

At Wadesboro water is obtained from springs along the foot of the 

hills and from wells back on the uplands that range from 20 to 60 

feet in depth and furnish good water.

At Wetzel wells average about 50 feet deep. All contain more or 

less iron; cisterns are largely used.

CARLISLE COUNTY.

Topography. Carlisle County is situated on the western edge of 

the Jackson Purchase region, almost midway between its northern 

and southern extremes. Its western boundary is formed by Mississippi River and its northern boundary is Mayfield Creek. Its area 

is 188 square miles. Along its western border there is a fringe of 

Mississippi bottom of varying width. The eastern margin of this 

bottom is formed by a bluff that rises from 75 to 150 feet above it. 

Eastward from the bluff the general upland, which includes all of 

the remainder of the county, has a rolling surface. The upland 

slopes slightly to the northwest and has an average elevation of about 

400 feet. Low water in the Mississippi is about 275 feet and high 

water about 315 feet.

Geology. The formations are the Lagrange, the Lafayette, the 

loess, and the alluvium. The Lagrange consists of light-colored sands 

and clays, with occasional beds of lignite. It is exposed along the 

bluffs and in occasional stream cuttings. On the upland surface the 

Lafayette sand and gravel, 10 to 30 feet thick, rests on the Lagrange. 

The bluffs overlooking the alluvial region are capped by the loess, 

which rests on the Lafayette and may be 20 to 50 or 60 feet thick 

near the bluffs, but gradually thins out to the east and merges into 

IRR 164 06 9
130 IHSTDEBGKOUITD WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

a surface loam. The surface of the Mississippi bottoms is composed 

of Recent alluvium.

Water resources. There are numerous streams in the county which 

flow into Mississippi River, Mayfield Creek, and Obion Creek. The 

smaller of these streams may go dry in the fall. The larger ones are 

permanent. For domestic purposes cisterns are largely used in the 

loess region, because of the hardness of the shallow water. They 

are also used in the middle and eastern parts of the county in places 

where the depth to underground water is inconveniently great. The 

average depth of wells on the uplands may be taken at from 60 to 

100 feet. Water may be obtained at any point from the Lagrange. 

For a supply sufficient for domestic or boiler use it would not usually 

be necessary to go more than 150 or 200 feet, the depth in any one 

case depending on the coarseness of the sand. For town supply it 

might be advisable to explore the deeper beds, as there is usually no 

difficulty in pulling a pipe back in case a better supply is not found 

at the greater depth. Along Mayfield and Obion creeks bold springs 

of pure, cold water from the Lagrange sands occur. Back on the 

uplands weak springs, in which the water is not so pure nor so cold, 

are found in local depressions here and there. As a rule they are 

used for watering stock only, and some of them go dry in late summer.

At Arlington open wells from 30 to 50 feet deep afford a limited 

supply of water. If larger quantities are wanted, for manufacturing 

or other purposes, it is necessary to go considerably deeper. Several wells for boiler supply are reported to be 120 feet deep, but in 

the log given below lignitic clay occurs at this level. One well is 

reported to be 228 feet deep, with water rising within 12 feet of the 

surface. It furnishes all the water that can be raised by a suction 

pump with a capacity of 400 gallons a minute, located on the surface. 

The log, given from memory, is as follows:

Log of well at Arlington, Ky.

Thickness.

Feet. 

50

12

133

33

Depth.

Feet. 

50

62

195

228

At Bardwell, elevation 357 feet, there are numerous ordinary wells. 

The town waterworks gets a supply from two wells reported to be 

about 250 feet deep. The Illinois Central Railroad has two wells 

that furnish an abundance of water for all railroad purposes. The 

following log of these two wells was given from memory;
RESOURCES OF FULTON COUNTY, KY. 131

Log of Illinois Central Railroad wells at Bardwell, Ky.

Sand and blue clay in alternate stratai, individual beds of sand being not over

.

Thickness. Depth.

Feet. Feet. 

100 100

523 623

The pipe was pulled back and a 20-foot strainer set at 120 feet 

from the surface. The water rises within about 30 feet of the surface 

and is soft and excellent for all purposes. The elevation of the well 

head is about 386 feet, 4 feet lower than the railroad level given above.

At Cimningham bored wells are used very largely.

At Laketon, elevation 314 feet, there is a well owned by the Mobile 

and Ohio Railroad which furnishes from the Lagrange an excellent 

water for locomotive use. Detailed data could not be procured.

At Milburn water is obtained from open and bored wells that range 

in depth from 20 to 60 feet. The quality of the water is good. 

There are very few springs.

FULTON COUNTY.

Topography. Fulton County is in the extreme southwestern part 

of Kentucky. It is bounded on the south by Tennessee and on the 

west by Mississippi River. Its area is 178 square miles. Something more than a third of the county is in the alluvial region of 

Mississippi and Bayou de Chien rivers and Obion Creek. This portion is low and flat, its average elevation being about 290 feet. The 

remainder of the county, extending from Hickman southward and 

eastward, is a level to rolling upland whose western and northwestern 

borders are hilly or bluff-like. The bluff at Hickman rises to an 

elevation of 461 feet and may be the highest point in the county. 

Low water in the Mississippi at Hickman is 257 feet and high water 

303 feet. The average elevation of the upland is about 400 feet.

Geology. The formations of this county are the Lagrange, the 

Lafayette, the loess, and the alluvium. Their relationships are 

exactly the same as in Carlisle County (p. 129). The Lagrange has 

in this county, however, a greater amount of fine siliceous clay than 

usual. The best exposures are in the bluff at Hickman, a section of 

which is given on page 37. This section has been discussed so fully 

on pages 37-9 that repetition is not necessary here.

Water resources. Springs along the bluffs are usually strong and 

yield either pure or chalybeate water. Elsewhere they are weak. 

Wells in the alluvium are shallow, as usual, and furnish poor water. 

On the uplands water may be reached in sufficient quantities for 

domestic use at depths of 40 to 100 feet. When obtained at slight 

depth it is apt to be hard. The Lagrange contains comparatively
132 UNDERGROUND WATERS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

few beds of water-bearing sand coarse enough to set a strainer in 

and hence difficulty is experienced in some places in making a satisfactory deep well in it. A log of such a well is given under Hickman 

(p. 133). The streams on the uplands are all small and some go dry at 

times, so that in places ponds or wells must be used for stock water. 

At Fulton, elevation 366 feet, water is obtained at depths ranging 

from 25 to 100 feet. There is a system of waterworks supplied by 

several wells, each 100 feet deep. The quality of the water is medium. 

It is used for general domestic purposes and also by the Illinois Central Railroad in locomotives. Between 600,000 and 700,000 gallons 

per day may be pumped. The log is as follows:

Log of Illinois Central Railroad well at Futon, Ky.

Shell of rock..................... . . . . .............................

Sand....................................... . .................................

Thickness.

Feet. 

25

§

99 4-

23

30

Depth.

Feet. 

25

25§

47|±

70 ±

100 ±

At Hickman, elevation of low water, 275 feet; high water, 303 feet; 

railway, 306 feet; top of bluff, 461 feet, water is obtained from 

ordinary wells and from cisterns to some extent. A waterworks 

plant has been built, and water is pumped to a standpipe on top of 

the bluffs, from which it flows into the mains.

Capt. H. A. Tyler has a deep well on the upland near town, 130 feet 

above high-water mark, or 433 feet above sea level. The water 

rises within 110 feet of the surface. It is soft and good for washing 

or boiler purposes. It contains some iron. Two logs were given. 

The first, by Captain Tyler, is as follows:

Log of Tyler well near Hickman, Ky.

Thickness.

Feet. 

80

10

460

6

144

17

Depth.

Feet. 

80

90

550

556

700

717

A 20-foot strainer point was set at 717 feet. The well is 6 inches 

in diameter, and 5,400 gallons per hour may be pumped. Another 

driller had previously gone to a depth of 830 feet within 10 feet of 

this well, but the pipe was telescoped. From 717 to 830 feet the 

section is reported to be mostly sand, with a little clay.

The second log is by Mr. W. B. Johnson, of Johnson & Flemming, 

the drillers. It is as follows:
RESOURCES OF FULTON COUNTY, KY.

Log of Tyler well, near Hickman, Ky., given by drillers.

133

Thickness.

Feet. 

80

30

165

182

6

157

80

17

Depth.

Feet. 

80

no

275

 457

463

620

700

. 717

The well was successfully finished at this depth.

It is interesting in this connection to be able to compare these logs 

with that given by Mr. W. F. Crosby, of Crosby & Co., the drillers 

of the well 10 feet distant, in which the pipe was telescoped at 830 

feet, in order to see how three records of the same section, all given 

from memory, compare. It is as follows:

Log of drill liole at Hickman, Ky.

White chalky substance with a fine vein of water just under it, not tested . . .

Sand ...........................................................................

Thickness.

Feet. 

200

30

280

40 

150

160

Depth.

Feet. 

200

230

510

550 

700

860

A comparison shows that while there is agreement in that the 

larger part of each section is lignitic clay, and water-bearing sand was 

reached at a depth of 700 feet, there is considerable difference in 

details, and this may often be true where records are given from 

memory. Men who make a business of drilling wells would undoubtedly find it to their own advantage to keep careful logs of all wells 

drilled, especially when drilling in sands and clays so variable in 

thickness that memory can not be depended on to preserve the 

details of the various sections.

In a valley 3^ miles somewhat north of east from Hickman, at 

an elevation estimated to be about 30 feet above high-water mark 

(about 333 feet above tide), a well was drilled on Mr. R. A. Tyler's 

; leek farm. The water is hard, and rises within 30 feet of the surface. 

The log is as follows:

Log of well on R. A. Tyler farm, near Hickman, Ky.

Coarse white water-bearing sand, parted by very thin strata of wnitt pipe clay.

Thickness.

Feet. 

57

53

82

Depth.

Feet. 

57

110

192
134 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

Near Hickman is the Nick Combs mineral spring, which is discussed 

on page 145.

At Jordan, elevation 398 feet, water is obtained from wells and 

cisterns. Wells vary from 35 to 110 feet." Water is most abundant 

at 100 feet, and is reported to be hard.

GRAVES COUNTY.

Topography. Graves County is quadrangular, its long dimension 

extending north and south. It is situated in the middle of the Jackson Purchase region from east to west and extends from the Tennessee line more than two-thirds of the way to Ohio River. It is the 

largest of the Kentucky counties here discussed, its area being 550 

square miles. The surface slopes gently to the northwest. It may 

be described as level to rolling away from the main drainage lines 

and hilly along them. Especially on the eastern (right-hand) side 

of West Fork of Clarks River and Mayfield Creek, the two principal 

streams of the county, the valley wall -rises steeply to the upland 

level. On the western side of each stream, however, the ascent to 

the general upland level is not abrupt, but gradual. The highest 

point in the county and also in the Jackson Purchase region, according 

to Loughridge, is in the southern portion, about halfway between 

Lynnville and Pilot Oak. Its elevation is given by Loughridge as 

625 feet. The average elevation of the southern part of the county 

is about 550 feet. The slight northwestward slope makes the elevation of the northern part of the county about 425 or 450 feet. The 

lowest point is about 320 feet, where West Fork of Clarks River 

leaves the county.

Geology. The geologic formations of the county are the Porters 

Creek, Lagrange, Lafayette, and Columbia loam. The Porters 

Creek is confined to the northeastern part of the county and is concealed by the Lafayette except where the latter has been removed 

by erosion along West Fork of Clarks River. It has its typical 

character, being a dark leaden-colored clay, usually called soapstone, 

with occasional silty or sandy beds. The clays in many places are 

cut by sandstone dikes, as has been described at some length on page 

30. The thickness of this clay is probably not over 125 or 150 feet. 

It dips westward beneath the Lagrange.

The Lagrange underlies all of .the county except the Porters Creek 

area just mentioned. It also is concealed by the Lafayette except 

in stream or other cuttings. It consists of light-colored sands and 

clays, some of which are dark with lignitic matter, while others are 

white and plastic and are mined for pottery making.

The Lafayette is well developed as an orange-colored sand, grading down into or underlain by a gravel bed which forms its basal 

portion. This gravel is highly ferruginous as a rule.
RESOURCES OF GRAVES COUNTY, KY. 135

On the uplands the Columbia loam rests on the Lafayette. It is a 

light-colored sand beneath, usually soft and containing a few pebbles derived from the Lafayette, and grades up into a loam, the 

entire thickness being 5 to 10 feet. A most excellent exposure is 

seen in the town gravel pit just east of the railroad track in the 

southern part of Mayfield. PI. VII, B ( p. 126), is a view of this pit. It 

shows at the base 18 feet of soft variegated and cross-bedded Lagrange sand. Over it, with a sharp contact line between them, are 

20 to 22 feet of Lafayette gravel. It has much sand intermixed and 

some thin iron crusts and stands well in vertical faces. The gravel 

is principally chert, though there are some pieces of vein quartz. It 

is used for road material and is being removed in two benches, which 

are well shown in the plate. Over this and separated by a sharp 

but irregular line are 10 feet of material that is lighter in color and 

softer, so that it does not stand up with vertical faces so readily. 

The lower 3 or 4 feet of it are chert and vein-quartz pebbles, similar 

in size and rounding to the Lafayette pebbles below, from which 

they were undoubtedly derived. The slight reworking to which they 

have been subjected has deprived them of their iron and of their 

bright color and given them a leached appearance. They grade 

upward into sand and the sand into surface loam, both of which have 

the same light-brown or leached color, which readily serves to differentiate this deposit from the Lafayette beneath. It is the representative of the Columbia. In the plate it is the upper bench 

extending to the top of the pit.

Water resources. Except along the stream valleys, springs are 

few and generally weak. The small streams have in consequence 

weak flows, and the great majority of them go dry in late summer. 

West Fork of Clarks River runs all the year. Everyone has ponds 

for stock. Along the stream valleys water may generally be reached 

in wells 20 to 30 feet deep. On the uplands in the southern, central, 

and northeastern parts of the county wells are 60 to 125 feet deep, 

and in some places do not then reach water. In the northwestern 

part of the county the average depth to water is somewhat less. 

Cisterns are largely used.

It should be possible to get good water in the "soapstone" or 

Porters Creek area by going through it into the Ripley sand beneath. 

In the Lagrange area good water may be obtained almost anywhere 

at depths of 200 to 400 feet. Because of the great average elevation of the county, water will not rise to the surface, and, indeed, in 

most of the county there will probably be little if any rise at all. 

Shallower water is found at the base of the Lafayette in places 

where there is enough hardpan to make an impervious basin. Such 

wells are weak and are apt to fail in dry seasons, and are in addition 

fed by surface rain water, and so liable to contamination.
136 UNDEEGBOUND WATERS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

At Bloom there are a few springs, but water is generally obtained 

from cisterns.

At Cuba water is obtained from wells that are from 100 to 150 

feet deep; cisterns are largely used.

There are some good springs in the neighborhood of Dublin, but no 

wells. Cisterns are used.

At Fancyfarm the supply has come from cisterns chiefly, but 

small tubular wells, some of which are 120 or 130 feet deep, are coming into use. They furnish good, pure water from the Lagrange 

sand. In low places wells are less than 50 feet in depth.

At Farmington cisterns are used almost exclusively because of the 

depth to underground water. There are a few small tubular wells 

120 to 165 feet deep.

At Folsomdale there are a few wells, but cisterns are almost universally used.

At Freda there is only one well. It is 90 feet deep and is not used. 

There are a few springs. Cisterns are used by all.

At Golo cisterns are used almost exclusively. The few wells and 

springs are used for watering stock.

At Lowes water is obtained mostly from cisterns. There are only 

a few wells and they average 100 feet or more in depth.

At Lynnville cisterns are used almost exclusively. A blue clay 

is struck very near the surface and few of the attempts at boring 

wells are successful. It is probable that a well sunk 100 or 150 feet 

would go through this blue clay and find water-bearing sand in the 

Lagrange. Such clay beds in the Lagrange are not usually over 100 

or 150 feet thick.

At Mayfield, elevation 480 feet, underground water is struck at 

a depth of 90 or 100 feet, and cisterns have been largely used there 

and in the surrounding country, where the same conditions as to 

depth to water prevail. A system of waterworks has been installed 

by a private corporation, which has one 10-inch well 304 feet deep, 

one 8-inch well 300 feet deep, and two 8-inch wells 160 feet deep. 

The water stands in them at about 80 or 90 feet from the surface. 

It is pure and clear and is raised by air lift to the surface and then 

forced into a standpipe. Only one well is pumped at a time. The 

average daily consumption is about 250,000 gallons. The following 

log was given by the driller, Mr. W. B. Johnson, of Johnson &

Flemming:

Log of well at May field,, Ky.

Thickness.

Feet. 

12

60

218

50

Depth.

Feet. 

12

72

290

290

340
RESOURCES OF HICKMAN COUNTY, K¥. 137

At Pryorsburg, elevation 420 feet, water is obtained from wells 30 

to 40 feet deep and from cisterns.

At Ragsdale cisterns are used principally. Wells are scarce.

At Sedalia six wells of small diameter from 120 to 170 feet deep 

furnish a very pure water. Cisterns are largely used.

At Symsonia there are no wells or springs of any note. Cisterns 

are used.

At Tice cisterns are used almost exclusively. There are a few 

wells 30 to 75 feet deep.

At Viola, in the valley of Mayfield Creek, wells are 18 to 75 feet 

deep; most of them are bored and the water has more or less iron 

in it.

At Vultoncreek water is obtained from cisterns for domestic use 

and from, ponds for stock. The few springs go dry in summer. 

There are no wells in the vicinity.

At Water Valley, elevation 386 feet, wells are used principally. 

They range from 25 to 40 feet in depth. Cisterns are also used to a 

considerable extent. A mineral well is noted on page 146.

HICKMAN COUNTS .

Topography. Hickman is one of the western tier of counties and 

reaches on its western side Mississippi River and on its southern side 

the Tennessee State line. Its area is 224 square miles. Along the 

Mississippi and the lower course of Obion Creek within the county 

there is a small area of low alluvial land. The remainder of the 

county is a level or rolling upland in the interstream areas, which 

becomes broken and hilly along the main streams and near the 

bluffs that overlook the Mississippi flood plain. The average elevation of the upland is about 375 feet and of the alluvial region about 

310 feet. Low water in the Mississippi is 260 to 270 feet. The 

upland slopes gently westward and is drained by Bayou de Chieri and 

Obion Creek into the Mississippi.

Geology. The geology of the county is the same as that of Carlisle 

County on the north and Fulton County on the south. The underlying formation is everywhere the Lagrange sand. It is admirably 

exposed at Chalk Bluff below Columbus and at Columbus. At the 

latter place about 80 feet of it may be seen forming the base of the 

bluff, the upper part being a grayish, somewhat jointed clay resembling slightly the clay so prominent in the middle and upper parts of 

the bluff at Hickman.

Over the Lagrange are 35 feet of Lafayette in the Columbus bluff, 

the lower 20 feet being gravel and the upper 15 feet a sand at the 

base, which grades up into a gravel at the top. Eastward from the 

bluff the Lafayette is as a rule not so thick and is not so heavily 

charged with gravel.
138 UNDEBGBOUND WATEBS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

Along the bluffs facing the Mississippi the loess overlies the Lafayette. The lower part is usually darker than the upper, as described 

on page 45. The thickness may reach 60 or 80 feet. To the east 

it thins down and merges into the surface loam.

