The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1886-08-24
ARTESIAN WELLS.


Ii has been remarked from time Be
time that artesian wells are multiply.
ing in large numbers, especially in
large cities, where the water is AT
times, or all the time, quite unfit foi
domestic purposes, and where large
factories find the meter charges and
tax too expensive. Among the latter
class it has been proven by experiment
thst an artesian well soon repsys its
cost with interest, but among the
former class it is a luxury which can
be INDUCED only by people OF means.
Some of the large hotels of this city
get their water supply by the aid OF
these wells, and there are private fam.
lilies of wealth which have had these
wells bored.
The cost of an artesian well Is COM
paratiyely small now to what it was
ten years ago, competition In the bust.
ness having had the effect of reducing
the price. These wells are made very
much in the same way as are those
from which oil is obtained. The great
difference between the two, however,
is that the water does not usually
'spout." 1t generally makes its way
TO the surface and is pumped up TO
whatever height is wanted. The pos
session of an artesian well, therefore,
involves that of a pump, the cost OF
the pump and the expense of running
il.
When q well-borer is employed he
contracts to sink the well at SO much
per foot. He can not, of course, tell
how far down he will have TO 60 10
reach water in desirable quantities.
1t NAV be one hundred or five hundred
feet. 1t is the consumer who assumes
the risk of this. The price OF
work is from three dollars and fifty
cents to twelve dollars a foot,
according to the diameter of the
well and other considerations. The
borer sets up derrick similar 10 those
used in the oil regions, aud fitted with
a walking-beam, pulleys and drum.
Then. by the raising and dropping of
heavy weight, section of pipe two OF
three feet long is driven into the
ground. When it has gone down so
far that there are only few inches pro-
truding above the surface, a second
section is screwed on its top, the heavy
weight is set in motion and this in turn
goes down into the earth. Section af-
ter section is screwed on until the pip
ing strikes rock. Meanwhile, BY
means of what is called a sand-pump,
the piping has been kept clear of earth
and sand, with which il soon becomes
choked,
When rock is reached the process
changes. The pipe, which has been
forced with some difficulty down
through strata of earth, sand and
gravel, remains immovablc against the
the solid stone, and if the borer tried
to drive il down with the iron weight.
something would break, and that
something would not be the rock. A
long cylindrical mass of steel, made so
that it will hit inside the piping, and
weighing between three hundred and
three thousand five hundred pounds,
according to the hardness of the rock
and the diameter of the piping through
which il is 10 pass, Is brought into
pIay. 1t is shaped at the end some
thing like an axe. 1t is lowered by a
metal rope through the piping. When
il reaches the bottom it is raised few
feet by powerful machinery, and then
suddenly dropped. This splits the rock
and the broken pieces are forced TO the
surface BY means of the sand pump. 1t
is tiresome work going through the
rock. Sometimes it takes several hours
to bore one foot.
Very often when the rock-breaking
is going on the rope that holds the
iron breaker gives way, and the tool is
left at the bottom of the well. This is
a very trying situation for the con-
tractor, for there is great danger that
his work will have to be stopped, and
that he will lose the money that it cost
him, for the contractor is always the
loser in such instances as a matter of
course. There are implements speci-
ally made to recover the breakers, but
the process is tedious, and sometimes
the recovering apparatus itself lost.
Cases have been known where wells q
few hundred feet deep, which have
cost one thousand dollars or more,
have become so choked up with ire
eoyerable implements that they have
had TO be abandoned.
The cost OF an arteSian well car
scarcely be estimated, owing to the
competition already mentioned. The
expense to the bOrer of fitting up hi.
derrick at the spot where he is to make
well is from one hundred dollars to
one hundred and twenty-five dollars.
This is before earth can be broken,
and il includes carriage of machinery,
boilers and derrick Of course this
has to be recovered from the sum stipu-
lated on per foot for boring. as the con.
sumner contracts to pay only for every
foot completed, and TO take no risks
whatever. The borer saws the compe-
tition that has reduced the price of an
artesian well by fifty per cent in four
years has made the occupation of a
bOrer precarious one.-PhiLadelphia
Bulletin.