Jeffersonian Republican. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1840-1853, 1852-09-09
ArteSiaa Well.

We received, some time since, the fol-
lowing interesting communication from
Alabama, which contains many intems
of interest to those who may find it i'm
portant to obtain copious and constant
supply of water by deep boring. There
is an Artesian well in this city however,
which is much deeper than any of those
mentioned in the following article. At
Belcher's Sugar refinery, there is one in
progress which has now reached the depth
of $50 feet, and will be continued to
$500 feet unless pure sandstone forma-
ton is previously found.-.S Louis Pa
per.
MeSSrS. Editors Enclosed | send YOU
short account of the famous Artesian
well, recently completed on the plantation
of Mr.. Matthews, in Dallas county, Ala.
1t may prove interesting to some of your
readers who reside in the prairie parts Of
Missouri, and suffer for want Of springs
or running wells, who would like to prof
it from our experience. The geological
structure of Missouri may be so different
from that of central Alabama, that the
same result may not follow from deep bor-
ings; but the experiment, if it has never
been tried, certainly deserves being made.
For many years the richest portion of AL
ALBANIA was uncultivated, owing to the
complete want of water in summer months,
there being neither sap-wells nor springs
for fifteen or twenty miles. At length,
Mr.. Cooper, a native of Vermont, all
ingenious artisan and mechanic, conceiv-
ed the idea of penetrating the solid crust of
the earth, in the hspe of meeting of sub
terranean wells or lakes. He invented
and patented augerS and instruments for
the purpose, and at length, some twenty
years since, succeeded in the county of
Marengo, at the depth of five hundred
feet in finding a stratum of sand, which
supplied a never-failing stream of water,
which rose some five feet above the level
of the ground. His success and the value
of the discovery led others to go into the
business of boring for water, till now it is
a regular business, employing numbers of
men, and at a moderate compensation
The prices paid are usually % cents per
foot for the first 400 feet, and so cents
for the next two hundred, and rs cents
foot for all below; or in regions where
wells are already abundant, they frequent
ly insure water for S1OO
Al
from eight hundred to one thousand Ar
tesian wells, varying in depth from 200
to 900 feet, from 81 to 9 inches in diam
eter, supplying from to 1900 gallons
per minute, and rising from to 25 feet
above the surface of the ground.
The water rushes up with so great vio-
lence that some wells form the most beau
tiful Jets d'eau, perpetual fountains cool
ing the air and affording every comfort
and convenience that can be imagined or
devised from the sparkling element In
most cases however, instead of being made
ornaments, in the flower grounds of the
proprietors, they only furnish water for
stock, anduare found in the deep ravines
or low grounds, where the boring will nat
urally be shallow-lowest.
DIR. Withers, of Greensboro, Alabama,
is at present enganed in preparing an es-
say on the Artesian wells of Alabama,
which promises to be very interesting to
the geologist He will doubtless give any
information to any gentleman In Missouri
requesting it, as to the practical details
of boring these wells, now very well
understood in this country.
I