The alluvium rests on the Lagrange in the river and creek bottoms. 

It is believed to be of Kecent origin.

Water resources, Streams are numerous and the larger ones flow 

perennially. Along their valley sides springs are found, but their 

situation generally precludes their use for domestic supply. Along 

with the streams and scattered artificial ponds they are used for 

stock watering. In the alluvial region water of medium quality is 

obtained at depths of a few to a score feet. Back on the uplands 

wells vary considerably in depth, but often go 75 or 100 feet. Cisterns are used in many places because of the hardness of the water in 

the loess area or the depth to it elsewhere. Good water may be gotten in the Lagrange at moderate depths, and small driven wells 

should be found practicable at any point where difficulty is encountered in obtaining a satisfactory supply.

At Clinton elevation at Illinois Central Railroad 354 feet, at courthouse 389 feet there are numerous bored wells 100 to 150 feet deep. 

The town supply is obtained from two wells that draw their water 

from white sand 135 or 140 feet deep. It is reported to be hard and 

to contain iron. The water stands within 30 feet of the surface.

At Columbus water is obtained from shallow wells and cisterns. 

Factories get their boiler supply from Mississippi River.

Moscow, elevation 313 feet, derives most of its water supply from 

ordinary wells 40 to 60 feet/ deep. There are a few pipe wells 80 to 

130 feet deep. Both kinds furnish good pure water.

At Oakton, elevation 315 feet, there are a number of pipe wells 75 

to 125 feet deep that furnish supplies for domestic and boiler use.

At Springhill hard water is struck at an average depth of 60 feet. 

Wells in the neighborhood range in depth from 25 to 200 feet. Cisterns are used almost exclusively.

At Stubbs hard water is obtained in wells 20 to 40 feet deep and 

water of better quality, though frequently containing some iron, in 

wells 80 to 130 feet deep.

M'CRACKEN COUNTY.

Topography. McCracken is the eastern of the two northern counties of the Jackson Purchase region. Its northern and northeastern 

boundaries are Ohio and Tennessee rivers. Its area is 241 square 

miles. Topographically, there is a threefold division of the surface, 

just as in Ballard County (p. 122). Along Ohio and Tennessee rivers 

there is a narrow strip of alluvial flood plain whose elevation on the 

eastern edge of the county, along the Tennessee, is about 325 feet,
RESOURCES OF McCRACKEN COUNTY, KY. 139

and in the northwest corner, on the Ohio, about 315 feet. This floodplain belt is in many places very narrow. Lying just south of the 

flood-plain belt is a second bottom or terrace 25 to 35 feet higher 

than the first bottom. It has an average width of 3 or 4 miles and 

extends up Clarks River and its east and west forks to a point beyond 

the county line. It embraces an area of about 85 square miles. At 

Paducah, which is built upon it, it is well developed and has an elevation of 340 feet. Its surface is level except near the streams which 

cross it and have trenched their channels 15 to 25 feet beneath its 

surface. The remainder of the county is an upland region with a 

rolling surface that is almost level in the interstream areas and considerably broken near the streams that drain it. The general upland 

slope is slightly northward and its average elevation is not far from 

400 feet.

Geology. The Ripley, Porters Creek, Lagrange, Lafayette, Columbia, and Recent alluvium all occur within the county. The Ripley 

underlies a strip along the eastern edge and is exposed here and there 

along Clarks River and on the Tennessee at low water as far north 

perhaps as Paducah, though at the latter place the writer failed to 

find any exposures. In the deep well at Paducah, a log of which is 

given on page 141, it was struck at a depth of 60 feet and is a soft sand 

with a number of clay lenses that are usually lignitic where seen in 

the surface exposures in the vicinity.

The Porters Creek overlies the Ripley and in the southeast corner 

of the county is exposed at intervals along both forks of Clarks River 

and for some distance down the main stream. It is well exposed on 

two hills 3 and 4 miles, respectively, south of Paducah, on the road 

to Mayfield, where it consists of joint clay and silty sand, the latter 

partly indurated and containing casts of Eocene fossils. Northwest 

of Paducah it probably underlies most, if not all, of the second bottom as well as the northern edge of the upland, though it is almost 

entirely concealed by later deposits. Its thickness is about 150 feet.

The Lagrange underlies the central and southwestern parts of the 

county, but is not exposed except along the deeper stream cuttings. 

It has its usual character, being a light-colored sand interbedded with 

occasional clays that are either white or more or less lignitic.

The red Lafayette sand and gravel overlies the Lagrange and the 

Porters Creek on the upland. It is somewhat uncertain whether it 

should be regarded as present on the old terrace level or not, but the 

writer is inclined to think that the gravel and overlying sand and clay 

on this terrace are not so old as the Lafayette and should more properly be classed as part of the Columbia. At Paducah this terrace has 

on the surface from a few feet to 30 or 40 feet of silty sand and clay, 

and beneath it a hard " cement gravel," as it is popularly known, 20 

to 30 or more feet thick, with pebbles up to 4 or 5 inches in diameter.
140 UNDERGROUND WATERS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

The terrace is cut distinctly beneath the Lafayette-capped upland, 

and its pebbles are larger than those of the near-by Lafayette gravels, 

so that it seems younger than the Lafayette.

A few feet of Columbia sand and surface loam overlie the Lafayette and form the actual surface of the upland.

The alluvium is a very narrow strip along Tennessee and Ohio 

rivers, and is regarded by the writer as entirely Recent in origin. 

Jt has been correlated with the Port Hudson, but reasons have been 

given on page 49 for believing that the Port Hudson does not extend 

so far north.

Water resources. There are a number of permanent streams in the 

county. Clarks River crosses the east end and Mayfield Creek the 

southwestern part, while a number of small streams rise in the county 

and flow northward into the Ohio or the Tennessee. Along these 

streams springs are numerous, but they are utilized to only a limited 

extent. Most of the water supply of the county is from wells and 

cisterns. In the terrace belt the water found in the underlying gravel 

is hard, and the silty material over it is not firm enough to keep cistern 

walls from cracking and letting water seep into them. In this area 

exploration for deeper waters should be made. In most places 

within it the dark Porters Creek clay will probably be found beneath 

the terrace gravel. This should be drilled through and careful watch 

kept for a bed of sand in the underlying Ripley coarse enough to 

be checked by a strainer. If this is not found, the bottom of the Ripley should be reached at a' depth of 300 to 400 feet or less, and water 

would probably be found there or in the broken Paleozoic chert that 

underlies the embayment deposits in this region. On the uplands 

wells go from 20 to 150 feet before reaching underground water, and 

in many places cisterns are used instead.

At Grahamville water is obtained almost entirely from drilled wells. 

It is said to be very satisfactory as to quality and quantity. There 

are very few cisterns and practically no springs.

At Massac water is struck in sand at depths of 100 to 120 feet.

At Maxonmill there are a number of fine springs. Wells average 

from 20 to 40 feet deep and are either bored or dug. One dug in the 

flats of Massac Creek and described by Loughridge 0 reached the 

Porters Creek clay at 18 feet from the surface and passed, through it 

and into Ripley sand at a depth of 116 feet, when the water rose 60 

feet, but contained so much sulphureted hydrogen that it was unfit 

for use.

Paducah, elevation of low water 284 feet, high water 334 feet, average town elevation about 341 feet, is underlain by from a few feet to 

30 or 40 feet of silty material and that by 20 or 30 feet of rounded 

gravel in which water is abundant but hard and chalybeate, besides

a Jackson Purchase Region, 1888, p. 253.
RESOURCES OF McCRACKEN COUNTY, KY. 141

being probably contaminated by organic matter from the surface. 

Numerous cisterns have been built, but they almost invariably settle 

somewhat and crack enough to let in seepage water. The city water 

supply is pumped from Ohio River into a standpipe that gives a pressure of 40 pounds, which, in case of fire, is increased to 100 pounds by 

direct pressure. The daily consumption is about 2,200,000 gallons. 

A well at the old vinegar works has the following log: °

Log of well at vinegar works, Paducah, Ky.

Thickness.

Feet. 

30

10

8

6

8

50

Depth.

Feet. 

30

40

48

54

62

112

A well was bored about 1888 at Paducah for gas and abandoned at 

a depth of 1,250 feet. The log, as given by Loughridge,6 is as follows:

Log of boring for gas at Paducah, Ky.

Thickness. Depth.

Post Lafayette:

Micaceous brownish surface loam.........................................

Hounded chert and quartz gravel.........................................

Ripley:

Fine micaceous sand and clay, interlaminated............................

Mississippian:

De'bris of white and dark chert, hyaline sand, pyrites, and smoky-quartz 

crystals. The lower 18 feet is cemented by a bright-red iron ocher, and 

holds numerous crinoids, bryozoa, and plates and spines of the echinoid 

ArchsRocidaris. ..........................................................

White, porous, and slightly calcareous rock; also containing many crinoids, bryozoa, and echinoids...........................................

Dark impure limestone, with some crinoids and bryozoa, fragments of 

cemented calcareous material, and a small flat mas's of quartz crystals; 

the rock is cavernous.....................................................

Limestone and siliceous rock,dark and light colored; some calc spar; crinoids, cyathophylloid corals, and pyrites in lower portion; rock is cavernous ............ ......................................................

Dark calcareous shale, blue marl, and sand, with small crinoids, opines,- 

and plates of Archseocidaris, and cyathophylloid corals.................

White calcareous shale, with calc spar, pyrites, and a few crinoids........

Blue limestone, with crinoids; a pentremite brought up from upper portion ......................................................................

Blue limestone, with crinoids; this bed, with the lower portion of that 

above, is permeated with cracks filled with sand, etc., to bottom of boring.......................................................................

204

32

185

400

Feet.

40

60

264

335

425

470

518

550

735

1,135

1,250

At Ragland a water supply is derived from wells which range from 

35 to 65 feet in depth.

Woodville, elevation 423 feet, depends mainly on cisterns. A few 

2-inch wells go about 140 feet deep and get water from sand. It 

contains some iron. The log is as follows:

aLoughridge, R. H., op. cit., p. 250. b Op. cit., pp. 321-326.
142 UNDERGROUND WATERS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

Log of well at Woodville, Ky.

Clay...........................................................................

White chalk. .................................................................

Thickness.

Feet. 

17

23

20

2

25

57

Depth.

Feet. 

17

40

60

62

87

144

MARSHALL COUNTY.

Topography. The northern and eastern boundaries of Marshall 

County are formed by Tennessee River. Its area is 332 square miles. 

Along the Tennessee there is a very narrow flood plain. Rising 25 

to 35 feet above it is an old flood plain or terrace from 1 to 2 miles in 

width, which is merely a continuation of the terrace noted along Ohio 

River in Ballard and McCracken counties and which has an elevation in the northwestern part of the county of about 340 feet and in 

the southeastern part of about 350 feet. This same old terrace level 

forms the valley of East Fork of Clarks River, which flows northwestward across the middle part of the county. This valley has an 

average width of a mile or more. The remainder of the county is 

an upland which is almost level in the parts remote from streams, 

but which, especially along the border adjacent to the Tennessee 

River Valley, is hilly and much broken by the numerous small streams 

flowing into the Tennessee. It is also somewhat broken along either 

side of the valley of East Fork of Clarks River. The upland slopes 

gently northward and nearly all of the drainage is northward. . Its 

average elevation is between 425 and 450 feet.

Geology. A strip of Paleozoic limestone lying along the eastern 

side of the county has a width of 4 to 6 miles west of Tennessee River. 

Only the portion of the county west of this strip belongs to the embayment region. The formations represented in it are the Ripley, 

Porters Creek, Lafayette, Columbia, and alluvium.

The Ripley extends from the valley of East Fork of Clarks River 

eastward to the Paleozoic area and forms a belt about 4 miles wide 

in the southern part of the county and 6 miles wide in the northern 

part. It consists of fine micaceous sands and interlaminated darkgray clays that contain lignitic matter in places. Excellent exposures may be seen at Snow Hill, on the eastern side of Clarks River 

Valley, along the road from Benton to Briensburg. Away from the 

stream cuttings the Ripley is concealed by the overlying gravels and 

sandy clay belonging to the Lafayette and Columbia, but is reached 

on the upland east of Clarks River at depths of 40 to 50 feet in wells. 

The thickness of the formation here is not known, but is probably 

between 200 and 300 feet.
RESOURCES OF MARSHALL COUNTY, KY. 143

The Porters Creek clay overlies the Ripley on the east and extends 

from East Fork of Clarks River westward across the remainder of the 

county. It is, as usual, a joint clay and is almost black when wet, 

but light gray when dry. With it there are some greensand and 

some fine silty sand, which is usually indurated into a sandstone or 

rnudstone. It is exposed only along the stream valleys. The writer 

had no opportunity to examine its outcrop west of West Fork of 

Clarks River, but accepts its presence there as far west as Pritchard, 

Graves County, on the authority of Loughridge. Along and east of 

West Fork it is typically developed. The Porters Creek belt is 

peculiar in this region in being much broader in surface exposure 

than it is elsewhere in Kentucky or Tennessee. The width reached 

is 12 or 14 miles.

The Lafayette has at its base a variable thickness of gravel, which 

grows heavier, as a rule, to the east and is in many places cemented 

into an ironstone conglomerate. Above the gravel there are usually 

10 or 15 feet of red sand or sandy clay, which also belongs to the 

Lafayette. This is usually overlain by a few feet of leached surface 

clay or loam that probably represents the Columbia. In places this 

loam has some reworked gravel at its base. The Lafayette and 

Columbia together usually have an aggregate thickness of 30 to 

40 feet, and on the uplands completely conceal the underlying 

formations.

Water resources. While the larger streams flow the year round, 

many of the smaller ones go dry in the fall. Springs are numerous 

along the stream valleys, but elsewhere are scarce or entirely absent. 

Ponds are used in many places for watering stock. The domestic 

supply is derived from wells and cisterns, the latter being perhaps 

the more common. Water may generally be obtained along the 

valleys at depths of 20 to 40 feet and on the upland at 35 to 40 feet 

in many places at the base of the Lafayette. Wells often go dry in 

the summer, and there seems to be a general impression that since 

the 1886 earthquake they have been more liable to go dry than 

before. This same opinion has been met with elsewhere in the region, 

but nowhere was it found so strong as in this county. It is probable 

that this earthquake may have produced slight cracks in the Jiardpan 

ironstone crusts which locally form water-containing basins at the 

base of "the Lafayette and that the downward seepage through these 

cracks is great enough to cause the basins to be more readily drained 

during dry seasons than formerly, and hence to cause the wells to go 

dry more readily. Where a well failed altogether after the earthquake, it would seem evident that the fissures produced were so large 

that the local basin could no longer hold water, but was drained 

down into the dry sands beneath.

In the region underlain by the Porters Creek if water is not struck
144 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

at the base of the overlying Lafayette the well is generally abandoned and a cistern dug. In many places farms have both wells and 

cisterns. On the uplands east of East Fork of Clarks River the depth 

to water in the Ripley sand is in many places 60 to 100 feet or more, 

and in much of that region cisterns are used exclusively for domestic 

supply and ponds for stock.

At Benton, elevation 368 feet, water is obtained mostly from cisterns. Wells are often dug and in some places reach water at a 

depth of 35 or 40 feet above the black or dark-gray Porters Creek 

clay. Such wells prove satisfactory. If this clay, usually described 

as a black or blue mud, is encountered, the well is abandoned, as 

water from it is Jiard and astringent.

In the country west of Benton wells average 35 to 40 feet deep 

and get water at or just above the base of the Lafayette gravel. 

Such water is in some wells found to be hard and in others soft. The 

supply is usually limited, and the well may go dry in late summer. 

In other places no water is obtained above the Porters Creek clay, 

and resort is had to cisterns. 'These are perhaps scarcely as numerous as wells. Probably 40 or 45 per cent of the people use them, 

while many have both cisterns and wells.

Brewer is well supplied with ordinary wells of 30 to 50 feet depth 

and springs which bubble out along the foot of the hills bordering 

the valley of West Fork of Clarks River.

At Briensburg cisterns are used exclusively. In the country 

around cisterns are the common source of supply. Wells are rare 

because of the depth to the Ripley sand and the uncertainty of getting water in it.

At Coy water is supplied by wells 30 or 40 feet deep.

At Fairdealing there are a few springs, and some wells that average 

35 to 50 feet deep, but furnish only a small amount of water. Most 

people have cisterns. The springs are at the foot of bluffs along 

streams, and are mostly chalybeate.

At Fristoe, elevation 352 feet, there are no wells or springs; cisterns are used. From its location in the valley of Clarks River, it 

should be an easy matter to bore or drive a well through the " soapstone" or Porters Creek clay. While much of the Ripley sand is too 

fine to be water bearing, yet some beds are usually found in it coarse 

enough to hold an abundance of water, and as a test with a driven 

well is not expensive, it would be well worth making.

At Harvey water is obtained from wells 25 to 50 feet deep. In 

some places the Porters Creek clay is struck before water is reached, 

and then the well is abandoned and a cistern substituted. In the 

country just north of Harvey cisterns are used exclusively. Wells 

do not go dry, but usually have weak flows. Some yield hard water 

and some soft, according to the nearness or remoteness ot the underlying Porters Creek clay.
MINERAL WATEES OF WESTERN KENTUCKY. 145

At Oaklevel water is obtained entirely from shallow wells.

At Palma cisterns are used almost exclusively.

At Paul there are a few springs, but the main water supply is 

obtained from wells 50 to 75 feet deep.

At Scale there are numerous springs, wells, and cisterns. Wells 

in low places run about 20 feet deep; on high ground they are 50 to 

60 feet. Springs are considerably used for domestic supply.

At Tatumsville cisterns are used almost exclusively for domestic 

supply and ponds for watering stock.

MINEEAL WATERS OF WESTERN KENTUCKY.

Britts Spring, at Stubblefield, Graves County, flows from the 

bottom of a bluff near a creek and forms along its course a reddish 

or yellowish deposit of iron hydrate, such as is so characteristic of 

chalybeate waters. The water is reported by the owner to contain 

314 parts per million of solid matter, mainly carbonates of iron and 

calcium. It has some carbonate of magnesia, traces of the sulphates 

and chlorides of sodium, potassium, and magnesium, and a good 

deal of organic matter. It is said to be beneficial in malarial and 

stomach troubles.

Nick Combs Spring is at 'the foot of the Mississippi River bluffs, 

4 miles southwest of Hickman, Fulton County. There are no hotel 

accommodations, but the spring has long been known, and people 

afflicted with .kidney or stomach troubles go there in the summer 

and camp out. The water is chalybeate. Rheumatism, especially, 

is said to be benefited by its use. Dr. Robert Porter, chemist of the 

Kentucky Geological Survey, reports" it to contain free carbonic 

acid and 302 parts per million of salts. " These consist of iron, 

manganese, lime, and magnesia carbonates, with some lime and 

magnesia sulphates."

Kilgore Spring, 2 miles south of Blandville, Ballard County, is 

reported by Doctor Peter, as quoted by Loughridge, to yield a slightly 

chalybeate and alkaline saline water and to contain 64 parts per 

million of solids. These consist of carbonates, chlorides, and sulphates of iron, soda, lime, and magnesia, with a trace of lithia and 

some silica.

