Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-05-23
A GREAT bRTESIAN WELL.
1t Furnishes Hot Water from i,4OO Feet
Depth for "a Large Hotel.

1t Furnishes Hot Water from i.4OO Feet
Depth for IA Large Hotel.
Florida abounds in lakes, rivers and springs
Of great volume of discharge, fed mainly by
subterranean reservoirs of unknown extent
in the rotten limestone formation which I'M
derlies a considerable part of the peninsula.
Some Of the springs in this state are Of enor-
nous discharge, and among the more impor-
tant may he mentioned the following:
The Silver spring, which supplies 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 a
river over fifteen miles long, flowing with
current Of five miles per hour toward the
gulf About twelve miles from Tallahassee
is great spring said to be 800 feet deep,
with an outflow that forms broad lake of
ice cold water But perhaps the most inter
esting of these outburts of subterranean
waters are found along the coast line, five or
more miles from shore, like the one opposite
St Augustine, which perceptibiy 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 at Key West, and smaller
ones show themselves at many points along
the coast OF Florida,
As underground water Is SO abundant in
this region, and is very generally under sutfi-
Gent 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
considerable extent relied upon for water
supply. But the most powerful well yet de-
veloped in that country is the one put down
by Mr. II NJ Flagler for his great hotels at
st. Augustine.
The artesian well at Ponce de Leon was
commenced in November, 1856, with diam
eter Of u inches and by February, 1887, it
had reached a depth Of $50 feet below the
surface, with yield of 100000 gallons of
water in twenty-four hours and pressure of
discharge sufficient to force the jet AZ feet
above the mouth of the well
Though this great volume Of water was
struck at a point only 100 feet below the
surface, and the quantity was more than
ample even to meet the demands Of the mann
moth hotel which it was proposed to supply,
at the earnest request Of his superintendent
Mr. Flager had consented to sink the well
still deeper in an attempt to pierce, if posi-
BILE, the fossiliferous limestone formation, and
practically test the question of increase in
III lIs Dut unlpl lu-
nately the boring tools were lost just as the
i,400foot point was being reached. and the
experiment was for the time at least aban-
doned. 1t may be proper to state here that
the purpose Of sinking deeper was to obtain
water of a sufficiently high temperature to
be utilized in supplying heat in the hotels,
and possibly power
With the temperature of 81 dogs. Fahren-
heit 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 " dogs.
Fahrenheit, as above described and in rem
dering all radiators and artificial heat in the
hotels unnecessary This water, conveyed in
a system Of pipes, does all the heating the
climate demands
While the 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 of discharge is also
over four times that of the artesian well at
Charleston s C.. which is the nearest boring
on the level of the Atlantic coast This
pressure is utilized at St Augustine by a
turbine wheel. and the power obtained runs
over 80 electric lights used about the hotels
and grounds, and other machinery Flee
tricians note that this power is the most uni
form Of any yet employed by them for q
similar purpose Engineering News.