The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-09-14
IN AND ABOUT THE CITY.
THE NEW ARTEslAN WELL.
a Cave-in Underground and the First
Flow of Water Stopped

Cave-in Underground and the First
Flow Of Water Stopped.
Harry Joyce, who Is boring the deep arte-
sian well on the Springfield plantation, was
surprised yesterday morning when he went
to the well 70 see his derrick leaning to one
side and the casing very much more out Of
PLUMB than it was the evening previous, and
the earth around the well and under the
foundation Of the derrick caved in to such
an extent as to threaten imminent
danger to the plant He Immediately
got his men 80 work aud strengthened the
foundation by putting heavy timbers under
the derrick reachi & across the cave, into
the solid ground on each side, and yester
day the work Of strengthening the casing
was prosecuted, and at $50 o'clock, when
the work of the day was suspended, the
derrick had been Tighted, the casing re-
stored to plumb and twenty-one feet Of
casing added.
M. Joyce said that when he had reached
depth of 1926 feet, a beautiful flow of
artesian water came up in the 12-inch
stand pipe and overftowed it at a
dis ance of twenty feet above
the earth's surface. The flow continued
unremittingly until Monday morning,
when the men began to drive casing and
the flow suddenly ceased. Quicksand filed
up the pipe for distance of 210 feet down.
Night before last, Mr.. Joyce said, when he
had driven some % or 30 feet of casing he
heard subterranean noise like the roar of
the surf, and the casing was moved fully
nine inches out of line He said that he
never had such an experience before
in well-boring, although he is the
the originator Of artesian well-boring in
the south, and has driven large number
of wells in Florida. When he left the well
Thursday mig t he did not expect to see
that the caving had effected the derrick.
Mr.. Joyce has got things to rights now,
and he said that ne will clean out the cas-
ing to-day and try and get the flow of
water again which has been interrupted,
he thinks. by the heavy clay filling in, the
clay being so compact that it would stop
the flow OF the strongest well, and it must
be a strong barrier to check the
flow of the vein struck, the pressure of
which nearly lifted Mr. Joyce off the board
covering the top of the stand pipe upon
which he stood. 1t is belived that the flow
exceeds that Of any of the twenty-five
wells from which the city is now pumping,
as they average less than 200 gallons per
minute, and the flow obtained on the
Springfield plantation, Mr.. Joyce says was
over 200 gallons per minute. The water
was OBTAINED alter going down only two
feet in the water bearing rock. The reamer
will be put down to-day, the clay in the
casing reamed loose and pumped out by
sue ion, and Mr.. Joyce expects the flow of
of water will be renewed, and he hopes that
it will not be necessary to go down further
with the casing, which he thinks is resting
on the solid clay, and which he prefers as a
base for the casing over the porous water
| bearing rock. The casing is now down 246
feet or 81 feet below the rock, which was
reached at a depth of 1874 feet. 1t may be,
however. that the casing will have to be
sunk "a feet lower.
The tools used for sinking the well are the
steel pointed reamers and steel pointed fiat
drills used in boring the salt and oil wells
| in the north. The reamer and drills come
from the shop about IL inches in width at
the point, and are dressed al the well to a
width of about l2inches. and in operating
them hole is reamed or drilled out slightly
wider In diameter than the outside diameter
of the casing. The fat drills have a steel
point weighing Is pounds, and the driving
rod, with its attachments for drilling at a
| depth Of 1000 feet, weighs a ton.
The drills have the patent Wilson taper pin,
tapering from inches to "a inches at the
point, making the drill strongest where
the greater strain is on it. The new boilers
for the heavier machinery for deep drilling
| have not yet been received at the we'll.