McGee Spring, on Hurricane Creek, southeast of Blandville, Ballard 

County, is reported by Doctor Peter to give a good alkaline saline 

chalybeate water containing 1,645 parts per million of4 solids and 

only a trace of organic matter. His analysis is as follows: b

» Loughridge, R. H., Jackson Purchase Region, 188S, p. 137. 

b Loughridge, op. cit., p. 138.

IRR 164 06 10
146 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

Analysis of water from McGee Spring, BaUard County, Ky.

Parts per 

million.

Silica .(SiO2)......................................................."........ 240

Iron (Fe).................................................................. 182

Calcium(Ca)............................................................... 67

Magnesium (Mg)........................................................... 47

Sodium (Na)................................................................ 244

Potassium (K) ...................,......................................... 50

Carbonate radicle (CO3)..................................................... 590

Sulphate radicle (SO4)....................................................... 62

Chlorine (Cl)............................................................... 163

1,645

At Sedalia, Graves County, there is a mineral well 133 feet deep at 

which a hotel has been erected for the accommodation of guests. 

An analysis of the water by A. M. Peter shows it to contain 77.1 

parts per million of solids, " nearly half of which is organic, the rest 

consisting of carbonate of iron and silica, with small quantities 

of carbonates, sulphates, and chlorides of calcium, magnesium, 

and sodium and traces of potassium and lithium compounds."

Water Valley well, at Water Valley, Graves County, yields a sulphate saline water containing, according to an analysis by A. M. 

Peter, 3,422 parts per million of solids,, composed of sulphates of 

calcium, magnesium, and manganese, a little chloride of sodium, and 

traces of the sulphates of strontium, potassium, and lithium, and 

having a decidedly acid reaction. It is recommended especially in 

diseases of the stomach, liver, kidney, and bowels.

The wT ater from Wickliffe artesian well, at Wickliffe, Ballard 

County, a description and analysis of which are given on page 125, 

has earned a reputation of being very valuable in kidney disorders, 

having made, as reported, remarkable cures in some serious cases.

RESOURCES OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS.

Area included. The Cretaceous and Eocene embayment deposits 

in Illinois are confined to Alexander, Massac, Pulaski,and Pope 

counties, in the extreme southern part of the State. Later surficial 

deposits of gravels, loess, and loam extend beyond these counties, but 

do not present hydrographic problems that would warrant their 

inclusion and discussion here. Since observations were not made 

in as much detail here as elsewhere, these counties will not be discussed separately, but all the data obtained will be given together.

Because of the presence of the loess, Lafayette, or alluvium over 

almost the entire embayment area of southern Illinois, it is difficult 

to give accurately the outlines of the area so included. The boundary may, however, be approximately traced as follows: Beginning 

on the east at New Liberty, on Ohio River in Pope County, the edge 

of the embayment deposits as they overlap the Mississippian rocks
RESOURCES OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. 147

runs northwestward just north of the Pope-Massac County line for 

12 miles or more and then continues almost coincident with this 

county line until within a mile or two of the chain of swamps in 

northern Massac County. It then curves southwestward and westward parallel and 1 to 2 miles south of this chain of swamps and the 

westward continuation of the same low valley, once occupied by 

the Ohio, but now by the Cache, until it crosses the Cache at Ullin, 

It continues its westward course 4 or 5 miles west of Ullin, and then 

curves southwestward until near the northern end of Horseshoe Lake. 

Thence it turns westward and reaches Mississippi River at Santa Fe. 

The area thus included is about 480 square miles.

Topography. The region may be divided topographically into 

three parts. The first is the present low flood plain of Mississippi, 

Ohio, and Cache rivers. The second is a higher, older flood plain 

corresponding to the terrace level found south of the Ohio in Kentucky. In some places the edge of this old plain is well marked, 

while in others it seems to rise irregularly from the lower bottom. 

It is most prominently developed on the Ohio in Massac County 

above Metropolis. The third part is the rolling to hilly upland surface, the average elevation of which is probably near 400 feet.

Geology. The formations found within the area are the Ripley, 

Porters Creek, Lagrange, Lafayette, loess, and alluvium. In addition, the underlying Paleozoic rock that forms the floor' of the 

embayment region outcrops in a few places near the edge of the 

area and in Ohio River at Grand Chain, where it is evidently faulted. 

It is also reached in the few places where deep wells have been sunk.

The surficial covering so thoroughly conceals the embayment 

formations that it is impossible to give with any great accuracy 

their areal extent without much detailed work, and even then extensive boring would very probably be necessary to accurately delimit 

them. It may be said, however, that the Ripley underlies the loess 

and Lafayette probably over a small area in the south end of Pope 

County and over all of Massac County included within the embayment 

region. Along its northern edge it is rather thin, and ordinary wells 

occasionally go through it and enter the Paleozoic rock, here usually 

a limestone. The Ripley consists of interbedded clays and sands. 

The clays are either light colored and plastic, in which case they may 

be mined for pottery use, or dark blue or brown, from disseminated 

organic matter or lignite. Occasionally one of these dark-blue 

clays struck in ordinary wells is fetid, probably from hydrogen sulphide. The sands are in most cases fine grained. Here and there 

a coarse bed is struck, and at the base of the formation there is 

reported to be a gravel and cobble bed forming a basal conglomerate. This formation is exposed in various places between Grand 

Chain Landing and New Grand Chain and between Metropolis and
148 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

New Columbia, and is very similar lithologically to the Lagrange 

formation as typically developed in Tennessee. In the clay pits 

at Grand Chain Landing the clays contain leaf impressions. The 

Eipley probably forms most or all of the exposures of sand and clay 

to be seen along the Cache Eiver bluffs below Ullin.

The Porters Creek is exposed at the surface only in the bluffs near 

North Caledonia, and even there the exposure contains so much 

sand and sandy clay that it could not be surely identified as Porters 

Creek were it not for the greensand present. As already stated 

greensand indicating marine conditions is found in Tennessee and 

Kentucky to be characteristic of the Porters Creek, but is entirely 

absent in the Ripley below and in the Lagrange above, both of which 

are of nonmarine origin. The Porters Creek is struck in the deep 

well at Mound City at a depth of 180 feet and is 100 feet thick. At 

Cairo it is reached at a depth of 375 feet and is 124 feet thick. In 

each case only 25 feet of sand representing the Kipley, if the writer's 

interpretation of the section is correct, were found under the Porters 

Creek. The areal extent of the formation west of the North Caledonia exposure is not known. It may have a narrow surface outcrop 

or may be entirely concealed by the overlap, of the Lagrange.

The Lagrange also is poorly exposed in Illinois, but from exposures 

and well sections in Kentucky a short distance south of Cairo it seems 

practically certain that its base is reached in the Cairo wells at a 

depth of 375 feet and at Mound City at a depth of 180 feet. Since 

it is not much different lithologically from the Kipley, both being 

nonmarine, more or less lignitic sands and clays, it is possible that 

at least a portion of the sand and clay found north of Grand Chain 

and Metropolis may .really belong to the Lagrange, having overlapped the Porters Creek outcrop. While field exposures might fail, 

to settle the question thus raised, it should be capable of easy solution from the paleobotanical evidence in the shape of leaf impressions 

which the clays in that border region would furnish. Unfortunately 

no such study has yet been made of these deposits.

The Lafayette contains its customary quota of chert gravel, and 

a larger proportion of it than usual is cemented by limonite into an 

ironstone conglomerate. It is found on the uplands wherever stream 

cuttings or railway excavations have gone below the loess and is 

seen along the bluffs of the Ohio in a few places. At Metropolis 

and just above, at old Fort Massac, a well-cemented ironstone conglomerate is exposed at or near water level and extends below it. 

This material possesses apparently all the characters of the Lafayette and may be of that age, but the ease with which gravels of 

even very recent age may become cemented into a firm ironstone 

that looks very much like typical Lafayette gravel was forcibly impressed on the writer some time since during a trip down Tennessee
RESOURCES OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. 149

River, and so he prefers to regard the age of these conglomerates 

in the Ohio, while probably Lafayette, as not clearly proved.

On the uplands the loess mantles everything in Pulaski County, 

and it is also found in numerous places in the western part of Massac 

County from Metropolis northward, though much thinner than in 

Pulaski County.

The alluvium occurs in the low plain of Mississippi, Ohio, and 

Cache rivers.

Water resources. Springs and small streams are not very abundant 

in the region, and ponds are commonly in use for stock. The domestic 

supply is derived from wells and cisterns. Water from wells on the 

uplands varies much in quality and in depth. It is hard or soft, 

according to the presence or absence of the loess. In some places 

it is inconveniently deep and in a few instances it is reported as 

foul smelling. In many cases, however, good water is obtained in 

open wells and a large number of such wells are in use. Some 

farmers have wells, cisterns, and ponds. In the alluvial region the 

shallow water is hard, and at Cairo and Mound City deep wells 

have been put down that furnish an abundance of water suitable 

for most purposes.

At America, Pulaski County, wells of moderate depth and cisterns 

are used. Two miles to the west, on what is probably an extension 

of the terrace plain, wells run 25 to 30 feet deep and give hard water. 

The sectfen is entirely through clay, and it seems that deeper wells 

fail to find Lafayette gravel, showing that probably it had been cut 

out before the clay was deposited. The clay is very likely the 

equivalent of the loess on the hills farther north. These hills rise 

40 to 60 feet, and in them wells strike hard water at depths of 30 to 

40 feet in the Lafayette gravel beneath the loess. Some wells go 

through this gravel and get water at greater depth in what is probably 

Ripley, though it may be overlapping Lagrange. The quality of 

the water would be about the same in either case.

One and three-fourths miles south of Belknap, Johnson County, 

on the bayou, a driven well entered, at a depth of 12 feet, a sand 

that was somewhat quick and contained lignitic streaks and gravel 

layers at intervals. It was sunk to 116 feet, when the pipe proved 

too weak to drive farther and the well was abandoned. Water rises 

112 feet in it. This shows a considerable depth of soft material, 

probably largely or entirely alluvial, in the abandoned channel of 

the Ohio at this locality.

At Cairo, Alexandria County, elevation of extreme low water 

267 feet, of high water 321 feet, and of union depot 313 feet, water 

is struck in sand and gravel deposits underneath the surface clay at 

a depth of about 50 feet. It is hard and otherwise objectionable 

from a sanitary point of view. Cisterns were formerly used, but
150 UNDEKGEOUND WATEESI TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

difficulty was experienced in preventing them from cracking and 

letting in seepage water. The city water supply is obtained from 

Ohio Kiver. It is pumped at the rate of about 2,000,000 gallons 

per day into a standpipe 160 feet high. The water contains some 

lime and scales somewhat. One firm heats water for boiler use to 

between 186° and 206° F., and thus precipitates most of the calcium 

carbonate.

In and near Cairo several deep wells have been sunk. The location and logs of several of them are as follows:

The first deep boring is at the power station of the Cairo Electric 

Light and Power Company, on lot 29, city block 26, and was drilled 

in 1896-97 to a depth of 1,040 feet. The diameter is 10 inches at 

the top and decreases to ,6J inches at the bottom. The log is as 

follows:

Log of well of Cairo Electric Light and Power Company, Cairo, IU.

S oil ....................... '. '....................................................

Sandy blue clay. .........,._....._.._.......... ...............................

Very soft sand......... .... ......... . ........... . . . .............

Thickness.

Feet. 

4.5

50.5

60

15

4

240

 ' 124

20

6

VK

5

335

Depth.

Feet. 

4.5

55

115

130

134

374

498

518

523

700

705

1,040

From the sand at 498-518 feet water rose to the .surface and 

flowed about a gallon a minute. The following sanitary analysis 

of this water was made at the University of Illinois by Prof. A. W. 

Palmer:

Analysis of water obtained between 498 and 518 feet from well of Cairo Electric Light and

Power Company, Cairo, III.

Parts per million.

Nitrogen as free ammonia.......-....................-.....-...--.---..-- 0. 35

Nitrogen as albuminoid ammonia.......................................... . 022

Nitrogen as nitrites............. ..............................*.......... . 009

Nitrogen as nitrates...................................................... . 204

Chlorine as chlorides..................................................... 83

Oxygen consumed....................................................... 3. 4

Total solids by evaporation............................................... 365

Fixed residue............................................................ 348

Volatile matter (loss on ignition)..............................:........... 17.1

Comments of analyst: "Too much" time ten days had elapsed 

between collection and analysis to be sure of sanitary condition, 

though it is probably satisfactory. The mineral matter consists 

mainly of carbonate of lime, with some sodium chloride and very
KESOURCES OF 8OUTHEEN ILLINOIS. 151

little sulphate. Not excessively hard. Not likely to form a hard 

scale in boilers."

Professor Palmer also analyzed the water from the 705-foot level, 

with the following results:

Analysis of water from depth of 705 feet in well of Cairo Electric Light and Power Company,

Cairo, III.

[Parts per million.]

1.

0.36

.016

.06 no

1.4

356

346

10

115

2.

0.36

.02

.06

110

1.2

353

339

14

Comments of analyst: "Of exceptional purity and perfectly safe 

and wholesome for drinking. Hardness is quite moderate." The 

two samples were taken at the same time.

The Halliday Hotel well, on lot 24, hotel addition to city of Cairo, 

has practically the same log as the one given above. The boring 

went to 824 feet, but there was no increase of water below the 700-foot 

level. It was drilled in 1897; diameter at the top 8 inches, at the 

bottom 4J inches; temperature 62° F.; head 12 feet above the surface.

A well on the W. P. Halliday estate, near the mouth of Cache 

River, in about the center of the NE. \ sec. 2, T. 17 S., R. 1 W., in 

Alexander County, had the following log:

Log of Halliday well in the NE. I sec. 2, T. 17 S., R. 1 W., Illinois.

Thickness.

Feet. 

40

104

112

54

72

10

34

42

62

7

69

Depth.

Feet. 

40

144

256

310

382

392

426

468

730

737

806

From the last 7 feet water with a head of 12 feet flows at an estimated rate of half a million gallons a day. There was no increase 

in water below 735 feet. Drilled in 1898; temperature 62° F.

Another well at E. W. Halliday's residence on lot 16, block 70, 

between ninth and tenth and Walnut and Cedar streets, in Cairo, 

had the following log:
152 rUTDEEGHROUND WATEBS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

Log of well at residence of E. W. HaRiday, lot 16, block 70, Cairo, III.

Thickness.

Feet. 

50 

325 

130 

24 

220 

4 

58

Depth.

Feet. 

50 

375 

505 

529 

749 

753 

811

From the 753-foot level there is a flow of 60 gallons per minute, 

with a head of 12 feet above the surface. The temperature is 62° F. 

Four hundred gallons per minute may be pumped.

There are other similar wells at several manufacturing establishments in Cairo and the records run much the same. The temperature seems to be 62° F. in each case and the static head is the same. 

The material described as flint is a very light colored chert of Mississippian age that is exposed in a 150 or 200 foot face at a quarry 

between Tamms and Elco, from which it is extensively shipped for 

railroad ballast and road metal. In this locality it is highly fractured, so that it is virtually of macadam size without crushing. As 

struck in wells it is in some places massive and solid, while in others 

it is seamed and broken, and is then called gravel by the drillers, 

though in neither wells nor in the Elco gravel quarry is the material 

waterworn or rounded, being simply mechanically disintegrated chert 

still in place. - Grand Chain station, Fulaski County, is on the upland. The surface is covered with loess to a depth of 10 to 40 feet. In a few places 

it is cut through and the Lafayette gravel beneath is revealed. 

Many people use cisterns. Water is struck at depths ranging from 

20 feet in low places to 85 feet on higher levels. Much of it is hard. 

Ponds are generally used for stock.

At Metropolis, Massac County, wells in town are from 30 to 50 

feet, and end in what seems to be Lafayette gravel, as it is exposed 

near old Fort Massac at water level in ledges that dip gently under 

water and reappear a mile up the river. North of town wells average 

50 to 60 feet in depth, and get water from the Ripley sand a short 

distance beneath the Lafayette gravel. In some places wells have 

been dug 150 feet without getting water. As a rule the water is 

soft, especially in the deeper wells. Cisterns are easily excavated 

in the soft loess that forms the surface and many are used.

Northeast and east of Metropolis water is found at depths of 60 

to 125 feet in the Kipley sands, where they are not too close grained 

to furnish an adequate supply, as is often the case. Many cisterns 

are in use in this section of the county.
PROPERTIES OF THE WATER. 153

At Mound City, Pulaski County, there is an 8-inch well that flows 

with a 6-foot head. No analysis of the water could be obtained. 

It is fairly good for boilers and is used for ice making and general 

town supply. The log is as follows:

Log of well at Mound City, III.

Thickness.

Feet. 

20

160

100

25

300

45

Depth.

Feet. 

20

180

280

305

605

650

Round Knob, Massac County, is just south of the swamps that 

mark the old course of the Ohio westward across the northern part 

of the county. Hard Paleozoic rock is struck at depths of 20 to 

30 feet and so very few wells have been put down. Cisterns may be 

easily constructed in the loess, sand, and gravel that cover the old 

hard rocks and they are used almost exclusively. In the swamps 

to the north water is everywhere near the surface and is readily 

obtained by driving a few feet of pipe and attaching a small suction 

or pitcher pump, as it is usually called. Needless to say the quality 

of this surface swamp water is not the best.

At Tamms, Alexander County, on a part of the old river-terrace 

plain, water is obtained from driven wells of 18 to 25 feet depth in 

river gravel and alluvium. Some wells give hard water, others soft. 

Cisterns are largely used.

PROPERTIES OF THE WATER.

As might be expected the underground waters of the region discussed in this paper vary much in quality, but the variations are 

caused chiefly by differences in the amounts of a few substances that 

are ordinarily found present.

The most common type of water may be described as a pure water, 

or one practically free from mineral ingredients. Many of the 

springs and shallow wells and a number of the deep wells furnish 

water of this character. This is especially true of springs and wells 

located in the sandy formations such as the Eutaw, Ripley, Lagrange, 

and, in a restricted sense because of its thinness, the Lafayette. The 

purer sands of these formations contain very little that is soluble in 

the water that percolates through them and hence it contains little 

or no dissolved mineral matter.

When the sands are not pure but contain, as they do in certain 

places, vegetable matter, usually in the form of lignite, along with 

various chemical compounds that have resulted from its decompo-
154 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

sition, the water is apt to dissolve more or less of these substances 

and acquires thereby a mineral character.

The above-mentioned formations, with the exception of the Lafayette, contain beds of clay here and there that are generally lignitic 

and as a result contain more or less iron pyrite. Water derived from 

these clay beds is always more or less mineralized, but in many cases 

is perfectly usable for most purposes. Such mineral waters are 

described along with others on page 120. These clays exist either as 

strata of considerable areal extent or as local lenses embedded in 

the sands, but though they may be silty and somewhat porous 

there seems to be as a rule very little circulation of water between 

them and the surrounding sand. A well ending in the silty clay 

may derive a scant or moderate supply of water from it, and another 

near by, ending just above or just below it, may furnish a pure 

water of very different character. This is especially true of local 

lenses of clay or silt that occur in the Lagrange. They probably 

represent either old stream channels abandoned and silted up or 

similarly filled old long-shore lagoons behind sand bars of the contemporary estuary in which the sands were then being deposited. 

Deep waters are more apt to contain mineral matter than shallow 

waters in the same kind of material, because of the many chances 

for deep waters, in their long underground course form their entrance 

into the beds to their exit in wells, to come into contact with soluble 

substances, and this tendency is further increased by the greater 

solvent powers they possess by being under pressure during their 

slow underground course. In view of this fact it is surprising that 

so many of the deep waters are so pure.

