Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1849-11-23
Joseph,s Wen at Cairo.

The most remarkable well ever made
by man is Joseph's we'll at Cairo. It's
magnitude, and the skill displayed in its
construction, which is perfectly unique
have never been surpassed. All travel.
lers have spoken of it with admiration.
This stupendous we'll is an oblong
square; twenty-four feet by eighteen; be.
ing sufficiently capacious to admit with
in its mouth moderate sized house. i
excavated (ofthese dimensions through
solid rock to the depth of one hundred
and sixty-fve, feet, where it is enlarged
into capacious chamber in the bottom OF
which is formed basin or reservoir to
receive the water raised from below, flor
this chamber is not the bottom of the
well.) On one side of the reservoir an
other shaft is continued, one hundred and
thirty feetlower, where itemerges through
the rock into bed of gravel, in which
the water is found. The whole depth
being two hundred and ninety seven feet.
The lower shaft is not in the same verti-
cal line with the upper one, nor is it SO
large, being fifteen feet by nine. AS the
water is first raised into the. basin, by
means Of machinery propelled by horses
or oxen within the chamber, ii may be
asked how are these animals conveyed
TO thatdepth in this tremendous pit, and
by what means they ascend! II is the
solutiQ this problem that renders Jo-
seph' $50 peculiarly interesting, and
which indicates an advanced state of the
arts at the period OF its construction.
"A spiral passage-way is cut through
the rock, from the surface of the ground
70 the chamber, independent of the well,
round which it winds with SO gentle a
descent that persons sometimes ride up
or down upon asses or mules. It's six
feet four inches wide, and seven feet two
inches high. Between il and the interior
Of the well, wall of rock is left, to pre-
vent persons falling into, or even looking
down it. (which in some cases would be
equally fatal, except through certain o.
penings or windows, by means of which
it is family lighted from the interior Of
the well; by this passage the animals
descend, which drive The machinery that
raises the water from the lower shaft in
to the reservoir or basin, from which it
is again elevated by similar machinery,
and other oxen on the surface Of the
ground. In the lower shaft, path is
also cut down to the water, but as no
partition is left between it and the well,
it is. extremely rerilous for strangers to
descend.
This celebrated production Of former
times, resembles an enormous hollow
screw, the centre Of which forms the well,
and the threads winding stair case round
ii. TO erect of granite fight Of "ge-
ometrical' or swell STAIRS two or three
hundred feet high, on the surface of the
ground, would require extraordinary skill;
although in the execution every aid from
rules, measures, and the light of day,
would guide the workmeh at every step;
but to begin such work at the top, and
construct it downwards by excavation
alone, in the dark bowels of the earth,
is more arduous undertaking, especial
". as deyiaiions from the correct lines
could not be remedied; yet, in Josoph's
well, the partition of rock between the
pit and the passage way. and the uniform
inclination Of the latter, seem to have
been ascertained with equal precision, as
If the whole had been constructed of cut