Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1860-02-09
The Frozen Well at Brandon.
Brandon, VT. January q, l

EDITOR FREEMAN In alluulhS 10 my tneOry
to account for the Froz,n Well, which appear
cd In the Freeman last September, you express
ed wish " to soc the experiments tried, Of
abolishing the spring, as referred to by Mr..
Hager, by porforatng the clay beneath it"
Happening to be in town to-day, took
walk to the famous Frozen Well, and in it found
an abundance of ice resting upon the water,
and cncrusting tho wall for some distance above
lit. Daring tho month Of SEPTEMBER Last, all
the ice in the well disappeared, but upon tho
return of cold weather in December it reap
peared. and during the coolest nights of this
winter the ice has accumulated to such thick
ness as to render it necessary for person to de-
sccud and chop it away before the well bucket
could he raised out of it with the windlass. In
September last we'll 10 feet South Elst of the
Frozen Well, was sunk under the direction of
che Boston Nat. HIST So, to the depth of %
feet where water was found. but no ice or frozen
earth.
] There was also one commenced in September,
f., 20 feet North West of the frozen one. but in
cons quence of delays, depth of only 80 feet
was reached, on the ed day of October
+ Al this time, frozen earth was reached, hut it
is questionable whether it might not have been
the result of the cold Of the previous nights
Tor during several of them the mercury was
below the freezing point-altl,ough those who
dug the we'll We're quite confident that the
frozen earth had long been in that condition.
The work of digging was then suspended, and
the well is now filled with shavings, awaiting
the arrival OF warm weather, when the explo-
ration will be resumed, by those in the employ
of the Boston Mt. Hist. Society.
But have left the subject Of perforating the
clay bsneatle'>ttat srrhg" Tie slring does
nothow exist, liut 4 wtll as tcCn sunk few
feet at that place. and snow walled up. The
workmen did not dig through tie bed of clay
but very prudently stopped in season to save the
water in the clay servoir, and avoid the mis-
fortune that befel Mr.. John Shosty, in vel
which he dug sixty PAGES west of it.
, This well was dug in September ast-and is
ii bout one hundred and ten pac,s north west o
} the frozen one.
Mr. Shosey found the first three feet to be 6
fine gravel, similar to the soil ut the surface
then fifteen feet Of very hard calcareous clay
then two ard one halt feet of course gravel
then to the depth of forty feet he found clay
7 in some parts Of which was m liked fine sand
AT this depth he found no water and was upur
the point of abandoning the enterprise, bu
s was induced to bore hole In the clay with O
0 post auger, :" and at tho depth of two and one
Y halt eeI, lie fIunl wafer in small quantity
f lie bored to the depth Of four feet, and had in
e the anger hole eighteen inches Of water lie
r then sunk another hole four feet in the bottom
= OF his well, but found no water. Not dis
9 couraged, he bored another about 20 inches dis
tant from each Of the two proceeding ones, anC
s when at the depth Of three and one half feet
: the clay being 50 compact, it was with Difficult
0 ty that the auger could b. urged down, upor
r winch 1t Was raMJv1d, and Mr.. SaoSsy says he
: : commenced packing up the hard crust in tn,
t bottom of the hole with an iron bar, when al
r OF u sudden it broke through, and all the waite
. that had collected in the first hole run off i'm
i medlatey, and mono ever uppe lred ther,
d again"
& Now to what conclusion can we arrive re
Spectins this sudden disappearance Of the water
!, II W. d. not adopt the theory previously given
e that this clay repOses on base Of porous grave
-s or g Water WISHED poboles," into which tn
> water escaped, and int which the water of tha
1t "spring" would escape if tho clay were perfo
10 rated down to the porous gravel
). There doubtless existed in the clay Sigh
n assure, which Mr.. Shosey struck with his au
ger, and which may have been one of the av,
r. nues through which the surface water rcache
lie tho reservoir, that supplies thu water at til
e frozen well all had the w1ll been sunk I
y this iisSure and the oatlot b,en ef,ctualy stop
ic cd, there would have been water in it dlrin
ID wet seasons. But Mr.. Shosey lost all hope
8, finding water there and abandoned the work
A, but commenced another well upon ground abou
I'd two feet lower, and twenty-eight PAGES east q
id the ono just described. At tine depth Of abou
in four feet he found water, hut continued diggin
al in tho clay to the depth of fifteen feet. fndin
assures in the clay upon the western side of th
I'd we'll, throOsh which the watsr flowed in quaS