The mineral waters of the region come either from the clays contained in the Eutaw, Ripley, or Lagrange formations or from the 

Selma, Porters Creek, loess, or alluvium. Local clay beds may possibly be struck in the Eutaw, Ripley, and Lagrange at almost any 

place, so that no geographic bounds for such cases can be stated. 

Wherever struck, however, good water may usually be gotten by 

going somewhat deeper and entering an underlying sand.

The areas of Selma, Porters Creek, loess., and alluvium may be 

seen from the geologic map (PL I, p. 26). In the Selma clay area the 

water is usually hard because of the calcium carbonate it contains, 

while in the Porters Creek area it is hard usually from the same cause 

and may contain in addition sulphates of iron and alumina, which 

make it astringent or like alum to the taste. In some places the 

Porters Creek water contains so much sulphureted hydrogen that 

both man and beast refuse to touch it. In the loess area the water 

is hard because of calcium carbonate dissolved from the loess. In 

the alluvial region the water usually contains iron carbonate or sulphate and very often calcium and magnesium carbonate and sulphate in addition.
PROPERTIES OF THE WATER. 155

The mineral salts usually found in the waters of the region, then, 

are calcium and magnesium carbonate and sulphate, iron carbonate, 

and occasionally iron sulphate. Carbonic acid gas is present in the 

carbonate waters to hold the lime, magnesia, and iron oxide in solution, and sulphureted hydrogen is occasionally found. These and 

and other compounds appear in the chemical and sanitary analysis 

given in the preceding pages. ' They will each be discussed briefly 

here and the way they affect the quality of the water will be indicated.

The calcium and magnesium carbonate and sulphate render the 

water hard. This hardness may be removed by boiling or by heating 

almost to the boiling point when it is caused by the carbonates, and 

such water is known as temporarily hard. If, however, the hardness 

is caused by the sulphates it can not be so readily overcome and the 

water is then said to be permanently hard.

When soap is added to a hard water, chemical combination occurs 

between the soap and the carbonates and sulphates and no soap is 

available for making a lather to aid in washing until all of these salts 

have thus entered into combination. In this way much soap is 

wasted and the insoluble compounds formed make a sticky, gummy 

precipitate that is disagreeable and highly objectionable. Hard 

water is therefore undesirable for washing and laundry purposes.

If the hardness is temporary that is, due to carbonates it may 

be removed by a preliminary boiling of the water, when the free 

carbonic acid which holds the carbonate in solution is driven off 

and the carbonate is precipitated. If the hardness is permanent, 

or due to sulphates, it can be removed only with considerable more 

difficulty by processes which are described in the discussion of boiler 

waters (p. 157). Most of the hard waters of the region are " temporarily hard."

In cooking, hard water deposits incrustations on the inside of 

vessels in which it is boiled and also deposits lime salts on the vegetables or meats and tends to darken vegetables cooked in it. For 

drinking, however, it is probably not objectionable from a sanitary 

point of view, though it may impart a taste to the water not entirely 

pleasant, and is supposed by many to be harmful in rheumatic and 

gouty disorders. In certain diseases of the bowels, kidneys, and 

bladder the carbonate of calcium is probably beneficial and the carbonate of magnesium is even more valuable.

There is comparatively little definite information as to the effect 

of hard water when used for stock. In some places a good proportion of the diseases of horses is attributed to their drinking hard 

water.

Iron carbonate when held in solution in water by an excess of 

carbonic acid is precipitated when the water reaches, the surface 

and is allowed to stand for some hours, thus permitting the escape
156 UNDEEGEOUND WATEES '. TENNESSEE KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

of the carbonic acid. The precipitated iron carbonate decomposes 

and an iron oxide is formed, which may be seen as a red or yellow slimy 

incrustation in the vessel holding the water or along its course from 

a spring. Such water is at- first clear and sparkling. On standing, 

it becomes more or less opalescent or milky while the precipitation 

is going on and when this is completed it is once more clear, but is 

no longer chalybeate.

Aside from the lime and magnesia salts already mentioned, iron 

carbonate is the most widely distributed of the minerals in the 

waters of the region. Nearly all the "mineral springs" of the region 

are chalybeate. For cooking purposes such water is objectionable 

because of the discoloration caused by the precipitated iron. It is 

even more objectionable for washing white clothes, as it stains them 

yellow or brown.

Iron is an essential ingredient of the red corpuscles of the blood 

and is also found in various other portions of the body. Chalybeate 

waters are valuable for drinking in cases of anemia and generally in 

impoverished conditions of the blood arising from any cause.

Sulphate of iron is found in some of the waters, especially in those 

of the Porters Creek area. Such water is astringent and tonic, but 

is not so palatable nor so generally valuable as a remedial agent as 

that containing carbonate of iron.

In the carbonated waters free carbonic-acid gas enables the water 

to hold in solution such carbonates as may be present. This gas 

imparts to the water an attractive sparkle and is an aid in cases of 

indigestion and stomach disorders. Sulphureted hydrogen is present 

in some springs and wells and may be instantly detected by the odor 

as of rotten eggs which characterizes it. Such water is considered 

of value in certain kidney and bowel troubles and in rheumatism, 

gout, and skin diseases.

In sanitary analyses judgment as to the healthfulness of any given 

water must be based very largely on a knowledge of the local conditions or surroundings, and the analytical findings should always be 

interpreted by such knowledge.

USES OF THE WATER.

The principal uses of water in this region are for household and 

laundry purposes, stock watering, and steam boilers, but it is-also 

used to a greater or less extent for soap making, wool washing, 

dyeing, brewing, and distilling. In the section on properties of the 

water sufficient reference was made to the qualities necessary for 

household, laundry, and stock use. The qualities of water which 

affect its use for the remaining purposes mentioned above will be 

briefly described here.

The most important industrial use of water in the region is for
USES OF THE WATEE. 157

steam boilers. Numerous steam sawmills, corn and flouring mills, 

and cotton gins are scattered over the region, while in the towns and 

cities steam is used for a great variety of power purposes. The railways use large quantities in their locomotives and at many places 

have sunk their own deep wells.

Where the boiler water is soft, no difficulty arises from its use, 

but where hard a deposit known as scale forms in the boiler. The 

scale formed by water containing calcium or magnesium carbonate 

is deposited in the bottom of the boiler, usually as a loose, soft 

slush, that is easily removed by blowing off the boilers. If the 

water is permanently hard, however, the scale formed by the calcium and magnesium sulphates is deposited on the tubes and bottom 

of the boiler as a hard coating that is difficult to remove, and because 

it is such a poor conductor of heat causes a much larger fuel consumption for the same steam production. It is calculated that 

scale one-fourth inch thick requires 50 per cent increase in fuel and 

scale one-half inch thick 150 per cent increase.

To obviate the difficulties arising from scale, hard water may be 

softened by treatment before or after being introduced into the 

boiler. If temporarily hard water is raised to the boiling point 

before being used for feed water, the carbonates are deposited. 

This practice is followed at a number of steam plants in the region. 

There is some loss of heat by radiation in the softening tanks, but the 

net cost is low, as the softened water enters the boiler at almost the 

boiling point. Permanently hard water does not deposit its sulphates at boiling temperature, but must be heated in a closed vessel 

to a temperature of 150° C. or over, and even then the precipitation 

is not complete. Such water may be softened more conveniently 

by adding sodium carbonate, when a chemical interchange takes 

place, and sodium sulphate and calcium carbonate form and are 

precipitated as a soft, incoherent deposit that may be easily removed.

Many steam plants in the region use boiler compounds, certain 

quantities of which are introduced into the boiler at stated intervals. 

Such compounds when intelligently and carefully prepared are 

efficient and satisfactory, though it is probable that in most cases 

they cost entirely too much. It may be said that -R cents per thousand gallons is a fair cost for softening and that any excess above 

this sum is so much money wasted. Aside from the question of 

cost, however, an honestly prepared boiler compound has many 

advantages for the small plant, where often the boiler is cared for 

by a man without the technical knowledge necessary for applying 

an intelligent treatment to the water.

Many substances are recommended for the treatment of water in 

the boiler. Some act chemically, while others are mechanical and 

designed to entangle the scale or mix with it and prevent its getting
158 UNDEEGEOUND WATEESI TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

hard or adhering firmly. Some of these are good, others may do 

neither harm nor good, while still others at the temperature and 

pressure of a working boiler are corrosive and injurious. They 

include such substances as powdered glass, tan bark, coal dust, 

molasses, sawdust, chips of wood, burnt sugar, ground coffee, logwood, soda ash, caustic soda, table salt, and many others. Any 

treatment should be applied only with a full knowledge of the composition of the water.

In soap making soft water is highly desirable, because calcium 

and magnesium salts cause a loss of lye by their union with it to 

form insoluble compounds that are useless for cleansing purposes.

In some cases farmers in the region wash their own wool clip, and 

there are one or two woolen factories that also wash wool. The 

water for such use should be soft. Hard water makes the' fiber less 

pliable and in the finishing stages of the washing a deposit of lime 

salts is formed that clings to the wool and interferes with dyeing.

In dyeing as pure a water as possible should be used. If it contains organic matter, putrefaction of the dye extracts used may 

result. Lime is objectionable in mordanting and aniline dyes dissolve poorly in water containing it. Iron is also harmful in dyeing 

with certain colors and is prohibitive of bleaching.

The quality of the water used in brewing has a very important 

influence on the color, taste, and other qualities of the beer produced. The water so used should be a good drinking water and 

free from organic matter. Ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites are 

objectionable. Calcium sulphate improves the quality of the 

product, and if deficient is added. Sodium chloride in small quantities is not objectionable, but in larger quantities prevents the germination of the malt. While a little iron may be harmless, it makes 

the product darker and in larger quantities interferes with malting 

and may produce an objectionable odor. Calcium and magnesium 

carbonates should be present in moderate quantities, especially if 

calcium sulphate is deficient. They tend to give the product a lighter 

color and to improve its taste and keeping qualities. Organic matter 

is harmful since it causes putrefactive fermentation in the malt. 

Iron compounds retard germination. Calcium chloride checks the 

development of the yeast in the fermentation of beer, while calcium 

sulphate promotes it. Much the same is true of the qualities desirable 

in distilling.

STATIC LEVEL OF UNDERGROUND WATER.

The elevation to which underground water rises in a number of 

the more important places in the region has been ascertained with 

as much accuracy as possible. -In a few cases where there was an
STATIC LEVEL OF UNDERGROUND WATER. 159

uncertainty involving only a few feet one way or the other, this is 

indicated by the ± sign. Where data given are suspected of being 

entirely wrong, the figure is followed by an interrogation mark. 

As shown on the sketch map (fig. 13), these elevations are fairly

35 ---.-35

Scale of miles 

10 20 30 40 50

FIG. 13. Sketch map showing hydrostatic levels. 1, Water rises between 200 and 300 

feet above sea level; 2, between 300 and 400 feet; 3, between 400 and 500 feet.

well distributed over the area and vary in a rational way, in view of 

the facts that the outcrop of the porous beds in the embayment 

area across Tennessee and Kentucky is to the east and that water 

flowing through these beds encounters friction enough to cause it to 

rise to successively less and less height as it goes westward. Water
160 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

also enters at the outcrop across the north end of the area in Illinois 

and flows southward with a similarly decreased gradient. By reference to the map an approximation may be had of the height to 

which underground water would rise at almost any place in the 

region. The following list gives the elevation above sea level to 

which deep underground water rises at the places indicated:

Elevation to which underground water rises in embayment area of Tennessee, Kentucky, and

Illinois.

Feet. 

Bardwell, Ky.._.................. 356

Benton,Ky...................... 350

Brownsville, Tenn................. 288

Cairo, 111......................... 324

Collierville, Tenn.................. 289

Covington, Tenn.................. 309

Dyersburg, Tenn.................. 307 ±

Grand Junction, Tenn............. 428

Hickman, Ky..................... 323

Feet. 

McKenzie, Tenn.................. 380

Martin, Tenn..................... 325

Mayfield, Ky..................... 380±

Memphis, Tenn................... 225

Milan. Term...................... 403?

Morehousa, Mo.................... 318

Murray, Ky...............rj...... 448 '

Newbern, Tenn................... 315

Paris, Tenn.............:........ 400

Hickory Valley, Tenn.............. 421 Rives, Tenn...................... 300

Humboldt, Tenn.................. 316

Huntington, Tenn................. 420

Jackson, Tenn.................... 435±

Solmer, Tenn..................... 430

Trenton, Tenn.................... 325±

Union City, Tenn................. 312

Lexington, Tenn. ................. 400 ,' Wickliffe, Ky. .................... 322±

METHODS AKD COST OF

In olden times open dug wells were the only kind used, and in 

localities where underground waters are near the surface they are 

still common. In most cases they are 3 or 4 feet in diameter. 

Where the material is very firm they are either not cased or the 

casing is set in only the lower part. Where the material is soft a 

casing, usually of wood and square, is used for the whole depth. 

Occasionally such wells are walled with brick. Where 20 to 40 feet 

deep they cost on the average from 40 to 50 cents per foot to dig if in 

soft sand or loess. If the material is clay and harder the cost is 

somewhat more.

The bored well was next introduced in the region. The first 

one was put down toward the middle of the nineteenth century and 

they soon became common in the Selma clay and other areas where 

it was necessary to go to considerable depths, such as 200 feet or 

more. These wells were usually 10 or 12 inches in diameter and 

in firm clay were left uncurbed below the first 10 or 20 feet. In 

softer materials, where curbing was necessary, a square or octagonal 

curbing of 2-inch plank was pushed down after the auger, which 

was essentially like a wood auger. In case a consolidated layer was 

struck it was broken to pieces, usually by a crowbar or other heavy 

iron let drop drill fashion upon it. Long cylindrical buckets with
METHODS AND COST OF WELL DRILLING. 161

valves in the bottom are used for drawing the water. In many 

places such wells are put down to-day and prove very satisfactory. 

They cost 15 to 30 cents per foot, according to kind of material 

and depth.

Driven wells have come into use within comparatively recent 

years. Where the depth to water is known to be slight a 2 or 3 

inch piece of iron pipe, usually galvanized, is shod with a short 

strainer, or perforated section, pointed sharp at the end, and driven 

by force into the ground, and a small suction or pitcher pump 

attached to the upper end. Such a well has the advantage of having 

a tight joint between the earth around and the outside of the pipe, so 

that surface water and contamination can not directly enter the well 

by trickling down the sides of it. Such a well 20 to 40 feet deep 

will cost complete considerably less than a dollar per foot. Sometimes such wells are driven deeper, but a depth is soon reached beyond which it is not practicable to drive the pipe, as it telescopes. 1

Where greater depth is necessary than can readily be obtained by 

driving, the pipe is "pumped down," as it is called. An outer pipe 

is sunk into the ground and within it is sunk another which is shod 

on its lower end with a small chisel or cutting edge to loosen up the 

material and which has a current of water forced down through it 

to wash to the surface the earth loosened by the bit. Such wells 

are in many cases 2 inches in diameter and 100 to 200 feet or more 

in depth. A well of this size usually furnishes an adequate supply 

for all household purposes. At mills of any kind wells 3 to 4 inches 

in diameter are often used. For a town or other large supply the 

diameter is 6, 8, 10, or 12 inches and the inner pipe is kept turning; 

this mode of drilling is called the hydraulic rotary process. In 

work in quicksands the counter pressure of the column of water 

forced down from the surface is often ,the only thing that prevents 

the sand from rushing up inside the outer pipe and settling around 

the tools so that it would be impossible either to sink farther or 

pull back the pipe or the tools. Such work requires much experience and care, and if quicksands are encountered the tools are kept 

going day and night from the time the well is started until it is 

finished, to prevent the loss of the well and tools.

If hard beds are encountered, an ordinary hard-rock deep-well drill 

must be used, and the hole may have to be reamed out afterwards 

in order to drive the casing lower. In some cases where hard rock, 

such as the Paleozoic floor beneath the embayment deposits was' 

struck, a diamond drill has been used to deepen the well. At Cairo, 

111., and elsewhere in that vicinity, however, such attempts were 

unsuccessful because of the hard, sharp-edged chert, or "Elco" gravel, 

encountered. This chert soon tore the diamonds from their setting 

or cut to pieces the soft iron cuff that held them and caused their

IRE 164 06 -11
162 UNDERGROUND WATERS: TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

loss. The ordinary chisel-shaped deep-well drill was substituted and 

worked without trouble.

Where such wells are drilled the outfit of the driller must be extensive and must include a standard-sized deep- well rig or derrick and 

equipment for hard rock, sand, clay, and quicksand. It is work, 

too, in which experience and good judgment are necessary in deciding where to place the strainer or finish the well in order to get a 

good supply of water, free from milkiness or clay, and from sand 

that will slip through the strainer slots to cut them out, clog up the 

well, or cut out valve packing and piston chambers. Drilling soft 

deposits, such as characterize this region, is an art in itself and 

requires experience that can be obtained only in such a region. No 

amount of drilling in hard rocks will prepare a driller for successful 

work in soft materials.

The cost of drilling wells of this type varies somewhat, but for 

wells 150 to 200 feet deep the cost per foot runs about as follows: 

Two-inch, $1 ; 3-inch, $1.50 ; 4-inch, $2 ; 6-inch, $3.50 ; including casing 

and a hand pump for the smaller wells. For large, deep wells, where 

a more elaborate outfit is necessary, the cost is considerably more, 

and for 10-inch wells 600 to 1,000 feet deep or over may run $7 to 

$9 per foot. The Memphis wells cost complete with the best of 

materials and double or triple casing and tunnel connections about 

$5,000 each, while private wells there ranging from 400 to 600 feet 

deep can be bored for about $8 per foot. There is one record of a 

v/ell in another part of the region drilled partly 8-inch and partly 

6-inch and about 600 feet deep for $1,800, but this is exceptionally 

low and probably the figures given were not meant to include the 

cost of the casing.

The following drillers or engineers have furnished valuable information as to their local conditions and well records for use in this 

paper: Messrs. Johnson & Flemming, Memphis, Tenn. ; Penn Drilling Company, Cairo, 111.; Mr. S. C. Lancaster, city engineer, Jackson, Tenn.; Dr. E. K. Leake, Collierville, Tenn.; Mr. J. A. Omberg, 

jr., city engineer, and assistants, Memphis, Tenn.; Mr. J. L. Holt, 

driller, Newbern, Tenn. ; Mr. James J. Adams, driller, Martin, Tenn. ; 

Mr. E. L. Stewart, driller, Brownsville, Tenn.; Crosby & Co., drillers, 

Dixon, Tenn. ; Mr. Wm. Kemmerling, driller, Ripley, Tenn. ; and Mr. 

E. F. Doudna, driller, Mayfield, Ky. Many corporations and individuals too numerous to mention gave information concerning their 

own wells and water supply. To Mr. Hunter McDonald, chief engineer of the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railway, the writer 

is indebted for profiles of his line in the region and information as to 

wells put down to furnish water for locomotives; also to Mr. H. R. 

Safford, assistant chief engineer of the Illinois Central Railroad, for 

information as to the elevation of certain points 011 his line.
UNDERGROUND WATERS' TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS. 163

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

The following list d'oes not pretend to be exhaustive, but gives what are believed to be 

the refereiifces'most important for an understanding of the geology and hydrography of 

the region here" described:

CHAMBEELIN, T. C.

