, 1884-12-12
ARTESIAN WELLS.
The County Commissioners Study
ing on an Experiment.
Various Schemes Proposed In Con
nection With the New Well.
The Importance of the Test to
Wyoming Territory.

The Board of County Commissioners
has advertised for bids for sinking an ar
tesian well and the work will probably
soon be commenced. The board is COM
posed of clear headed business men, but
is handicapped by two dificulties-an un-
yielding limit to the amount of money to
be expended, and an entire lack of per-
sonal or practical knowledge of a~rtesian
wells.
For several years the press of Cheyenne
has advocated experiments in a~rtesian
well boring, and THE LEADER has repeat
eddy demonstrated that Que successful ar
tesian well would be followed by others all
over the ranges until desert land would
almost cease to exist in Southeastern Wy
oming.
In conversation recently with j. K.
Jeffrey, County Clerk and Clerk Of the
Board Of Commissioners, a representative
of The LEADER obtained SOM facts re-
garding the contemplated artesian well.
Others present joined in the discussion
and the matter was quite thoroughly can
vassed. It seems that the original inten-
ton of the Commissioners was to have a
well bored eight inches in diameter. but
upon the representations Of interested
persons the feasibility of having a bore
fifteen inches in diameter is now being
discussed. When it is considered that the
Commissioners a expend but $500 in
the undertaking, and when the additional
cost Of a fifteen inch bore is taken
into consideration IN connection
with the uncertainty of the nee
essarY depth Of the well, it will ap-
pear as an almost self-evident fact that a
large bore would be ill-advised. Shoulda
medium bore well prove a success a larger
one might be sunk, but in making an ex-
perimental trial it certainly appears I'M
wise to begin a well disproportioned to
the available means and the success of
which, is at best, but a matter of conject-
ure and hope.
Shortly after the great Chicago fire,
when the water works proved unequal to
the emergency, a number Of wealthy
firms and individuals had a~rtesian wells
bored for private use. The wells varied
from LOO to l,4O0 feet in depth, were
all six inch bores and varied in the
amount of water obtained from 500 to
over 800 gallons per minute. They were
to a depth of FIVE or SIX hundred
feet, but beyond that depth the firm rock
through which they were bored required
no casing. Most of the wells were bored
the two years after the fire and
cost, upon an average, $40, 900 each.
The successful experiments in Denver
are well known and, being in this region,
furnish a fair basis for the computation of
the cost of wells at Cheyenne. Recent
improvements in machinery and the
adoption Of a~rtesian well boring as an ex-
elusive business, has lessened the cost, of
late years, while it has also resulted in the
lessening Of mechanical mistakes and the
consequent increase in the cost of a well.
Assuming, for the purposes of the mo-
ment, hat wells in Southern Wyoming
will about equal in cost those of Colorado,
and that water Will be found at about the
Same depth, it would certainly seem that
criterions, or p~recedcnts, were not lacking
upon which to base the computations as
to the depth, size, cost and even success,
of similar wells in this city.
A public job is so often made a matter
of speculation, rather than a legitimate
undertaking, that the board finds itself
embarrassed by the various, and to a
measure contradictory representations,
made by those who claim to understand
the subject
1t is evident that upon the success or
failure of the contemplated well will de-
pend the future efforts of companies and
individuals who may desire such wells for
purposes, and the importance
of an experimental undertaking can there
fore hardly be exaggerated.
One OF the Incidental questions IN con-
nection with a county artesian well, IS Its
site. The city park has been urged as a
proper place for the well, but the opinion
obtains that the board should have abso-
lutte control OF the well, and to that end
the county should own the ground whereon
it is bored. A lot, or perhaps halfof an
ordinary lot contains all of the surface
~~-s,N1 - - L--l.~1J =
the purpose. Should the well be a fail
ure or be abandoned. the lot could read