The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1883-07-13
COST OF ARTEsIAN WELLS.
How They pat Them Down in Denver.
soIf Lake Tribune, 9Th.

Salt Lake Tribune, 9Th.
The question of xrtesian wells II one that
should excite considerably. attention mere, ~
through such water supply We may De able
TO chang. the condition of some lands now
barren, and make productive and pleasant
for resid-nce. In Denver, where wells nave
lately proved success and created turore
for them. the conditions ar. some what sltpi .
lar TO thosr in this valley, and the cost of
sinking wills here should be nearly the same
~ those, hence 10 is ~ matter OF interest 70
know the cost. The County Commissioners
Of Arapahoe, In which Denver IL situated,
opened bids the other day for sinking wells
In the court house yard. No AWARDS were
made, but the bids were published as follows:
C. p. Butler off.rs to put down 35 feet for
s5625O: AIS feet for s66250; 500 feet for sSl25o;
and fifty cents per foot additional Tor eacn
100 feet below 500
T. g. Anderson offers to put down $40 feet
for 81 00O 425 feet for 81 800; the next 4O0 feet
for "a per foot, the next 400 feet for 50 per
foot and from thence down to 800 feet for
VIM. w. Morrison & Sons propose to sink
375 feet for $780, 425 feet for $3.50; 800 feet for
81 900, and then fifty cents per foot extra for
each additional 100 feet.
j. g Anderson proposes to sink 35 feet
tor 1855; 425 feet for 81 ,O6g, the next twenty.
FIVE feet for 475 per foot. and then increase
twenty five cents per foot for each additional
twenty five feet.
The art of sinking these wells has been
brought To such a state of excellence that
men who understand their business seldom
If ever make a failure, and the appliances
are such that 10 is an easy matter to do the
work.
The above is the first reliable statement we
have seen of the cost of sinking artesian
wells In the West and that Is In Colorado,
where prices are some what lower than they
would be in Montana. The diameter Of the
we'll Is not given above, but we presume IL IN
for three inch pipe, which is the size used in
Denver. The bids are high, even for three
inch well. In the July number Of the Cen
tury Mr.. Z. V. Smalley states that the usual
prices for driving oil wells for two inch tub
ing is eighty cents foot and the depth varies
from GOO to ], 400 feet. The methods, tools,
and expenses are the same for an artesian as
for an oil well, each being bored or driven
and then the pipe inserted. 1t may be the
Denver proposals include furnishing the well
with iron pipe
This matter of artesian wells seems TO US
one of great importance to Montana, and
one that IL would be well to have tested.
Within the past year or two artesian wells
have been sunk with great success in Colora-
do and Utah, and unless we are greatly mis-
orable in many valleys in Montana. The
theory is that there must be porous stratum
of chalk, sandstone, or other calcareous mat.
ter with an impermeable stratum of clay or
other substance above and below it, and that
these three lie In the valleys In the form of a
q. Anywhere in the interior of a basin thus
formed of continuing strata, without any
flaw to permit the escape Of water, there in
almost certainty of striking a flowing we'll.
Taking this, Deer Lodge, valley, for instance,
the numerous fine streams that sink far back
from the river and do not again rise, give in
dicatien that the conditions for artesian
wells exist here, and the narrowness of the
valley and absence of violent displacement
suggest the probability of flowing wells being
found he at shallow depth. In the oil
regions an average depth WELL say 800 feet,
costs fully equipped, with engine to pump,
etc, about 5000 to $1,000. If wells can be
struck here at a depth of 800, 400, or 800 feet,
as they are in many places, and AZ they prob
ably will be here If at all, the expense of a
tub bed, two inch flowing well should not ex-
coed 81, 800. The supply of water from these
wells cannot be prejudged. At Bourne, En-
gland, a well ninety-fve feet deep yields
800 600 gallons of water per day. One twen-
ty-fourth of all the water used in London is
from the New river, which obtains its princi-
pal supply from srtesian wells. London and
Paris are full of them, the former city OBJ
tanning water at depth of about 800 feet.
There are vast areas of our Montana lands,
among the best, that can never be Guilt waited
except by n miraculous change OF climate <r
artesian wells. To hoist by wind power h
too slow and too expensive. The wind
pumps erected by Bonner and Larabie in
Deer Lodge this season. while excellent tor
yards and lawns, do not yield enough water
for any considerable area of ground, and
they cost from $500 to 5000 to put in opera,
ton. Each succeeding year will entail new
expense, and In a few years they will have 20
be renewed. Artcsian wells, once started,
require no further expense, and they flow for
centuries.
Will not some one develop some method
ny which artesian wells will be tested In
Montana. Competent men and equipment
can be secured from Pennsylvania at moder.
ate expense, and demonstration of success
in one locality will be all the instigation
necessary for duplication elsewhere. Espe,
peciallv at first for towns, and then for irri-
eating purposes, the artesian well commends
itself as an enterprise worry of most favora
BILE consideration Who will be first to test
IL?