1. Some additional evidence bearing on the interval between the Glacial epochs: Bull. Geol. Soc. 

America, vol. 1, 1890, pp. 409-474, 476-476, 478-479.

2. The attitude of the eastern and central portions of the United States during the Glacial period:

Am. Geologist, vol. 8, 1891, pp. 233, 267-275. 

CHAMBERLIN, T. C., and SALISBURY, R. D.

1. On the relationship of the Pleistocene to the p: -e-Pleistocene formations of the Mississippi basin, 

south of the limits of glaciation: Am. Jour. 5ci., 3d ser., vol. 41, 1891, pp. 359-377; also in part 

in The Geology of Crowleys Ridge, by R. E. Cain: Rept. Arkansas Geol. Survey for 1899, vol. 

2, pp. 224-228. 

DABNEY, T. G.

1. Geology of the Mississippi embayment: Jour. Memphis Eng. Soc., vol. 4, no. 3,1905, pp. 11-26. 

GILMORE, Q. A. (president Miss. River Comm.").

1. Report of the Mississippi River Commission for 1881: Senate Ex. Doc. No. 10, 47th Cong., 1st 

sess., 1882. Contains levels, high and low water profiles, and location, logs, and plotted sections of many borings by army engineers between Cairo and Memphis. 

GLENN, L. C.

1. [Notes on the wells, springs, and general waler resources of] Tennessee: Water-Sup, and Irr. 

Paper No. 102, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1904, pp. 358-367.

2. [Notes on the well, springs, and general watsr resources of] Kentucky: Water-Sup, and Irr. 

Paper No. 102, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1904, pp. 369-372.

3. [Notes on the underground water of] Tennessee and Kentucky: Water-Sup, and Irr. Paper No. 

114, U. S. Geol. Survey, 1905, pp. 198-208.

4. Fossiliferous sandstone dikes in the Eocene of Tennessee and Kentucky, abstract in Science, new

ser., vol. 19, 1904, p. 522. 

HAMPTON, S. W. (chairman of water commission).

1. Report on a public water supply for the city cf Memphis. 60 pp., with maps. Memphis, 1887. 

HARRIS, G. D.

1. The Tertiary geology of southern Arkansas: Ann. Rept. Arkansas Geol. Survey for 1892, vol. 2, 

pp. 1-207. Contains geologic maps.

2. The Midway stage: Bull. Am. Paleontology, vol. 1, No. 4, 1896, 125 pp., 15 pis.

3. The Lignitic stage: Bull. Am. Paleontology, \ol. 2. No. 9, 1897, pp. 3-102, 15 pis. 

HIDER, AETHTJB; OMBERG, J. A., jr.; and BELL, A. T.

1. Engineer's report on the waterworks systen of Memphis, Term. 46 pp., maps and plates.

[Memphis, 1902.] 

HILGARD, E. W.

1. Report on the geology and agriculture of Miss ssippi. xiii, 391 pp., plate, map. Jackson, 1860.

2. On the Quaternary formations of the State of Mississippi: Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., vol. 41, 1866, 

pp. 311-325.

3. Remarks on the drift of the Western and Southern States and its relation to the glacier and 

iceberg theories: Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser. ,vol. 12, 1866, pp. 342-347.

4. The loess of the Mississippi Valley and the spolian hypothesis: Am. Jour, oci., 3d ser., vol. 18, 

1879, pp. 106-112.

5. General features of the alluvial plain of the Mississippi River below the mouth of the Ohio: 

Tenth Census U. S., vol. 5, Report on cotton production in the United States, 1884, p. 73-76 

(bottom pagination).

6. Orange sand, Lagrange, and Appomattox: An. Geologist, vol. 8, 1891, pp. 129-131. With an 

appended note of approval and concurrence by J. M. Safford.

7. [Mode of deposition of the Lafayette formatior in the Mississippi Valley]: Am. Geologist, vol. 8, 

1891, p. 235. Discussion of paper by W J Mc.Gee, "Neocene and Pleistocene continent movements," read to Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1891.

8. The age and origin of the Lafayette formation Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 43, 1892, pp. 389-402. 

KILLEBREW, J. B., and SAFFORD, J. M.

1. Introduction to the resources of Tennessee, viii, 1, 193, xi pp., 7 maps. Nashville, 1874. 

LITTLE, GEORGE.

1. Report on the blue clay of the Mississippi Rivei: Rept. U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey for 1880, 

1882, Appendix 12, pp. 145-171, pi. 48; Rept. Chief of Engineers U. S. Army for 1883, part 3, 

pp. 2315-2339; also reprint.

LOUGHRTDGE, R. H.

1. Report on the geological and economic features of the Jackson Purchase region, embracing the 

counties of Ballard, Galloway, Fulton, Graces, Hickman, McCracken, and Marshall. Geol. 

Survey Kentucky, 1888. 357 pp., plates, 3 maos in pocket.
164 UNDERGROUND WATERS! TENNESSEE, KENTUCKY, ILLINOIS.

LTJNDIE, JOHN (consulting engineer).

1. Report on the waterworks system of Memphis, Term. 46 pp., maps and plates. Memphis [1898]. 

MAHBXJT, C. F.

1. The evolution of the northern part of the lowlands of southeastern Missouri: Univ. Missouri.

Studies, vol. 1, No. 3. viii, 63 pp., plates, 4 maps. 1902. 

Me GEE, W J.

1. Three.formations of the middle Atlantic slope: Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 35.1888, pp. 120-143, 

PL II; pp. 328-330, 367-388, 448-466, Pis. VI, VII.

2. The southern extension of the Appomattox formation: Am. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., vol. 40,1890, pp. 

15-41.

3. [Remarks on the formations comprised under the term '' Orange sand," and on the relations of 

certain loams and gravels in the vicinity of Vicksburg and Grand Gulf]: Bull. Geol. Soc. America, vol. 1,1890, pp. 474-475. Discusses paper by T. C. Chamberlin on'' Some additional evidence 

bearing on the interval between the Glacial epochs."

4. Neocene and Pleistocene continent movements: Abstract in Am. Geologist, vol. 8,1891, pp. 234- 

235; also in Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., vol. 40, 1891, pp. 253-254.

5. The Columbia formation in the Mississippi embayment: Abstract in Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. 

Sci., vol. 39, 1891, pp. 244-245.

6. The Appomattox formation in the Mississippi embayment: Abstract in Bull. Geol. Soc. America, vol. 2, 1891, pp. 2-6.

7. The Lafayette formation: Twelfth Ann. Rept. U. S. Geol. Survey, pt. 1, 1892, pp. 353-521.

8. A fossil earthquake: Abstract in Bull. Geol. Soc. America, vol. 4,1893, pp. 411-414. 

PUBDXJE, A. H.

1. [Notes on the underground waters of] northern Arkansas: Water-Sup, and Irr. Paper No. 114,

U. S. Geol. Survey, 1905, pp. 188-197. 

BAFFOBD,J.M.

1. A geological reconnaissance of the State of Tennessee; being the author's first biennial report, 

164 pp., map. Nashville, 1856.

2. On the Cretaceous and superior formations of western Tennessee: Am. Jour. Sci., 2d ser., vol. 

37, 1864, pp. 360-372.

3. Geology of Tennessee, xii, 550 pp., 8 plates, map. Nashville, 1869.

4. Report on the cotton production of the State of Tennessee, with a discussion of its general agricultural features, and a note on cotton production in the State of Kentucky: Tenth Census 

U. S., vol. 5, 1884, pp. 367-491, map.

5. An annotated catalogue of the mineral springs and wells of Tennessee; a contribution to a report 

on the water supply of the State: Bull. State Bd. Health (of Tenn.), vol. 1, October, 1885, suppl., 

pp. 15-16.

6. The economic and agricultural geology of the State of Tennessee; a report on surveys made in 

west and middle Tennessee, and on the general agricultural geology of the State: Biennial 

Rept. Comm. of Agr., pp. 55-168, Nashville, 1887.

7. The upland geological formations of Obion, Dyer, Lauderdale, Tipton, and Shelby counties; 

their general features and sanitary relations: Bull. State Bd. of Health (of Term.), vol. 2,1886, 

pp. 151-153; vol. 3, 1887, pp. 3-4.

8. Regions in west Tennessee of sulphur waters and chalybeate waters, respectively; the lines of 

divisions between the two regions; the origin of iron ore: Bull. State Bd. Health (of Term.), 

vol. 4, 1889, pp. 210-212.

9. Report to the general assembly of the State of Tennessee: Senate Jour., pp. 715-739, Nashville 

1889. Reports on certain iron ores, clays, and mineral waters of west Tennessee, but deals 

chiefly with a part of the Tennessee coal field.

10. The water supply of Memphis: Bull. State Bd. Health (of Tenn.), vol. 5, 1890, pp. 98-106; abstract in Proc. Am. Assoc. Adv. Sci., vol. 39, 1891, p. 244.

11. Notes on the Middleton formation of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama: Bull. Geol. Soc.

America, vol. 3, 1892, pp. 511-512. 

SHEPABD, EDWARD M.

1. The New Madrid earthquake: Jour. Geol., vol. 13, 1905, pp. 45-62.

2. [Notes on the underground waters of] Missouri: Water-Sup, and Irr. Paper No. 114, U.'S. Geol.

Survey, 1905, pp. 209-219. 

WOKTHEN, A. H. (director).

1. Geological Survey of Illinois, vol. 1, Geology, xvi, 504, iii, pp., plates, maps. [Springfield], 1866.

Contains geology of Pula.ski and Massac counties, by Henry Engelmann, pp. 410-455.
INDEX.

A.

Acacia sp., occurrence of................... 38

Acknowledgments to those aiding......... 162

Acton, Tenn., water resources at........... 100

Adamsville, Tenn., water resources at..... 100

Alamo, Tenn., water resources at.......... 62

Alexander County, 111., embayment deposits in............................ 146

Alluvial region, description of ............. 16-17

Alluvium, age of........................... 48-49

correlation of........................... 49

description of........................... 47-49

distribution of...................... 16-17,65,

93,102,105,123,129-130,181,138,142,146,149

water in...................:.......... 105,154

Almira, Tenn., water resources at.......... 116

America, 111., water resources at........... 149

Andrews Chapel, Tenn., water resources at. 97 

Arlington, Ky., water resources at......... 130

well at, record of....................... 130

Arlington, Tenn., water resources at..... 105,107

rainfall at.............................. 12

well at, record of........................ 105

Arp, Tenn., water resources at............. 93

well at, record of....................... 93

Artesian conditions, description of.... 8-14,50-51

Artesian flow, essentials for................ 8

essentials for, figure showing........... 9

Artesian wells, views of................... 96,126

See also particular counties, places, etc. 

Ashport, Tenn., water resources at......... 93

Atkins, Tenn., water resources at.......... 87

Atoka, Tenn., elevation at................. 116

water resources at and near.......... 116,121

Atwood, Tenn., elevation at................ 55

water resources at...................... 55-56

Austin Springs, Tenn., water of............ 120

B.

Backusburg, Ky., water resources at....... 127

Ballard County, Ky., description of...... 122-123

geology of.............................. 123

mineral water of..................... 145-146

topography of.......................... 123

water resources of..................... 123-126

Bandana, Ky., water resources at.......... 124

Bandmill, Tenn., water resources at....... 66

Bardwell, Ky., elevation at................ 130

ground-water level at.................. 160

water resources at.................... 130-131

well at, record of....................... 131

Barlow City, Ky., water resources at....... 124

Bartlett, Tenn., water resources at......... 107 

Bashi series, correlation of................. 32

Bayou de Chien, drainage to............... 137

Beacon, Tenn., water resources at.......... 64

Beechbluff, Tenn., elevation at............. 97

water resources at...................... 97

Beech Creek, drainage of................... 58

Beech River, drainage to................... 86

Belknap, 111., water resources near......... 149

Belle Eagle, Tenn., water resources at...... 82

Bells, Tenn., water resources at............ 62

Benton, Ky., elevation at.................. 144

ground-water level at.................. 160

water resources at...................... 144

Benton County, Tenn., description of...... 51

geology of.............................. 52-53

topography of .......................... 51-52

water resources of...................... 53

Bethel Springs, elevation of................ 100

water resources at.................... 100,120

Bexar, Tenn., water resources at........... 93-94

well at, record of....................... 94

Bibliography............................. 163-164

Big cut, section at.......................... 28-29

views in................................ 28,36

Big Sandy River, drainage of ..... 51,53-54,86,89

Big Sandy station, Tenn., elevation at..... 51,53

water resources at...................... 53

Blandville, Ky., elevation at............... 124

mineral water near..................... 145

rainfall at .............................. 12

water resources at...................... 124

Bleak, Tenn., water resources at........... 107

Bloom, Ky., water resources at............. 136

Boaz, Ky., rocks at......................... 37

Bogota, Tenn., water resources at.......... 66

Boilers, steam, treatment of water for.... 157-158

Bolivar, Tenn., fossils from near........... 32

mineral springs near................... 120

rainfall at.............................. 12

water resources at...................... 78

Bored wells, description of............... 160-161

Bottom lands, occurrence and description

of............................ 16-17,49

See also Second bottoms.'

Bradford, Tenn., water resources at........ 74

Brewer, Ky., water resources at............ 144

Brewing, water for......................... 158

Bride, Tenn., water resources at............ 116

Briensburg, Ky., water resources at........ 144

Brinley, Tenn., water resources at......... 60

Bristow, Tenn., water resources at......... 53

165
166 INDEX.

Page. 

Britts Spring, Ky., water of ................ 145

Brock Springs, Tenn., water of'............. I'M

Brownsville, Tenn., elevation at........... 82

ground-water level at.................. 160

rainfall at .............................. 12

water resources at...................... 82-83

wells at, record of...................... 83

Brunswick, Tenn., water resources at...... 107

Buchanan, Tenn., water resources at ...... 90

Buntyn, Tenn., elevation at................ 107

water resources at...................... 107

C.

Cabo, Tenn., water resources at............ 60

Cache River Valley, description of......... 20

Cades, Tenn., water resources at........... 74

Caffey, Tenn., water resources at........... 100

Cairo, 111., elevation at.................. 16,17,20

ground-water level at.................. 160

rainfall at.............................. 12

water resources at.................... 149-152

well at.......--......................... 9

wells at, record of................ 150,151,152

rocks in....................... 22,29,31,40

water of, analyses of ............. 150,151

Cairo, Tenn., water resources at............ 62

Galloway County, Ky., description of ...... 126

geology of........... .................. 127

topography of.......................... 126

water resources of.................... 127-129

Camden, Tenn., elevations at and near.... 51-52

Canadaville, Tenn., water resources at .... 71

Capleville, Tenn., elevation at............. 107

water resources at...................... 107

Carlisle County, description of............. 129

geology of............................ 129-130

topography of.......................... 129

water resources of.................... 130-131

Carnsville, Tenn., water resources at ...... 56

Carroll, Tenn., elevation at................ 97

water resources at...................... 97-98

Carroll County, Tenn., description of...... 53

geology of.............................. 54-55

mineral waters of .................... 120,121

surface water of........................ 55

topography of .......................... 53-54

water resources of...................... 55-58

Caruthers, Mo., rainfall at ........... ..... 12

Catalpa, Tenn., water resources at......... 97

Ceanothus meigsii, occurrence of .......... 38

Cedar Grove, Tenn., water resources at.... 56

Center Point, Tenn., rainfall at............ 13

Chamberlain, T. C., on artesian conditions. 8 

Chester County, Tenn., description of...... 58

geology of.............................. 58-59

topography of .......................... 58

water resources of...................... 59-61

Cinnamomum sp., occurrence of............ 38

Clareville, Tenn., water resources at....... 74

Clarksburg, Tenn., water resources at ..... 56

Claxton, Tenn., water resources at......... 71

Clay, erosion of ............................ 17-18

Claybrook, Tenn., water resources at...... 98

Clinton, Ky., elevation at.................. 138

water resources at...................... 138

Coffee Bluff, Tenn., section at.............. 24-25

Coffee sand, correlation of ................. 23

Cold water, Ky., water resources al ........ 127

Collierville, Tenn., elevation at............ 107

ground-water level at....... ....'...... 160

water resources at............. . ...... 107

well at, record of....................... 107

Columbia formation, components of ....... 43

description of .......................... 44-47

distribution of......................... 44-47,

70,73,77,90,118,127,134-135,140,143

view of ............................. .. 126

Columbus, Ky., fossils from near........... 37,38

gravel at ............................... 42

rocks at ................................ 137

water resources at...................... 138

Como, Tenn., water resources at........... 90

Cordova, Tenn., elevation at............... 107

water resources at...................... 107

Corinth, Miss., well at...................... 9

well at, rocks in ........................ 22,25

Cost of dril ling ............................. 162

Cottage Grove, Tenn., water resources at.. 90

Cotton artesian well, Tenn., water of ...... 120

Covington, Tenn., elevation at............. 116

ground-water level at.................. 160

rainfall at .............................. 12,13

water resources at.................... 116-117

wells at, record of.................... 116,117

Coy, Ky., water resources at............... 144

Crainsville, Tenn., fossils from near ....... 32

water resources at...................... 78

Crassatellites producYus, occurrence of..... 32

Cretaceous rocks, descriptions of........... 23-29

Crockett, Tenn., elevation at .............. 102

water resources at...................... 102

Crockett County, Tenn., description of.... 61

geology of.............................. 61

topography of.......................... 61

water resources of..... ................ 61-63

Crockett Mills, Tenn., water resources at .. 62

Crossland, Ky., water resources at......... 127

Crucifer, Tenn., water resources at......... 87

Crump, Tenn., section at................... 25

water resources at...................... 81

Cuba, Ky., water resources at.............. 136

Cucullaea macrodonta, occurrence of....... 32

Cunningham, Ky., water resources at...... 131

Curve, Tenn., railway cut at, rocks in ..... 44

view of.....-.........----..-........-.. 44

Cypress Creek, drainage of................. 61

Cypress Station, section at ................. 28-29

D.

Dancyville, Tenn., water resources at..... 83

Darden, Tenn., elevation at................ 87

water resources at...................... 87

Dawsons, Tenn., water resources at........ 117

Deansburg, Tenn., water resources at...... 60

Decatur County, Tenn., geology of......... 63

mineral waters of ...................... 122

rocks in ................................ 23

topography of.......................... 63

water resources of...................... 63-64

Devonian rocks, occurrence of............. 22,24

Dexter, Ky., elevation at................... 127

water resources at...................... 127
INDEX. 167

Page. 

Diamond drill, use of..................... 161-162

Dikes, occurrence of ....................... 30-31

Dip, direction of............................ 10-11

Dolen, Tenn., water resources at........... 87

Dollar, Tenn., water resources at.......... 56

Double Bridges, Tenn., water resources at. 95 

Dreston, Tenn., elevation at ............... 118

water resources at...................... 118

Drilling, cost of ............................ 162

methods of ........................... 160-162

Driven wells, description of................ 161

Dry Hill, Tenn., water resources at........ 95

Dublin, Ky., water resources at............ 136

Dug wells, description of................... 160

Dunlap Chalybeate Springs, Tenn., location of.......................... 120

Dyeing, water for .......................... 158

Dyer, Tenn., elevation at .................. 74

water resources at....................... 74

Dyer County, Tenn., geology of............ 64-65

mineral waters of ...................... 120

topography of.......................... 64

water resources of...................... 65-70

Dyersburg, Tenn., elevation at............. 66

ground-water level at.................. 160

mineral water at....................... 120

rainfall at.............................. 12

water resources at.... '. ................. 66-67

water supply of......................... 66

wells at, records of..................... 66,67

rocks in ............................ 40

E.

