The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-09-06
THE CITY WATER PROBLEM.
a Proposition to Restore and ot...1o
til. Artesian Well-Details OF tne nv
ject.

water upOn 8 plan WHICH, ID ooi" -
perfectly feasible, but extremely s'"pie 49,
economical. The memorial rePresen'eu NAV
that the Artesian Well, which was sum -
large expense to the city, and wnleh 10 y
Welding Int o very Insignificant return III
either money or water, might easily % u'n-
800 an 90 To furnish a complete water supply
~ 49, o;ty and the memorialists requested
conference with o committee OF the Councnt ~
arrange for the purchase Of the well IN oraer
~ nrect water works over 1t, or tor the re-
moyal. under q contract with the city, OF the
ohstructious at Its bottom which now prevent
the flow of water. The subject was referred
TO the committee on artesian wells, anc a
conference between that committee and the
memorlalists will take place in a few days.
THE ARTEsIAN WELL.
az it now exists, is about one thousand three
hundred feet deep, and has a diameter OF nine
inches at the surface and Six incnes az Inc
bottom. It is supposed 10 be capable OF spout
inp about three hundred thousand gallons OF
water daily, but only brings up about three
hundred gallons q day now or. account OIL au
obstruction lodged In or near the oolCom VI
the nine. This consists Of a long iron bucket
with n steel breaker and some small pieces Oh
rod attached, and weighing altogetner DE-
tween five and elk hundred pounds. It was
constructed and used In the coarse OF some
previous operations on the well, When IL got
fast in the pipe and was broken OH oy tn'
force of the steam engine employed TO pull IL
mo to the surface. 1t is now supposed to be
living trausversely to the bore, In the sand, at
the bottom of the we'll, and o large guam
lity of sand has also gathered about 1t,
choking up the well for q distance OF about
three hundred feet.
THE PROCESS OF RESTORATION.
It is evident that all that Is necessary to re-
store the well to Its full capacity is to remove
the three hundred feet of sand now In the
well. and either displace or destroy the 3D.
struction at its bottom. For this purpose 1t Is
pronosedto employ two powerful and ingenious
machines, one of them q steam pump, and tne
other q sort of vacuum bucket running on a
rope over a large drum. The latter apparatus
consists of an iron bucket, six inches In diam
eter and several feet long, with an Ingenious
arrangement of valves, by means of which the
air will be forced out of it in Its rapid descent,
and the sand which it may meet into 1t,
after which it is to be hoisted up and automat-
ically dumped into the carts which will be In
waiting. This machine will work very swiftly,
each descent and return Of the bucket being
accomplished in about eight minutes. This Is
the main device relied upon for removing the
sand, but In addition to 1t the steam pump
will be kept constantly at work assisting In
the operation.
TIE STEAM UMP
proposed to be used Is one of the most pow
erful ever manufactured, and has q capacity
OF two thousand gallons a minute, with q
9-lnch suction pipe. A pump ct this pattern,
with o l9lnch pipe was employed BY General
George W. Cullum, of the United States en-
glneer corp in 1855, in dredging the bar IN
Charleston harbor, and that officer spoke as
follows OF its capacity: ''The power of this
pump Is 30 great that bricks, cannon balls,
roots, bits of wreck, parts OF piles, concreted
shells and sand, and even a boat grapnel
Weighing thirty pounds have been readily
pumped up from the depth of twelve feet.
Several times one hundred and fifty cubic
Yards have been excavated by IL In less thar
half an hour" The first object Of this pump
will be to dispose Of the obstruction In the
well, and this it Is expected to accomplish by
causing such q powerful agitation of the sand
and water at the bottom of the well as to churn
it all up INTO a seml-auld mass, which can read
lily and swiftly be brought up to the surface.
This will create a large cavity in the earth,
surrounding the bottom OF the pipe, INTO
which the bucket and rods, which are now
causing all the obstruction, will sink OF their
own weight, and be forever out of the way.
THE wATER WORKS.
With the we'll thus cleaned aud the obstruc-
ton removed it Is claimed that a supply OF
water far exceeding all possible wants of the
city for several years may be obtained, and
the arrangements for raising 1t Into reservoirs
and distributing 1t through the city will be
perfectly simple. These consist, as now pro-
|ected, of two water towers of brick and
mascary, of sufficient height to secure a good
head, Into which the water Will be forced by
the pump above described, and whence 1t Will
conveyed by pipes throughout the city and
iuto every house and room where it may be
The first floors of these towers could
be used for the Offices OF the water company,
the location of the we'll at the corner of
Meeting and Wentworth streets being a con-
venlent aud central one, and the building
would be so constructed as to be an ornament
as we'll as a convenience TO the locality.
THE PROPOSITIONS TO BE JADE
to the City Council are threefold. First it
will be proposed that the city sell the proper
ty to the gentlemen making tae offer, upon
which they will obtain a charter and establish
the waterworks, or that the city lease the
property for ninety-nine years for the same
purpose and upon the same condition, or that
the city appropriate the sum of ten thousand
dollars for the expenses of restoring the well,
to be expended under the direction of the
proper municipal officers, and that the pro-
jectors of the improvement shall then be paid
by the city in proportion to the success of
their operations.
FATAL DROWNING AccEDENT.-Last Tuesday
morning Captain Antoine Selvls, Of the sloop
Julia, plying on Cooper River, fell overheard
from the deck of his vessel while opposite
Strawberry Ferry, and before aid could reach