Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1886-10-16
ARTESIAN WELLS.
The Difficulties and Expense OF Boring
Hundreds of Feet.

The Difficulties and Expense OF Boring
Hundreds of Feet.
From the Philadelphia CALL
1t has been remarked from time to
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 for domes-
tic purposes, and where large factories
find the meter charges and tax too ex-
pensive. Among the latter class it has
been proved by experiment that an
artesian well soon repays its cost with
interest, but among the former class it
is luxury which can be indulged only
by people of means. Some of the large
hote's of this city get their water sup
ply by the aid of these wells, and there
are private families of wealth who have
had these wells bored
The cost of ain artesian we'll is com.
paratively small now to what it was
ten years ago, competition in the BUSH
ness having had the effect of reducing
the price. These wells are made very
much in the same way rs those from
which oil is obtained. The great diff.
ference between the two, however, is
that the water does not usually Spout"
1t generally makes its way to the sur
face and is pumped up to whatever
height is wanted. The possession OF
an artes an well, therefore, involves
that of pump, the cost of the pump,
and the expense of running it.
" hen a well-borer is employed he
contracts to sink the we'll at so much
per foot. He cannot, of course, tell
how far down he will have to go to
reach water in desirable quantities. II
sumer who assumes the risk of this.
The price of work is from 81. so to ST.
per foot, cording to the diameter of
the well and other considerations. The
borer sets up q derrick similar to those
used in the oil regions, and fitted with
walking-beam, pulleys, and drum.
Then by the rising and dropping of a
heavy weight, o section of pipe two or
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, second
sect on is screwed on its top, the heavy
weight is set in motion, and this in turn
goes down into the earth. Section after
section is screwed on, until the piping
strikes rock. Meanwhile, by means of
what is called sand-pump, the piping
has been kept clear OF earth and sand,
with which it 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 immovable against the
solid stone, and, if tho borer tried to
drive it down with the iron weight,
something would break, and that some
thing would not be rock. A long,
cylindrical mass of steel, made so that
it will tit inside the piping, and weigh
ing between 800 and $50 pounds, &C
cording to the hardness of the rock
and the diameter of the piping through
which it is to pass, is brought into play.
1t is shaped at the end something like
an ak. 1t is lowered by q metal rope
through the piping. When it reaches
the bottom it is raised a few feet by
powerful machinery, and them suddenly
dropped. This splits the rock, and the
broken pieces are forced to the surface
by means of the sand-pump. 1t is tire
some work going through the rock.
Sometimes it takes several hours to
bore one foot.
Very often when the ock-breaking
is going on, the rope which holds the
iron breaker gives away, and the tool
is left at the bottom of the well. This
is 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 it has cost
him, tor the contractor is always the
loser in such instances, as matter of
course. There are implements special
] y made to recover the breakers, but
the proce S is tedious. and sometimes
the recovering apparatus is itself lost.
Cases have been known where wells
few hundred feet deep, which have cost
q thousand dollars or more, have be-
come so choked up with recoverable
implements that they had to be aban-
doned.
The cost of an artesian well CAP
scarcely be estimated, owing to thu
complications already mentioned. The
expense to the borer of fitting up his
derrick at the spot where he is to make
a we'll is from 500 to 1925. That is
before earth can be broken, and it in
cludes carriage of machinery, boilers
and derrick, the sum stipulated on per
foot for boring, as the consumer con-
tracts to pay only for every foot COM
pleted, and to take no risks whatever.
The borers say that the competition
that has reduced the price of an az
tesian we'll by fifty per cent. in four
years has made the occupation of the
borer precarious one.
Tiny Worlds.