Eads, Tenn., elevation at .................. 108

water resources at...................... 108

Earthquakes, effect of...................... 19,50

Eastwood, Tenn., water resources at....... 90

Eaton, Tenn., water resources at........... 74

Edith, Tenn., water resources at........... 95

wells at, record of...................... 95

Edmond, Tenn., water resources at........ 74

Elba, Tenn., water resources at............. - 71

Elbridge, Tenn., water resources at........ 102

Embayment area, description of........ 14-21,50

structure of............................. 50

topographic types of.............. 14-17,20-21

topography of, origin of................ 17-20

Enville, Tenn., water resources at......... 60

Eocene rocks, descriptions of .............. 29-40

Erosion, effects of.................... 15,17-18,36

Essary Springs, Tenn., water resources at.. 78,

120-121 

Eucalyptus sp., occurrence of.............. 38

Eurekaton, Tenn., water resources at...... 83

Eutawsand, character of................... 23-24

dip of................................... 25

distribution of.................... 23,63,80,99

occurrence of........................... 15

outcrop of........................ 11,13,23, 52

section of............................... 24-25

thickness of ............................ 25

water in... 9,13,52,63-64,80-81,87,100,153-154

F.

Fairdealing, Ky., water resources at....... 144

Fancyfarm, Ky., water resources at........ 136

Farmington, Ky., water resources at.... .. 136

Farmville, Tenn., water resources at....... 87

Faxon, Tenn., water resources at.......... 53

Fayette County, Tenn., geology of......... 70

topography of .......................... 70

water resources at...................... 70-72

Finley, Tenn., water supply at............. 67

Flatwoods, description of .................. 15

rocks of ................................ 15,33

Flood plains, location and description of.. 14,

16-17,20,147 

Fols'omdale, Ky., water resources at....... 136

Foresthill, Tenn., water resources at....... 108

Forked Deer, Tenn., water resources at.... 84

well at, record of....................... 84

Forked Deer River, drainage to............ 58,

61,64,73,81,86,93 

well on, record of ...................... 69

Foster, Tenn., water resources at .......... 62

Freda, Ky., water resources at............. 136

Freeland, Tenn., water resources at ....... 90

Friendship, Tenn., water resources at.. ... 62-63

Fristoe, Ky., elevation at .................. 144

water resources at...................... 144

Fulton, Tenn., water resources at......... 95,132

well at, record of....................... 132

Fulton County, Ky., description of ........ 131

geology of.............................. 131

mineral water of .............. ........ 145

topography- of.......................... 131

water resources of.................... 131-134

G.

Gabb, W. M., fossils determined by. 

Gallaway, Tenn., elevation of.......

water resources at...............

Galveston,Tex., well at.............

32 

71 

71 

23 

Gardner, Tenn., elevation at............... 118

water resources at...................... 118

Garrettsburg, Tenn., water resources at.... 56

Gates, Tenn., elevation at.................. 95

water resources at...................... 95

well at, record of....................... 95

Ged, Tenn., water resources at............. 84

wells at, record of...................... 84

Geologic map of area....................... 26

Geologic structure, description of.......... 50-51

Geology, description of..................... 21-51

See also particular counties. 

Germantown, Tenn., elevation at.......... 108

water resources at...................... 108

Gibson, Tenn., elevation at................ 74

water resources at...................... 74

Gibson County, Tenn., description of...... 72

geology of.............................. 73

mineral waters of....................... 122

topography of.......................... 72-73

water resources of...................... 73-76

Gibson Wells, Tenn., water at.............. 121

Gift, Tenn., water resources at............. 117

Gismonda, Tenn., water resources at....... 53

Glass, Tenn., water resources at.......... 102-103

Gleeson Station, Tenn., elevation at ....... 118

water resources at...................... 118

Glenn Spring, Tenn., water at ............. 121

water of, analysis of.................... 121
168 INDEX.

Page. 

Glimp, Term., water resources at........... %

Golo, Ky., water resources at............... 136

Grahamville, Ky., water resources at...... 140

Granberry, Term., water resources at...... 108

Grand Chain Station,Ill., water resources at. 152

Grand Junction, Tenn., fossils fromnear. 34,37-39

ground-water level at.................. 160

rocks at................................. 37

water resources at...................... 78-79

well at, record of....................... 79

Gratis, Tenn., water resources at........... 103

Gravehill, Tenn., water resources at....... 100

Graves County, Ky., description of......... 134

geology of............................ 135-135

mineral water of ..................... 145,146

topography of .......................... 134

water resources of.................... 135-137

Greenfleld, Tenn., elevation at............. 118

water, resources at...................... 118

Guelph, Tenn., water resources at.......... 103

H.

Halespoint, Tenn., water resources at...... 96

Halls, Tenn., elevation at.................. 96

water resources at...................... 96

Hamburg, Tenn., water resources at....... 81

Hartley, Tenn., water resources at......... 84

Hardeman County, Tenn., description of .. 76 

geology of.............................. 76-77

hills of.................................. 15

mineral waters of .................... 120-121

topography of .......................... 76

water resources of...................... 77-80

Hardin County, Tenn., description of...... 80

geology of .............................. 23,80

topography of .......................... 80

water resources of...................... 80-81

Hardness in water, character of............ 155

Hargrove Spring, Tenn., water at.......... 121

Harris, G. D., fossils determined by........ 32

Harris Grove, Ky., water resources at...... 128

Harvey, Ky., water resources at ........... 144

Harvey, Tenn., water resources at......... 85

Hastings, Tenn., water resources at........ 90

Hatchee River, drainage to .......... 70,76,81,93

Hatchie, Tenn., water resources at......... 98

Hathaway, Tenn., water resources at...... 92

Hawkins Spring, Tenn., water at.......... 121

Haywood County, Tenn., description of ... 81 

geology of.............................. 81-82

lignite in............................... 35

topography of.......................... 81

water resources of...................... 82-85

Hazel, Ky., water resources at............. 128

Henderson, Tenn., elevation at............ 60

water resources at...................... 60

Henderson County, Tenn., description of.. 85 

geology of.............................. 86

mineral waters of ...................... 120

topography of.......................... 85-86

water resources of...................... 86-89

Henning, Tenn., elevation at.............. 96

water resources at...................... 96

Henry County, Tenn., description of....... 89

geology of.............................. 89-90

hills of ................................. 15

Page.

Henry County, Tenn., mineral waters of... 122 

topography of.......................... 89

water resources ot...................... 90-92

Hickman, Ky., elevations at.......... 19,131,132

fossils from.......................... 34,37,38

ground-water level at.................. 160

mineral water near .................... 145

rocks at.............................. 34-35,37

water resources at... A ............... 132-133

wells at, record of.................... 132,133

rocks in ............................ 40

Hickman County, Ky., description of...... 137

geology of............................ 137-138

topography of.......................... 137

water resources of...................... 138

Hickory Valley, Tenn., ground-water level

at............................... 160

water resources at ..................... 79

Hico, Tenn., elevation at.................. 56

water resources at...................... 56

Hills of erosion, description of ............. 15

Hinson Springs, Tenn., elevati on at ....... 87

water resources at..................... 87,121

Hollow Rock, Tenn., elevation at.......... 56

water resources at...................... 56

Hollow Rock Junction, Tenn., elevation at. 66 

water resources at....................... 56

Holly Springs, Miss., soil at................ 46

Hooten, Tenn., water resources at......... 74

Humboldt, Tenn., ground-water level at.. 160 

water near ............................. 121

Huntington, Tenn., elevation ,it........... 56

ground-water level at.................. 160

mineral water near .................. 120,121

wells at, record of...................... 57

rocks in ............................ 31

Hurley, Tenn., water resources at.......... 81

Huron, Tenn., water resources at.......... 87

I.

Illinois, embayment area in, description

of.................... 20-21,50,146-147

embayment area in, geology of ...... 146-149

water resources of................ 149-153

rainfall in .............................. 12

Impervious beds, necessity for ............. 10

occurrence of........................... 10

variations in, figure showing ........... 9

Ina, Tenn., water resources at.............. 71

Irene, Tenn., water resources at............ 108

Iron, cementation by.............. 21,27-28,41-43

Iron carbonate, occurrence of............ 155-156

Ironstone conglomerate, occurrence of..... 21,43

view of ................................. 28

J.

Jackson, Tenn., artesian well at, view of .. 96 

elevation at ............................ 98

ground-water level at................'.. 160

rainfall at .............................. 12

water resources at..................... 98,121

well at, record of ....................... 98

rocks in.......................... 31,40,97

water of, analysis of................ 122

Jasper, Tenn., water resources at........... 60
INDEX. 169

Page. 

Johnsonville, Tenn., elevation at.......... 51

Jones, Tenn., water resources at ........... 85

Jordan, Ky., water resources at............ 134

Juglans saffordiana, occurrence of......... 38

K.

Keefe, Tenn., water resources at............ 92

Keeling, Tenn., water resources at......... 85

Kenton, Tenn., elevation at................ 103

rainfall at................... .......... 12

water resources at...................... 103

Kentucky, embayment area of Tennessee

and, description of............. 14-20

embayment area of, geology of........ 21-50,

passim 123-143 

mineral waters of ................ 145-146

potter's clay in ..................... 28

topography of...... 14-20, passim 122-142

water resources of, by counties .. 122-146 

rainfall in.............................. 12

Kerrville, Tenn., elevation at.............. 108

water resources at...................... 108

Kilgore Spring, Ky., water of .............. 145

Kimery, Tenn., water resources at......... 118

Knowlton, P. H., fossils determined by.... 34,

37,38-39 

on Lagrange fossils.............:....... 38-39

Koho, Tenn., water resources at............ 85

L.

La Center, Ky., elevation at. ............... 124

water resources at. ..................... 124

well at," record of ....................... 124

rocks in ............................ 22

Lafayette formation, character of .......... 41, 42

distribution of ........... 40-41, passim 52-137

fossils of ................................ 36

. gravels of ............................... 41-12

iron in.................. '.......... 41-13,52-53

section of ............................... 43

thickness of ............................ 42-43

views of ................... ........... 36, 126

water in ................................ 53, 59,

73, 77-78, 80-81, 97, 102, 124, 135, 143, 153-154

Lagrange, Tenn., fossils from near. ........ 37-38

rocks at. ................................ 35

section at. .............................. 36

view of ............................. 36

soil at................................... 46

water resources at...................... 71

Lagrauge formation, age of ................ 37-40

character of ............................ 33-35

dip of................................... 11

erosion in, view of ...................... 36

distribution of ........... 33, 37, passim 54-148

faulting in. ............................. 50

' fossils of .......................... 34, 36, 37-40

nomenclature of ........................ 40

outcrop of ........................... 11-12, 14

section of ............................... 35-37

thickness of ............................ 40

views of ............................... 36, 126

water in................ 9,14, passim.. 54,154

Lake County, Tenn., description of ........ 92

geology of .............................. 92

Lake County, Tenn., topography of........ 92

water resources of...................... 92

Laketon, Ky., elevation at................. 131

water resources at...................... 131

Lambert, Tenn., water resources at..... .- 72

Lane, Tenn., water resources at............ 67-68

well at, record of....................... 68

Laneview, Tenn., water resources at....... 74

Lankford, Tenn., water resources at....... 57

Laplata, Tenn., water resources at......... 68

Lauderdale County, Tenn., description of.. 92 

geology of.............................. 93

mineral waters of ...................... 120

topography of .......................... 93

water resources of ...................... 93-96

Lavinia, Tenn., water resources at......... 57

Law, Tenn., water resources at............. 87

Leach, Tenn., water resources at........... 57

Leapwood, Tenn., water resources at....... 100

Leighton, Tenn., water resources at........ 99

Lesquereux, Leo, fossils described by ...... 38

Lexington, Tenn., elevation at............. 87

ground-water level at .................. 160

water resources at and near........ 87-88,121

well at.................................. 9

well at, record of ....................... 88

rocks in...... 1..................".... 22,26

Life, Tenn..elevation at.................... 88

water resources at......:............... 88

Lignite, occurrence of...................... 27,35

Lignitic formation, correlation of .......... 32

Literature, list of......................... 163-164

Loam, occurrence and description of ...... 46-47

Loess, deposition of......................... 46

description of .......................... 44-47

distribution of................... 44-45,65,73,

93,102,105,116,123,129,131,138,146,149 

erosion of............................... 18

thickness of............................ 45-46

views of ................................ 36,44

water in.......................... 105,116,154

Logan, Tenn., water resources at.......... 119

Long, Tenn., water resources at............ 88

Lonoke, Tenn., water resources at......... 74

Loosahatchie River, drainage to........... 70

Loughridge, R. H., on Lagrange formation. 39 

Lovelaceville, Ky., water resources at...... 124

Lowes, Ky., water resources at............. 136

Lynngrove, Ky., water resources at........ 128

well at, record of....................... 128

Lynnville, Ky., water resources at......... '136

McConnell, Tenn., water resources at...... 103

McCracken County, Ky., description of .... 138

geology of............................ 139-140

topography of........................ 138-139

water resources of.................... 140-142

McGee, W J, on Lafayette formation ...... 36

McGee Spring, Ky., water of............. 145-146

water of, analysis of.................... 146

McHaney, Tenn., water resources at....... 88

McKenzie, Tenn., elevation at............. 57

ground-water level at......... .. .... 160

rainfall at ................. . ... 12

water resources at............... . . . 57-58
170 INDEX.

McLemoresville, Tenn., water resources at. 58 

McNairy., Tenn.. elevation at............... 101

mineral waters of ...................... 120

water resources at...................... 101

McNairy County, Tenn., description of.... - 99

divide in ...............................> 15-16

geology of ..........................\.. 99-100

topography of ........................... 99

ridge in................................. 15

water resources of.................... 100-101

Mack, Tenn., water resources at........... 96

Macon, Tenn., water resources at.......... 72

Madge, Tenn., water resources at.......... 108

Madie, Tenn., water resources at........... 92

Madison County, Tenn., description of .... 96

geology of .............................. 96-97

mineral waters of .................... 121-122

topography of .......................... 96

water resources of ...................... 97-99

Malesus, Tenn., elevation at................ 99

water resources at...................... 99

Mansfield, Tenn., water resources at....... 90

Map, geologic, of area...................... 26

Marshall County, Ky., description of....... 142

geology of ............................ 142-143

topography of .......................... 142

water resources of .................... 143-145

Martin, Tenn., elevation at................ 119

ground-water level at.................. 160

section at............................... 119

water resources at...................... 119

Mason, Tenn., water resources at.......... 117

Masonhall, Tenn., water resources at...... 103

Mason's wells, location and character of... 122 

Massac, Ky., water resources at............ 140

Massac County, 111.,embayraentdeposits in. 146 

potter's clay in ......................... 28

Massey, Tenn., elevation at................ 108

water resources at...................... 108

Maury City, Tenn., water resources at..... 63

Maxonmill, Ky., water resources at........ 140

Mayfield, Ky., elevation at................. 136

ground-water level at.................. 160

rainfall at .............................. 12

rocks at ................................ 37

view at................................. 126

water resources at...................... ]3G

well at, record of....................... 136

Mayville, Tenn., water resources at........ 108

Meda, Tenn., water resources at........... 119

Medina, Tenn., water resources at......... 74-75

Memphis, Tenn., artesian hydraulic surface

at, figure showing.............. 114

death rate at, decrease of, figure showing ............................. 112

elevation at ............................ 108

gravel at ............................... 42

ground-water level at.................. 160

loess bluff at, view of................... 44

population at, increase of, figure showing ............................. 109

rainfall at............................... 12,13

rocks under .... 22,31-32,33,34,46,108-109,113

figure showing ..................... 109

section from Tennessee River to, figure

showing........................ 51

Page. 

Memphis, Tenn., water resources at...... 108-115

water table at, figures showing....... 109,114

wells at......................... 22-23,108-113

record of.......................... 114-115

rocks in ................ 22,31-32,33,34,46

sections of, plate showing.......... 104

sectional details of, figures showing. 110 

water of, analysis of................ Ill

Menispermum canadense, occurrence of... 38 

Mercer, Tenn., elevation at................. 99

water resources at...................... 99

Metropolis, 111., water resources at and near. 152 

Michie, Tenn , water resources at.......... 101

Middleburg, Tenn., water resources at..... 79

Middlefork, Tenn., water resources at...... 89

Middleton formation, correlation of........ 32

Mifflin, Tenn., water resources at.......... 60

Milan, Tenn., ground-water level at........ 160

rainfall at.............................. 12

water resources at...................... 75

Milburn, Ky., water resources at........... 131

Millington, Tenn., water resources at...... 115

Mineral water, character of.............. 154-156

springs and wells of, descriptions

Of..................... 120-122,145-146

Minnick, Tenn., water resources at........ 103

 Mississippi River, channel of, changes in .. 48 

drainage to....................... 54,64,72-73

flood plain of........................... 48-49

Mississippian series, occurrence of ......... 21-22

Missouri, rainfall in ........................ 12

Mixie, Tenn., water resources at........... 58

Montezuma, Tenn., water resources at..... 60

Moorman, Tenn., water resources at....... 72

Morehouse, Mo., deep well at.............. 9

ground-water level at .................. 160

Moriah, Tenn., water resources at......... 1015

Morris Chapel, Tenn., water resources at.. 81 

Moscow, Ky., elevation at.................. ^138

water resources at...................... 138

Moscow, Tenn., water resources at......... 72

Mound City, 111., water resources at........ 153

wells at, records at..................... 153

rocks in............................. 31

Mountvista, Tenn., water resources at..... 91

Mullins, Tenn., elevation at................ 115

water resources at...................... 115

Murray, Ky., elevation at.................. 128

ground-water level at................... 160

water resources at.................... 128-129

well at, record of....................... 129

Muse, Tenn., water resources at............ 58

Myrica copeana, occurrence of............. 38

Neboville, Tenn., water resources at....... 75

Neelys, Tenn., elevation at................. 99

water resources at...................... -99

Newbern, Tenn., elevation at.............. 67

ground-water level at.................. 160

section at............................... 67

water resources at...................... 67

wells at and near, records of........... 67,68

Newcastle, Tenn., wells at................. 79

New Concord, Ky., water resources at ..... 129

New Grand Chain, 111., rocks near ......... 41
INDEX. 171

Page. 

New Kent, Tenn., water resources at...... 72

New Madrid earthquake, effect of ......... 19,50

Nick Combs Spring, Kentucky, water of... 145 

Nobles (Benton County), Tenn., water resources at ....................

Nobl< s (Henry County), Tenn., water resources at .........

Norwood, Tenn., elevation at. 

?ater resources at.........

