The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-05-09
A. Great Artesian Well.

Florida abounds in lakes, rivers, and
great springs of great volume Of dis
charge, fed mainly by subterranean
reservoirs of unknown extent in the rot.
ten limestone formation which underlies
considerable part of the peninsula.
Some of the springs in this State are of
| enormous discharge, and among the more
| important may be mentioned the follow
ing:
The Silver Spring, which supplies a
very considerable portion of the flow of
the St. Johns River, and the Homosassa
River on the west coast, which flows
from rocky basin about eighty feet in
diameter, and forms river over fifteen
miles long, flowing with a current OF five
miles per hour towards the gulf. About
FIVE miles from Tallahassee is a great
spring said to be one thousand and FIVE
hundred feet deep, with an outflow that
forms q broad lake of ice cold water.
But perhaps the most interesting of these
outbursts of subterranean waters are
found along the coast line, Eve or more
miles from shore, like the one opposite
st. Augustine, which perceptibly affects
the surface of the ocean in circle over
half mile in diameter, and forms fiat
cone with an apex slightly elevated
above the general surface. Another of
these great ocean springs bursts out OF
Key West, and smaller ones show them.
selves at many points along the coast of
Florida.
AS underground water is SO abundant
in this region, and is very generally
uuder sufficient pressure to force it to
and above the ground surface, it is little
to be wondered at that Artesian wells are
there popular, and TO a considerable
extent relied upon for water supply.
But the most powerful we'll yet developed
in that country is the one put down by
MI. II. M. Flagler for his great hotels at
st. Augustine.
The Artesian we'll at Ponce de Leon
was commenced in November, 1886, with
a diameter of twelve inches, and by Feb
ruary, 1887, it had reached depth of
1 1,399 feet below the surface, with yield
of 100000 gallons of water in twenty
four hours, and pressure of discharge
sufficient to force the jet forty-two feet
above the mouth of the we'll.
Though this great volume of water
was struck at point only 1,100 feet
below the surface, and the quantity was
more than ample even to meet the
demands of the mammoth hotels which
it was proposed to supply, at the earnest
request of his superintendent, Mr.. Fla.
| gler had consented to sink the we'll still
deeper in an attempt to pierce, if possi-
BILE, the fossiliferous limestone formation,
aud practically test the question Of
increase of temperature in the water.
But, unfortunately, the boring tools were
lost just as the 1,4O0.foot point was being
reached, and the experiment was, for the
time at least, abandoned.
1t may be proper to state here that the
purpose of sinking deeper was to obtain
water of sufficiently high temperature
to be utilized in supplying heat in the
hotels, and possibly power. With the
temperature at S20 Fahrenheit actually
secured after the water had been piped,
this hope has been realized to the extent
of supplying huge bathing pool in the
Alcazar Hotel with water at 82o Fahren'
heit, as above described, and in render.
ing all radiators and artificial heat in the
hotels unnecessary. This water, con.
veyed in system of pipes, does all the
heating the climate demands.
While che volume of water discharged
is greater than that of any Artesian well
in this country of which we have any
knowledge, the pressure at the point o.
discharge is also over four times that o.
the Arsesian we'll at Charleston, S. O..
which is the nearest boring on the leve
of the Atlantic coast. This pressure ii
utilized at ST. Augustine by turbine
wheel, and the power obtained runs ovel
$50 electric lights used about the hotels
and grounds, and other machinery
Electricians note that this power is tht
most uniform of any yet employed BY
them for smaller purpose. Enginecrin!
Nems.
Nothing but love to God can conque
tba 1oua of the world.