Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-11-13
The MERRITT WELL.
An Immense Supply of Good Water
Struck of 4,70O Gallons
Per Minute.

Given a Chance to show its Capacity
Thur>da, Afternoon-Th- " ater Works
Board. City Council Committee.
and "A Number Of Citizens Present.
Mr.. Gwyn. John II. Thomas and owen
McBreem. of the water works board. and
Morris Tehan and j. l.. kidder, uf the city
council. with \ y. summers the city 81
licitor. visited the vicinity uf what is called
the Merritt we'll. which has recently been
put down un the Merritt farm. ahout mile
NOR. ur less. southeast of Lagonda, nn land
purchased of eN-County Commissioner Ed
ward Merritt, of South Charleston. by the
board, with the purpose of a>certainirg
whether sufficient supply Of water could
iT obtained 1" supplement- what l. now pre-
vided by the wafer works. that the sup
ply would be equal 10 all emergencies. now
OF hereafter.
4 Leaving the street car stables. in I.agonda.
one goes Ia the SouthcaStward up the hill.
turns of near the top t" the right, and goes
through Merritt'S w"ndS to the south
foot of the hill and then crosses the
{. {. c. & |. track and LagOuda
creek. 10 reach the well. IL i in
a tract If marShy ground. not far from th,
bed of the creek. close Ia hill of gravel Ia
the southeast. and Is ten feet in diameter
and fifteen feet deep. Most "t the distance
down nuns through a bed Of gravel, AT the
bottom of which appears 10 be some clay or
H., & h.,
eight-inch centrifugal pump is in place and
il is run by portable engine, with Albert
Mcintyre and his brother and son in char-"-
Mac has tent near hy. in which some one
of the party spends the night. :" a. to he
present to protect the property and possibly
{" prevent anybody from running of with
the well. From the well projects tem-nrh
pipe If galvanized iron. with spout with
which Ia carry of the water.
When the time came for the test. A
little after three "'rl"ck, the pump
Was put in motion and >iN
feet of the wafer in the we'll WAS pumped
out IN seven minutes. and after the pump
stopped the well filltd al the same rate. from
Ilt HOW tl water mo u li'ili ill NAl'' Al'N
the larger portion Of it evidently from sub
rrrrancam sources. But while the water
MAS out. except al the bottom "f the well.
the pump threw out. from the water which
was flowing in. at the rate Of 1. 200 gallons
per minute. for several minutes and the
GIoBE-REPTBLIC representative was in
formed by Mr. Mcintyre that it has proved
impossible Ia exhaust this Supply-that. III
fact stream ten full inches i'll diameter
can be thrown. steadily. night and day.
from the water which flows continuously
from the bottom of the well. without eN-
hauSting il.
Four Thousand. seven hundred gallons a
minute makes an aggregate of 2s2. 900 gal
Ions every hour, and the immense amount
of 6,16s. 900 gallons per day of "A hours.
The city now seldom uses over a million
gallons i'll the time mentioned. 81 that il
will be seen that if the present flow at the
Merritt well proves 10 be permanent. il will
give us more than fire times as much
WGt.r as IRE nDw rcceiUt from oar rGtCr
Ir"rkS. Whether the supply will be perma-
nent. nr can reasonably he supposed Ia he
permanent, is what i now Ia hr decided by
the water works board, the city council and
the people 1t is believed ny some that by
building other wells in the vicinity the
amount can be largely increased.
Should the well be accepted by the city
pipe would be laid from the wells down the
line of the railroad ~ creek 10 the vicinity
Of the water works engine house. Ia convey
the water 10 the spot where it can be utll-
ized for city purposes.
There were present at the well Thursday
afternoon. i'll addition Ia the gentlcmru
named. Judge James : Go"de. Robert q.
King. Ross Mitchell. {. {. Funk, John II.
Mulholland, Mr. Grove, Mr.. Haley. Cson-in-
law Of Mr.. Merritt owen BigginS. Mr
>pellacy. contractor on the Mitchell boule-
ward and several others. and il seemed I"
be the general opinion that the riow Of water
would be permanent al its present rate of
supply.
The water is clear and eNcellent-ahout aS
hard a. that We now have from the water
works.
4 tube Well has been driven into the
clay about ten feet below the bottom and
gey>rr-lIke jet Of water projects constantly
from the top nt the tube showing that ali
Important source "f supply has not yet been
developed.