Oakls

Obior

Obioi

geology

nd, Tenn,,elevation at............... 72

ater resources at...................... 72

Oakl( vel, Ky., water resources at.......... 145

Oaktc >n, Ky., elevation at.................. 138

ter resources at...................... 138

Tenn., elevation at................. 103

tter resources at...................... 103

County, Tenn., description of ....... 101

YOt..... ......................... 102

tc pography of........................ 101-102

ater resources of.................... 102-104

River, drainage to......... 53,73,86,89,137

11s on, record of ..................... 69

, Ky., water resources at ............ 1^4

Ohio River, drainage to.................... 64

mer course of......................'.. 20

e sand, correlation of ^............... 38,40

Ting, Tenn., water resources at...... 119

Tenn., water resources at........... 91

Ky., water resources at.............. 124

s Hill, Tenn., water resources at..... 91

w 

Obior

w 

Ogde

fo

Oran; 

Ore S

Oscar 

Owen

Padu

Palm 

Paris

Parso is. 

se

Paul,

Pearl

Pery

Phelan

Phoe

Pinej

Pinso: i

ro

Pipki 

Pittsb

w

Pleist 

Plioci

53

91

99

O.

P.

dip of.

ah, Ky., deep well at................ 9

jvationat ........................... 17,140

rs infall at..................... ........ 12

ks at................................. 139

ater resources at.................... 140-141

11s at, record of...................... 141

rocks in ......................... 22,29,31

Paleo zoic floor, description of.............. 21-23

.............................. lo-n

tcrop of .............................. 25

-, Ky., water resources at............. 145

Tenn., elevation at.................. 91

ound-water level at.................. 160

ks at ................................ 37

iter resources at...................... 91

ill at, water of, analysis of ........... 91

i, Tenn., elevation at ............... 64

tion at............................... 24

witer resources at...................... 64

Ky., water resources at .............. 145

y, Tenn., water resources at......... 115

ir, Tenn., water resources at......... 91

, Tenn., water resources at ......... 117

ix Cotton Oil Co., well of, log of..... 66-67

Creek, drainage of................... 58

, Tenn., mineral water near......... 122

;ks at................................. 37

, Tenn., water resources at.......... 89

urg Landing, Tenn., section at ...... 25

iter resources at...................... 81

>cene rocks, description of........... 43-47

ne rocks, descriptions of......... ... 40 43

Page, 

Pocahontas", Tenn., elevation at........... 79

water resources at...................... 79

Point Pleasant, Tenn., water resources at.. 64 

Polk, Tenn., elevation ..................... 103

water resources at...................... 103

Pond Creek, course of...................... 61

 Pope County, 111., embayment deposits in.. 146 

Port Hudson clay, correlation and resemblances of...................... 49

Porters Creek formation, age of ............ 32

character of............................. 30-31

dip of................................... 31

distribution of........... 29-30, passim 54-148

erosion in .............................. 17-18

faulting in.............................. 50

fossils in................................ 30-31

nomenclature of ....................... 32-33

occurrence of...............'............ 15

outcrop of.............................. 29

position of.............................. 10

thickness of............................ 31

topography of .......................... 15

water of .................... 1........... 54,

59-60,77-78,90,97,100,127,154,156 

Post, Tenn., water resources at ............ 58

Protocardia lenis, occurrence of ........... 32

Pryor Chalybeate Spring, Tenn., water of.. 122 

Pryorsburg, Ky., elevation................. 137

water resources at...................... 137

Pulaski County, 111., embayment deposits

in............................... 146

potter's clay in ...................... .. 34

Purdy, Tenn., water resources at .......... 101

Quaternary rocks, descriptions of ......... 43-49

Quercus moorii, occurrence of ............. 38

nerifolia, occurrence of ................ 3S

saffordi, occurrence of ................. 38

sp., occurrence of ...................... 38

Quito, Tenn., water resources at........... 117

R.

Ragland, Ky., water resources at.......... 141

Ragsdale, Ky., water resources at.......... 137

Rainfall, disposition of..................... 7-8

distribution of.......................... 12-13

quantity of............................. 12-13

figure showing ..................... 12

Raleigh, Tenn., springs at, water of, analysis of ........................... 122

Ralstons Station, Tenn., elevation at...... 119

water resources at.................... 119-120

Ramsey, Tenn., water resources at......... 115

Randolph, Tenn.,rocks at.................. 34

Reagan, Tenn., water resources at......... 89

Recent deposits, description of............. 47-49

Reelfoot Lake, drainage to................. 64,92

faulting near........................... 50

Rein, Tenn., water resources at............ 85

Residual ridge, description of.............. 15

Ridgeley, Tenn., water resources at........ 92

Rinda, Tenn., water resources at .......... 120

Ripley, Tenn., elevation at ................ 96

railway cut at, section in............ 43,44,45

view in ........................ .... 36

water resources at and near........... 96,121
172 INDEX.

Page 

Ripley formation, character of............. 27-28

dip of................................... 29

distribution of ...................... 27,52,58,

59,76, 86, 89-90,100,127,140,142,147-148 

fossils of ................................ 27,28

occurrence of........................... 15

outcrop of .............................. 11,13

section of............................... 28-29

thickness of ............................ 29

views of................................ 28

water in....................... 9,13,52,54,59,

77-78,87,90,100,127,135,140,144,153-154 

Rives, Tenn., elevation at................... 103

ground-water level at.................. 160

water resources at.................... 103-104

well at, record of....................... 103

Rocks, descriptions of...................... 21-49

Rogers Springs, Tenn., water resources at.. 79 

Rollins, water resources at................. 99

Rossville, Tenn., elevation at............... 72

water resources at...................... 72

Round Knob, 111.,rocks of.................. 41

water resources at...................... 153

Routon, Tenn., water resources at.......... 92

Rudolph, Tenn., water resources at......... 85

Rutherford,Tenn., water resources at...... 75

Ruthville, Tenn., water resources at........ 120

S.

Safford, J. M., fossils described by........... 38

on Porters Creek formation ............ 32

Safford, Tenn., water resources at .......... 89

Salix angusta, occurrence of............... 38

sp.,occurrence of....................... 38

Samburg, Tenn., water resources at........ 104

Sands, cementation of................... 21,27-28

description and distribution of......... 44

erosion of............................... 17,18

Sandstone dikes, occurrence of ............ 30-31

Sapindus angustifolius, occurrence of ..... 38

dubius, occurrence of.................. 39

sp., occurrence of....................... 38

Saulsbury, Tenn., elevation at............. 79

water resources at...................... 79-80

Savannah, Tenn., rainfall at............... 12,13

Scale, Ky., water resources at.............. 145

Second bottoms, description of............. 14,49

Sedalia, Ky., mineral water at............. 146

water resources at-..................... 137

Selma clay, character of.................... 26

dip of................................... 11

distribution of........ 26,52,54,58-59,80,86,99

thickness of............................ 26

water in..................... 52,80-81,100,154

Selmer, Tenn.,elevation at................. 101

ground-water level at.................. 160

water resources at...................... 101

wells at, record of...................... 101

rocks in ............................ 26

Sharon, Tenn., elevation at................ 120

water resources at...................... 120

Shelby County, Tenn., description of ...... 104

geology of.............................. 105

mineral waters of....................... 122

topography of........................ 104-105

water resources of.................... 105-115

Page.

Silurian limestones, occurrence of.......... 22

Skullbone, Tenn., water resources at....... 75

Slater, Ky., water resources at ............. 125

Sloanville, Tenn., water resources at....... 115

Soap making, water for .........'........... 158

Soapstone, occurrence of ................... 30

Somerville, Tenn., elevation at............ 72

water resources at...................... 72

Spellings, Tenn., water resources at........ 89

Spout Spring, Tenn., water resources at.... 104

Springcreek, Tenn., water resources at..... 99

Springhill, Ky., water resources at......... 138

Springs, cause of.:.......................... 8,13

Springville, Tenn., rainfall at.............. 12

Stanton Depot, Tenn., water resources at... 88

well at, record of....................... 85

Stantonville, Tenn., water resources at .... 101

Stella, Ky., water resources at.............. 129

Stream cutting, history of.................. 17

Structure, geologic, description of....... 50,51

Stubblefleld, Ky., mineral water near ..... 145

Stubbs, Ky., water resources at ............ 138

Sugar Tree, Tenn., water resources at...... 64

Sulphur Springs, Tenn., water from........ 122

Sweetlips, Tenn., water resources at....... 60-61

Symsonia, Ky., water resources at......... 137

T.

Tabernacle, Tenn., water resources at...... 117

Tamms, 111., water resources at ............ 153

Tarns Landing, Tenn., water resources at.. 96 

Tatumsville, Ky., water resources at....... 145

Taylor's Chapel, Tenn., water resources at. 72 

Tecoma radicans, occurrence of............ 38

Templeton, Tenn., water resources at ..... 69-70

Tennemo, Tenn., water resources at....... 70

Tennessee, embayment area of Kentucky

and, description of ............. 14-20

embayment area of, geology of........ 21-50,

passim 51-118 

mineral waters of ................ 120-122

topography of........ 14-20, passim 51-118

water resources of, by counties.... 51-122

rainfall in .............................. 12

Tennessee Ridge, location and description

of............................... 15-16

streams of .............................. 15-16

Tennessee River, drainage of......... 51,53-54,80

section to Memphis from .figure showing 51 

Terrell, Tenn., water resources at.......... 120

Tertiary rocks, descriptions of.............. 29-43

Thebes, 111., rocks at........................ 27

Thurman, Tenn., water resources at........ 64

Tibbs, Tenn., water resources at............ 85

Tice, Ky., water resources at............... 137

Tigertail, Tenn., water resources at........ 70

Tipton, Tenn., elevation at................. 117

water resources at...................... 117

Tipton County, Tenn., description of....... 115

geology of.............................. 116

mineral waters of ...................... 121

topography of ........................ 115-116

water resources of.................... 116-117

Tombigbee sand, correlation of ............ 23

Toone, Tenn., water resources at........... 80

Topography, description of ................ 14-21
INDEX. 173

Topography, relations of water table to.... 7-8

See also particular counties.

Townes, Term., water resources at......... 58

Trenton, Tenn., elevation at............... 75

ground-water level at.................. 160

rainfall at...................... ....... 12

water resources at...................... 75-76

Trimble, Tenn. .water resources at........ 70

Troy, Tenn., water resources at............ 104

U.

Underground water, character of........ 153-156

conditions of, figures showing.......... 9

dependency of, on rainfall............. 8

escape of, absence of .......... '......... 13-14

level of............................... 158-160

figure showing ..................... 159

resources of.............................. 51-60

sources of............................... 7-8

uses of................................ 156-158

Union City, Tenn., elevation at............. 104

ground-water level at.................. 160

water resources at...................... 104

Unity, Tenn., mineral springs at........... 120

water resources at...................... 120

Uplands, description of .................... 20-21

V.

Valleys, description of .................. 14,47^9

Vandyck, Tenn., elevation at.............. 92

water resources at...................... 92

Venericardia alticostata, occurrence! of .... 32

Villa Ridge, 111., rocks of .................. 41

Viola, Ky., water resources at..........:... 137

Vultoncreek, Ky., water resources at ...... 137

W.

Wadesboro, Ky., water resources at........ 129

Walts, Tenn., water resources at........... 117

Warping, location of....................... 18-19

Water, mineral, character of............. 153-156

occurrences of................ 120-122,145-146

Water, underground. See Underground

water. 

Water-bearing basins, figure showing...... 43

Water-bearing beds, occurrence and character of......................... 9

outcrop of.............................. 11-12

thinning out of, figure showing ........ 9

variation in, figure showing............ 9

Water table, character of.................. 7-8,43

character of, figure showing ........... 43

Page. 

Water Valley, Ky., elevation at............ 137

mineral water at....................... 146

water resources at...................... 137

Weakley County, Tenn., description of .... 117

geology of.............................. 118

lignite in............................... 35

mineral waters of ...................... 120

topography of ........................ 117-118

water resources of.................... 118-120

Well drilling, cost of ....................... 162

methods of ........................... 160-162

Wells, source of water in................... 8,13

water-bearing basins in, figure showing. 43 

See also particular counties, places, etc. 

Wellwood, Tenn., water resources at....... 85

Wetzel, Ky., water resources at............ 129

Whitefern, Tenn., water resources at...... 89

Whitehaven, Tenn., elevation at .......... 115

water resources at...................... 115

White Oak River, drainage of.............. 58

Whiteville, Tenn., water resources at...... 80

 Wicklifle, Ky., artesian well at, view of.... 126

elevation at............................ 125

fossils from....................... 34,37,38-39

ground-water level at.................. 160

mineral water at..................... 125,146

water resources at...................... 125

well at, view of ........................ 9

wells at................................. 9

records of ........................ 125,126

rocks in ...................... 22,29,31,40

water of, analyses of ............... 125

Wildersville, Tenn., elevation at........... 89

rainfall at.............................. 12

water resources at...................... 89

Wind, disposition of soil by ................ 46-47

figure showing ......................... 47

Wolf River, drainage to.................... 70

Woodland Mills, Tenn., water resources at. 104 

Woodville, Ky., water resources at....... 141-142

well at, record of....................... 142

Wool washing, water for ................... 158

Wyly, Tenn., water resources at ........... 53

Yorkville, Tenn., water resources at....... 76

Yuma, Tenn., elevation at................. 58

water resources at...................... 58

Yumyura, Tenn., water resources at....... 72

Z.

Zach, Tenn., water resources at. 53

CLASSIFICATION OF THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL

SURVEY.

[Water-Supply Paper No. 164.]

The serial publications of the United States Geological Survey consist of (1) Annual 

Reports, (2) Monographs, (3) Professional Papers, (-i) Bulletins, (5) Mineral 

Resources, (6) Water-Supply and Irrigation Papers, (7) Topographic Atlas of United 

States folios and separate sheets thereof, (8) Geologic Atlas of the United States 

folios thereof. The classes numbered 2, 7, and 8 are sold at cost of publication; the 

others are distributed free. A circular giving complete lists can be had on application.

Most of the above publications can be obtained or consulted in the following ways:

1. A limited number are delivered to the Director of the Survey, from whom they 

can be obtained, free of charge (except classes 2, 7, and 8), on application.

2. A certain number are delivered to Senators and Representatives in Congress for 

distribution.

3. Other copies are deposited with the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, 

D. C., from whom they can be had at practically cost.

4. Copies of all Government publications are furnished to the principal public 

libraries in the large cities thruout the United States, where they can be consulted 

by those interested.

The Professional Papers, Bulletins, and Water-Supply Papers treat of a variety of 

subjects, and the total number issued is large. They have therefore been classified 

into the following series: A, Economic geology; B, Descriptive geology; C, Systematic geology and paleontology; D, Petrography and mineralogy; E, Chemistry and 

physics; F, Geography; G, Miscellaneous; H, Forestry; I, Irrigation; J, W7 ater storage; K, Pumping water; L, Quality of water; M, General hydrographic investigations; N, Water power; O, Underground waters; P, Hydrographic progress reports. 

This paper is the ninety-eighth in Series B and the sixtieth in Series 0, the complete 

lists of which follow (PP=Professional Paper; B=Bulletin; WS Water-Supply 

Paper):

SERIES B, DESCRIPTIVE GEOLOGY.

B 23. Observations on the junction between the Eastern sandstone and the Keweenaw series on

Keweenaw Point, Lake Superior, by R. D. Irving and T. C. Chamberlin. 1885. 124 pp., 17

pis. (Out of stock.)

B 33. Notes on geology of northern California, by J. S. Diller. 1886. 23pp. (Out of stock.) 

B 39. The upper beaches and deltas of Glacial Lake Agassiz, by Warren Upham. 1887. 84 pp., 1 pi.

(Out of stock.) 

B 40. Changes in river courses in Washington Territory due to glaciation, by Bailey Willis. 1887. 10

pp., 4 pis. (Out of stock.) 

B 45. The present condition of knowledge of the geology of Texas, by R. T. Hill. 1887. 94 pp. (Out

of stock.)

B 53. The geology of Nantucket, by N. S. Shaler. 1889. 55 pp., 10 pis. (Out of stock.) 

B 57. A geological reconnaissance in southwestern Kansas, by Robert Hay. 1890. 49 pp., 2 pis. 

B 58. The glacial boundary in western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, by G. F.

Wright, with introduction by T. C. Chamberlin. 1890. 112 pp., 8 pis. (Out of stock.) 

B 67. The relations of the traps of the Newark system in the New Jersey region, by N. H. Darton.

1890. 82pp. (Out of stock.) 

J3 104. Glaciation of the Yellowstone Valley north of the Park, by W. H. Weed. 1893. 41 pp., 4 pis.

I
II SEEIES LIST.

B 108. A geological reconnaissance in central Washington, by I. C. Russell. 1893. 108 pp., 12 pis.

(Out of stock.)

B 119. A geological reconnaissance in northwest Wyoming, by G. H. Eldridge. 1894. 72 pp., 4 pis. 

B 137. The geology of the Port Riley Military Reservation and vicinity, Kansas, by Robert Hay. 1896.

35pp., 8 pis. 

B 144. The moraines of the Missouri Coteau and their attendant deposits, by J. E. Todd. 1896. 71

pp., 21 pis. 

B 158. The moraines of southeastern South Dakota and their attendant deposits, by J. E. Todd. 1899.

171 pp., 27 pis. 

B 159. The geology of eastern Berkshire County, Massachusetts, by B. K. Emerson. 1899. 139 pp.,

9 pis. 

B 165. Contributions to the geology of Maine, by H. S. Williams and H. E. Gregory. 1900. 212 pp.,

14 pis. 

WS 70. Geology and water resources of the Patrick and Goshen Hole quadrangles in eastern Wyoming

and western Nebraska, by,G. I. Adams. 1902. 50 pp., 11 pis. 

B 199. Geology and water resources of the Snake River Plains of Idaho, by I. C. Russell. 1902. 192pp.,

25 pis. 

PP 1. Preliminary report on the Ketchikan mining district, Alaska, with an introductory sketch of

the geology of southeastern Alaska, by A. H. Brooks. 1902. 120 pp., 2 pis. 

PP 2. Reconnaissance of the northwestern portion of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, by A. J. Collier. 1902.

70pp., 11 pis. 

PP 3. Geology and petrography of Crater Lake National Park, by J. S. Diller and H. B. Fatten. 1902.

167pp., 19 pis. 

PP 10. Reconnaissance from Port Hamlin to Kotzebue Sound, Alaska, by way of Dall, Kanuti, Alien,

and Kovvak rivers, by W. C. Mendenhall. 1902. 68 pp., 10 pis.

PP 11. Clays of the United States east of the Mississippi River, by Heinrich Ries. 1903. 298 pp., 9 pis. 

PP 12. Geology of the Globe copper district, Arizona, by P. L. Ransome. 1903. 168 pp., 27 pis. 

PP 13. Drainage modifications in southeastern Ohio and adjacent parts of West Virginia and Kentucky, by W. G. Tight. 1903. Ill pp., 17 pis. 

B 208. Descriptive geology of Nevada south of the fortieth parallel and adjacent portions of California,

by J. E. Spurr. 1903. 229 pp., 8 pis.

B 209. Geology of Ascutney Mountain, Vermont, by R. A. Daly. 1903. 122 pp., 7 pis. 

WS 78. Preliminary report on artesian basins in southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon, by

I. C. Russell. 1903. 51 pp., 2 pis. 

PP 15. Mineral resources of the Mount Wrangell district, Alaska, by W. C. Mendenhall and P. C.

Schrader. 1903. 71 pp., 10 pis. 

PP 17. Preliminary report on the geology and water resources of Nebraska west of the one hundred

and third meridian, by N. H. Darton. 1903. 69 pp., 43 pis. 

B 217. Notes on the geology of southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon, by I. C. Russell. 1903.

83pp., 18 pis.

B 219. The ore deposits of Tonopah, Nevada (preliminary report), by J. E. Spurr. 1903. 31 pp., 1 pi. 

PP 20. A reconnaissance in northern Alaska in 1901, by F. C. Schrader. 1904. 139 pp., 16 pis. 

PP 21. The geology and ore deposits of the Bisbee quadrangle, Arizona, by P. L. Ransome. 1904. 168

pp., 29 pis. 

WS 90. Geology and water resources of part of the lower James River Valley, South Dakota, by J. E.

Todd and C. M. Hall. 1904. 47 pp., 23 pis. 

PP 25. The copper deposits of the Encampment district, Wyoming, by A. C. Spencer. 1904. 107 pp.,

2 pis. 

PP 26. Economic resources of the northern Black Hills, by J. D. Irving, with contributions by S. F.

Emmons and T. A. Jaggar, jr. 1904. 222 pp., 20 pis.

PP 27. A geological reconnaissance across the Bitterroot Range and Clearwater Mountains in Montana and Idaho, by Waldemar Lindgren. 1904. 122 pp., 15 pis. 

PP 31. Preliminary report on the geology of the Arbuckle and Wichita mountains in Indian Territory

and Oklahoma, by J. A. Taff, with an appendix on reported ore deposits in the Wichita

Mountains, by H. P. Bain. 1904. 97 pp., 8 pis. 

B 235. A geological reconnaissance across the Cascade Range near the forty-ninth parallel, by G. 0.

Smith and P. C. Calkins. 1904. 103 pp., 4 pis.

B 236. The Porcupine placer district, Alaska, by C. W. Wright. 1904. 35 pp., 10 pis. 

B 237. Igneous rocks of the Highwood Mountains, Montana, by L. V. Pirsson. 1904. 208 pp., 7 pis. 

B 238. Economic geology of the lola quadrangle, Kansas, by G. I. Adams, Erasmus Haworth, and

W. R. Crane. 1904. 83 pp., 1 pi. 

PP 32. Geology and underground water resources of the central Great Plains, by N. H. Darton. 1905.

433 pp., 72 pis. 

WS 110. Contributions to hydrology of eastern United States, 1904; M. L. Puller, geologist in charge.

1905. 211 pp., 5 pis.
SERIES LIST. Ill

B 242. Geology of the Hudson Valley between the Hoosic and the Kinderhook, by T. Nelson Dale.

1904. 63 pp., 3 pis. 

PP 34. The Delavan lobe of tire Lake Michigan glacier of the Wisconsin stage of glaciation and

associated phenomena, by W. C. Alden. 1904. 106 pp., 15 pis. 

PP35. Geology of the Perry Basin in southeastern Maine, byG. O. Smith and David White. 1905.

107 pp., 6 pis.

B 243. Cement materials and industry of the United States, by E. C. Eckel. 1905. 395 pp., 15 pis. 

B 246. Zinc and lead deposits of northeastern Illinois, by H. P. Bain. 1904. 56 pp., 5 pis. 

B 247. The Fairhaven gold placers of Seward Peninsula, Alaska, by P. H. Mofflt. 1905. 85 pp., 14 pis. 

B 249. Limestones of southwestern Pennsylvania, by P. G. Clapp. 1905. 52 pp., 7 pis. 

B 250. The petroleum fields of the Pacific coast of Alaska, with an account of the Bering River coal

deposit, by G. C. Martin. 1905. 65 pp., 7 pis. 

B 251. The gold placers of the Fortymile, Birch Creek, and Fairbanks regions, Alaska, by L. M.

Prindle. 1905. 16pp., 16 pis. 

WS118. Geology and water resources of a portion of east-central Washington, by P. C. Calkins. 1905.

96 pp., 4 pis. 

B 252. Preliminary report on the geology and water resources of central Oregon, by I. C. Russell.

1905. 138 pp., 24 pis. 

PP 36. The lead, zinc, and fluorspar deposits of western Kentucky, by E. O. Ulrich and W. S. Tangier

Smith. 1905. 218 pp., 15 pis. 

PP 38. Economic geology of the Bingham mining district of Utah, by J. M. Boutwell, with a chapter

on areal geology, by Arthur Keith, and an introduction on general geology, by S. P. Emmons.

1905. 413pp., 49 pis. 

PP 41. The geology of the central Copper River region, Alaska, by W. C. Mendenhall. 1905. 133 pp.,

20 pis. 

B 254. Report of progress in the geological resurvey of the Cripple Creek district, Colorado, by

Waldemar Lindgren and F. L. Ransome. 1904. 36 pp.

B 255. The fluorspaj deposits of southern Illinois, by H. Poster Bain. 1905. 75 pp., 6 pis. 

B 256. Mineral resources of the Elders Ridge quadrangle, Pennsylvania, by R. W. Stone. 1905.

85 pp., 12 pis. 

B 257. Geology and paleontology of the Judith River beds, by T. W. Stanton and J. B. Hatcher, with

a chapter on the fossil plants, by P. H. Knowlton. 1905. 174 pp., 19 pis. 

PP 42. Geology of the Tonopah mining district, Nevada, by J. E. Spurr. 1905. 295 pp., 24 pis. 

WS 123. Geology and underground water conditions of the Jornada del Muerto, New Mexico, by

C. R. Keyes. 1905. 42 pp., 9 pis.

WS 136. Underground waters of Salt River Valley, Arizona, by W. T. Lee. 1905. 194 pp., 24 pis. 

PP43. The copper deposits of Clifton-Morenci, Arizona, by Waldemar Lindgren. 1905. 375 pp., 25 pis. 

B265. Geology of the Boulder district, Colorado, by N. M. Feimeman. 1905. 101 pp., 5 pis. 

B 267. The copper deposits of Missouri, by H. F. Bain and E. O. Ulrich. 1905. 52 pp., 1 pi. 

PP 44. Underground water resources of Long Island, New York, by A. C. Veatch, and others. 1905.

394pp., 34 pis.

WS 148. Geology and water resources of Oklahoma, by C. N. Gould. 1905. 178 pp., 22 pis. 

B 270. The configuration of the rock floor of Greater New York, by W. H. Hobbs. 1905. 96 pp., 5 pis. 

B 272. Taconic physiography, by T. M. Dale. 1905. 52 pp., 14 pis. 

PP 45. The geography and geology of Alaska, a summary of existing knowledge, by A. H. Brooks,

with a section on climate, by Cleveland Abbe, jr., and a topographic map and description

thereof, by R. M. Goode. 1905. 327 pp., 34 pis. 

B 273. The drumlins of southeastern Wisconsin (preliminary paper), by W. C. Alden. 1905. 46 pp.,

9 pis. 

PP 46. Geology and underground water resources of northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas, by

A. C. Veatch. 1906. 422 pp., 51 pis. 

PP 49. Geology and mineral resources of part of the Cumberland Gap coal field, Kentucky, by G. H.

Ashley and L. C. Glenn, in cooperation with the State Geological Department of Kentucky,

C. J. Norwood, curator. 1906. 239 pp., 40 pis.

PP 50. The Montana lobe of the Keewatin ice sheet, by P. H. H. Calhoun. 1906. 62 pp., 7 pis. 

B 277. Mineral resources of Kenai Peninsula, Alaska: Gold fields of the Turnagain Arm region, by

F. H. Moffit; and the coal fields of the Kachemak Bay region, by R. W. Stone. 1906. 80 pp.,

18 pis. 

WS 154. The geology and water resources of the eastern portion of the Panhandle of Texas, by C. N.

Gould. 1906. 64 pp., 15 pis. 

B 278. Geology and coal resources of the Cape Lisburne region, Alaska, by A. J. Collier. 1906. 54

pp., 9 pis. 

B 279. Mineral resources of the Kittanning and Rural Valley quadrangles, Pennsylvania, by Charles

Butts. 1906. pp., 11 pis. 

B 280. The Rampart gold placer region, Alaska, by L. M. Prindle and P. L. Hess. 1906. 54 pp., 7 pis,

IKK 164 06 12
IV 8EEIES LIST.

B 282. Oil fields of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coastal Plain, by N. M. Fenneman. 1906. 146 pp., 11 pis. 

WS 157. Underground water in the valleys of Utah Lake and Jordan River, Utah, by G. B. Richardson.

1906. 81 pp., 9 pis.

PP 51. Geology of the Bighorn Mountains, by N. H. Barton. 1906. 129 pp., 47 pis. 

WS 158. Preliminary report on the geology and underground waters of the Roswell artesian area,

New Mexico, by C. A. Fisher. 1906. 29 pp., 9 pis. 

PP 52. Geology and underground waters of the Arkansas Valley in eastern Colorado, by N. H. Barton.

1906. 90 pp., 28 pis. 

WS 159. Summary of underground-water resources of Mississippi, by A. F. Crider and L. C. Johnson.

1906. 86 pp., 6 pis. 

PP 53. Geology and water resources of the Bighorn basin, Wyoming, by Cassius A. Fisher. 1906.

72 pp., 16 pis.

B 283. Geology and mineral resources of Mississippi, by A. F. Crider. 1906. 99 pp., 4 pis. 

B 2?6. Economic geology of the Beaver quadrangle, Pennsylvania (southern Beaver and northwestern

Allegheny counties), by L. H. Woolsey. 1906. pp., 8 pis. 

B 287. The Juneau Gold belt, Alaska, by A. C. Spencer, and a reconnaissance of Admiralty Island,

Alaska, by C. W. Wright. 1906. 161 pp., 37 pis. 

PP 54. The geology and gold deposits of the Cripple Creek district, Colorado, by Waldernar Lindgren

and F. L. Ransome. 1906. pp., 29 pis.

PP 55. Ore deposits of the Silver Peak quadrangle, Nevada, by J. E. Spurr. 1906. 174 pp., 24 pis. 

B 289. A reconnaissance of the Matanuska coal field, Alaska, in 1905, by G. C. Martin. 1906. 36 pp.,

5 pis. 

WS 164. Underground waters of Tennessee and Kentucky west of Tennessee River and of an adjacent

area in Illinois, by L. C. Glenn. 1906. 173 pp., 7 pis.

SERIES O, UNDERGROUND WATERS.

WS 4. A reconnaissance in southeastern Washington, by I. C. Russell. 1897. 96 pp., 7 pis. (Out of

stock.) 

WS 6. Underground waters of southwestern Kansas, by Erasmus Ha worth. 1897. 65 pp., 12 pis.

(Out of stock.)

WS 7. Seepage waters of northern Utah, by Samuel Fortier. 1897. 50pp., 3 pis. (Out of stock.) 

WS 12. Underground waters of southeastern Nebraska, by N. H. Darton. 1898. 56 pp., 21 pis. (Out

of stock.)

WS 21. Wells of northern Indiana, by Frank Leverett. 1899. 82 pp., 2 pis. (Out of stock.) 

WS 26. Wells of southern Indiana (continuation of No. 21), by Frank' Leverett. 1899. 64 pp. (Out

of stock.) 

WS 30. Water resources of the lower peninsula of Michigan, by A. C. Lane. 1899. 97 pp., 7 pis. (Out

of stock.) . WS 31. Lower Michigan mineral waters, by A. C. Lane. 1899. 97pp., 4 pis. (Out of stock.) 

WS 34. Geology and water resources of a portion of southeastern South Dakota, by J. E. Todd. 1900.

34 pp., 19 pis. 

WS 53. Geology and water resources of Nez Perces County, Idaho, Pt. I, by I. C. Russell. 1901. 86

pp., 10 pis. (Out of stock.) 

WS 54. Geology and water resources of Nez Perces County, Idaho, Pt. II, by I. C. Russell. 1901.

S7-14ipp. (Out of stock.) 

WS 55. Geology and water resources of a portion of Yakima County, Wash., by G. O. Smith. 1901.

68 pp., 7 pis. (Out of stock.) 

WS 57. Preliminary list of deep borings in the United States, Pt. I, by N. H. Darton. 1902. 60 pp.

(Out of stock.) 

WS 59. Development and application of water in southern California, Pt. I, by J. B. Lippincott. 1902.

95 pp., 11 pis. (Out of stock.) 

WS 60. Development and application of water in southern California, Pt. II, by J. B. Lippincott.

1902. 96-140 pp. (Out of stock.) 

WS 61. Preliminary list of deep borings in the United States, Pt. II, by N. H. Darton. 1902. 67 pp.

(Out of stock.)

WS 67. The motions of underground waters, by C. S. Slichter. 1902. 106 pp., 8 pis. (Out of stock.) 

B 199. Geology and water resources of the Snake River Plains of Idaho, by I. C. Russell. 1902. 192

pp., 25 pis.

WS 77. Water resources of Molokai, Hawaiian Islands, by Waldemar Lindgren. 1903. 62 pp., 4 pis. 

WS 78. Preliminary report on artesian basin in-southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon, by I. C.

Russell. 1903. 53 pp., 2 pis. 

PP 17. Preliminary report on the geology and water resources of Nebraska west of the one hundred

and third meridian, by N. H. Darton. 1903. 69 pp., 43 pis. 

WS 90. Geology and water resources of a part of the lower James River Valley, South Dakota, by

J. E. Todd and C. M. Hall. 1904. 47 pp., 23 pis. 

WS 101. Underground waters of southern Louisiana, by G. D. Harris, with discussions of their uses for

water supplies and for rice irrigation, by M. L. Fuller. 1904. 98 pp., 11 pis.
SEEIES LIST. V

WS 102. Contributions to the hydrology of eastern United States, 1903, by M. L. Fuller. 1904. 522 pp.

WS 104. Underground waters of Qila Valley, Arizona, by \V. T. Lee. 1904. 71 pp., 5 pis.

WS 106. Water resources of the Philadelphia district, by Florence Bascom. 1904. 75 pp., 4 pis.

WS 110. Contributions to the hydrology of eastern United States, 1904; M. L. Fuller, geologist in

charge. 1904. 211 pp., 5 pis. 

.PP 32. Geology and underground water resources of the central Great Plains, by N. H. Darton. 1904.

433 pp., 72 pis. (Out of stock.) 

WS 111. Preliminary report on underground waters of Washington, by Henry Landes. 1904. 85 pp.,

Ipl. 

WS 112. Underflow tests in the drainage basin of Los Angeles River, by Homer Hamlin. 1904.

55 pp., 7 pis. 

WS 114. Underground waters of eastern United States; M. L. Fuller, geologist in charge. 1904.

285 pp., 18 pis. 

WS 118. Geology and water resources of east-central Washington, by F. C. Calkins. 1905. 96 pp.,

4 pis. 

B 252. Preliminary report on the geology find water resources of central Oregon, by I. C. Russell.

1905. 138pp., 24 pis. 

WS 120. Bibliographic review and index of papers relating to underground waters, published by the

United States Geological Survey, 1879-1904, by M. L. Fuller. 1905. 128 pp. 

WS 122. Relation of the law to underground waters, by D. W. Johnson. 1905. 55 pp. 

WS 123. Geology and underground water conditions of the Jornada del Muerto, New Mexico, by C. R.

Keyes. 1905. 42 pp.,9 pis.

WS 136. Underground waters of the Salt River Valley, by W. T. Lee. 1905. 194 pp., 24 pis. 

B 264. Record of deep-well drilling for 1904, by M. L. Fuller, E. F. Lines, and A. C. Veatch. 1905.

106 pp. 

PP 44. Underground water resources of Long Island, New York, by A. C. Veatch and others. 1905.

394pp., 34 pis. 

WS 137. Development of underground waters in the eastern coastal plain region of southern California,

by W. C. Mendenhall. 1905. 140 pp., 7 pis. 

WS 138. Developmentof underground watersin the central coastal plain region of southern California,

by W. C. Mendenhall. 1905. 162 pp., 5 pis. 

WS 139. Development of underground waters in the western coastal plain region of southern California,

by W. C. Mendenhall. 1905. 105 pp., 7 pis. 

WS 140. Field measurements of the rate of movement of underground waters, by C. S. Slichter. 1905.

122 pp., 15 pis. 

WS 141. Observations on the ground waters of Rio Grande Valley, by C. S. Slichter. 1905. 83 pp.,

5 pis.

WS 142. Hydrology of San Bernardino Valley, California, by W. C. Mendenhall. 1905. 124 pp., 13 pis. 

WS 145. Contributions to the hydrology of eastern United States; M. L. Fuller, geologist in charge.

1905. 220 pp., 6 pis.

WS 148. Geology and water resources of Oklahoma, by C. N. Gould. 1905. 178 pp., 22 pis. 

WS 149. Preliminary list of deep borings in the United States, second edition, with additions, by

N. H. Darton. 1905. 175 pp. 

PP 46. Geology and underground water resources of northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas, by

A. C. Veatch. 1906. 422 pp., 51 pis.

WS 153. The underflow in Arkansas Valley in western Kansas, by C. S. Slichter. 19C6. 90 pp., 3 pis. 

WS 154. The geology and water resources of the eastern portion of the Panhandle of Texas, by C. N.

Gould. 1906. 64 pp., 15 pis. 

WS 155. Fluctuations of the water level in wells, with special reference to Long Island, New York,

by A. C. Veatch. 1906. 83 pp., 9 pis. 

WS 157. Underground water in the valleys of Utah Lake and Jordan River, Utah, by G. B. Richardson.

1906. 81 pp., 9 pis. 

WS 158. Preliminary report on the geology and underground waters of the Roswell artesian area,

New Mexico, by C. A. Fisher. 1906. 29 pp., 9 pis. 

PP 52. Geology and underground waters of the Arkansas Valley in eastern Colorado, by N. H. Darton.

1906. 90 pp., 28 pis. 

WS 159. Summary of underground-water resources of Mississippi, by A. F. Crider and L. C. Johnson,

1906. 86 pp., 6 pis. 

PP 53. Geology and water resources of the Bighorn basin, Wyoming1 , by C. A. Fisher. 1906. 72 pp.,

16 pis.

WS 160. Underground-water papers, 1906, by M. L. Fuller. 1906. 104 pp., 1 pi. 

WS 163. Bibliographic review and index of underground-water literature published in the United

States in 1905, by M. L. Fuller, F. G. Clapp, and B. L. Johnson. 1906. 130 pp. 

WS 164. Underground wat ers of Tennessee and Kentucky west of Tennessee River and of an adjacent

area in Illinois, by L. C. Glenn. 1906. 173 pp., 7 pis.
VI SEBIES LIST.

The following papers also relate to this subject: Underground waters of Arkansas Valley in eastern 

Colorado, by G. K. Gilbert, in Seventeenth Annual, Pt. II; Preliminary report on artesian waters of a 

portion of the Dakotas, by N. H. Darton, in Seventeenth Annual, Pt. II; Water resources of Illinois, 

by Prank Leverett, in Seventeenth Annual, Pt.' II; Water resources of Indiana and Ohio, by Prank 

Leverett, in Eighteenth Annual, Pt. IV; New developments in well boring and irrigation in eastern 

South Dakota, by N. H. Darton, in Eighteenth Annual, Pt. IV; Rock waters of Ohio, by Edward 

Orton, in Nineteenth Annual, Pt. IV; Artesian-well prospects in the Atlantic coastal plain region, by 

N. H. Darton, Bulletin No. 138.

Correspondence should be addrest to

THE DIRECTOR,

UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,

WASHINGTON, D. C. 

OCTOBER, 1906.

o